VOA慢速：诺贝尔经济学奖授予研究职场性别的教授
Nobel Economics Prize Goes to Professor Studying Gender in Workplace
刘立军 供稿
TRANSCRIPT
The Nobel Prize in economics has been awarded to Claudia Goldin for her work on the gap between men and women in the workplace.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced the prize on Monday. The 77-year-old Goldin is only the third woman among 93 past Nobel economics prizewinners. She is a professor at Harvard University.
Goldin’s research has shown that even in the field of economics, women earn about 13 percent less than men. The pay gap prevents some women from continuing their education.
The Nobel committee credits Goldin with finding missing data to better explain continuing differences between both the pay and work involvement, or participation, of men and women.
The group called Goldin “a detective” who found new data sources and “creative ways to use them to measure these unknowns.”
Goldin studied information related to female participation in the workplace over 200 years and found that their pay started low and never caught up to men.
She looked at women whose jobs went uncounted, such as those who worked on farms alongside their husbands or made clothing at home. Goldin said the pay gap that existed then still exists today, even as women gain higher levels of education than men.
In the 1990s, she said, American women led the world in their labor participation rate. But the rate has dropped since then.
“I think something has happened in America,” Goldin said. “We have to ask questions about piecing together the family, the home with the marketplace and employment.”
Even as women have made education gains, Goldin notes, they still often feel pressure to stay at home to care for children or to choose jobs that permit them to be available to children.
“They graduate from college at much higher rates than men. They do better in high school than men do. So why are there these differences?” Goldin asked.
Randi Hjalmarsson of the Nobel committee said Goldin’s work does not provide specific solutions to the problem. However, she said Goldin did identify “the source of the gap, and how it’s changed over time.”
Hjalmarsson added, “By finally understanding the problem and calling it by the right name, we will be able to pave a better route forward.”
Goldin suggested men need to do a better job sharing childcare and work responsibilities. Women, she said, often miss out on career progress that comes with working longer hours or on weekends because they feel pressure to care for children.
She also suggested that the U.S. government put more money into after-school programs. “Very few of us have jobs that finish at 3 p.m.,” she said. Goldin noted that women in Canada, France and Japan currently have a higher labor participation rate than those in the U.S.
Goldin said some of the work still needs to be done by couples. She notes that “couple equity also leads to more gender equity.” Goldin also noted that girls pay attention to how their mothers participated in work and that “each generation learns from the successes and failures of preceding generations.”
The prize comes with an award of about $1 million and will be presented at a ceremony in Sweden later this year.
I’m Dan Friedell.
VOCABULARY
1. equity n. the quality of being fair and impartial; fairness. 公平，公正
2. preceding adj. happening or coming before in time or order; previous. 先前的，前面的
QUESTIONS
Listen to the news and choose the best answer to each question you hear.
1. According to Claudia Goldin’s research, what is the pay gap between men and women in the field of economics?
A. 10%.
B. 13%.
C. 20%.
D. 25%.
2. What was Goldin credited with by the Nobel committee?
A. Finding new data sources.
B. Creative ways of using data.
C. Explaining gender differences in pay and work involvement.
D. All of the above.
3. According to Goldin’s research, what happened to the labor participation rate of American women since the 1990s?
A. It has increased.
B. It has decreased.
C. It has remained the same.
D. It fluctuates.
4. What did Goldin suggest as a solution to the problem of gender equity?
A. Men taking on more childcare and work responsibilities.
B. More funding for after-school programs.
C. Both A and B.
D. More education offered to women.
5. What impact does Goldin believe couple equity has on gender equity?
A. It leads to more gender equity.
B. It has nothing to do with gender equity.
C. It only impacts women.
D. It is not mentioned in the text.
KEY
1. According to Claudia Goldin’s research, what is the pay gap between men and women in the field of economics?
A. 10%.
B. 13%.
C. 20%.
D. 25%.
【答案】B
【解析】细节题。根据Goldin的研究：women earn about 13 percent less than men. 经济领域中男女之间的工资差距约为13%。
2. What was Goldin credited with by the Nobel committee?
A. Finding new data sources.
B. Creative ways of using data.
C. Explaining gender differences in pay and work involvement.
D. All of the above.
【答案】D
【解析】细节题。根据Nobel委员会的评价，Goldin被认为找到了新的数据来源，并创造性地使用这些数据来解释男女在工资和工作参与方面的差异。
3. According to Goldin’s research, what happened to the labor participation rate of American women since the 1990s?
A. It has increased.
B. It has decreased.
C. It has remained the same.
D. It fluctuates.
【答案】B
【解析】细节题。根据Goldin的研究：In the 1990s, she said, American women led the world in their labor participation rate. But the rate has dropped since then. 自20世纪90年代以来，美国妇女的劳动参与率有所下降。
4. What did Goldin suggest as solutions to the problem of gender equity?
A. Men taking on more childcare and work responsibilities.
B. More funding for after-school programs.
C. Both A and B.
D. More education offered to women.
【答案】C
【解析】推理题。根据Goldin的建议，男性应该在承担更多的育儿和工作责任方面做得更好，并且建议政府增加放学后项目的资金。因此，答案为C。
5. What impact does Goldin believe couple equity has on gender equity?
A. It leads to more gender equity.
B. It has nothing to do with gender equity.
C. It only impacts women.
D. It is not mentioned in the text.
【答案】A
【解析】细节题。文章倒数第三段提到：She notes that “couple equity also leads to more gender equity.” 根据Goldin的观点，夫妻之间的平等能促进性别平等。
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