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Finance and economics: Women and work The power of parity
財經：女人和工作，平等的力量
The world would be a much richer place if more women had paying jobs.
如果更多女性參與有償工作，世界將會更加富裕。
Joan Rivers, a comedian who died last year, did not let chores get in the way of a career in show business.
去年過世的喜劇演員Joan Rivers從沒有讓家務事影響到她的演藝事業。
“I hate housework,” she joked.
她曾戲謔道：“我討厭家務事。
“You make the beds, you do the dishes, and six months later, you have to start all over again.”
整理床鋪，洗滌碗筷，而且半年之后還得再來一次。”
An escape from unpaid drudgery into paid work seems a distant prospect for millions of women.
從無償的勞累家務中逃離，投入到有償工作中，對數百萬女性來說似乎遙不可及。
In South Asia, for instance, women carry out up to 90% of unpaid care work, including cooking, cleaning, and looking after children and the elderly.
例如在南亞，高達90%的無償工作由女性承擔，包括煮飯，清潔，照顧孩子和老人。
They are far less visible than men in work outside the home.
在家庭之外的工作場合，女性的身影比男性要少見得多。
Women make up less than a quarter of the paid workforce in India and account for just 17% of GDP, a measure of output that excludes unwaged work.
在印度，她們占據不到勞動力的1/4，在不計無償工作的情況下，甚至僅占GDP的17%。
By contrast, women contribute 41% of GDP in China.
相比之下，中國女性貢獻GDP的比例高達41%。
A new report from the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) , a think-tank, underlines how gender inequality in work and society is itself distributed unequally across the world.
智囊團麥肯錫全球研究所（MGI）的一份新報道強調就業時的性別不平等現象在世界各地分布不均是一個全世界的普遍現象。
The number-crunchers at McKinsey calculated gender-parity scores—gauges of how women fare at work and in society in comparison with men—covering over 90% of the world's population.
麥肯錫的超級計算機基于女性與男性相比在工作和社會中的表現，計算出了性別平等分值，樣本覆蓋了全球90%的人口。
They reckon South Asia (India excluded) is the global laggard with a score of 0.44 (a score of one represents perfect parity between the sexes) .
他們認為，南亞（印度除外）是全球的相對落伍者，分值只有0.44（分值1表示最完美的性別平等）。
Richer parts of the world do a lot better but are still a long way from complete gender equality.
富裕地區做得好得多，但距離完全性別平等則還有很長一段路要走。
North America and Oceania, the best-ranked region, has a score of 0.74.
在北美洲及大洋洲，即使排名最前，分值也只有0.74。
It is hard to put a number on the social costs of this but the McKinsey folk take a stab at estimating the loss of economic output that goes with it.
很難用數字去說明這情況的社會成本。但是麥肯錫仍然設法估算了經濟產出的損失。
Other studies find that countries could boost their GDP by 5-20% if women's participation in the workforce was on a par with men's.
其他研究也發現，如果女性在工作上的參與率能與男性一樣，那么很多國家GDP將增加5~20%。
But that captures only part of the lost output.
但那僅僅抵消了部分的產出損失。
Even in rich bits of the world, where women are close to half the paid workforce, they tend to work fewer hours than men and in jobs with lower productivity, not to mention lower pay as a result of pure discrimination.
即使在那些女性勞動參與率接近一半的富裕地區，相比男性，她們也因為工作產出較差而傾向工作時間較短，更別提單純因性別歧視而造成的低收入了。
If the gender gaps in participation, hours worked and productivity were all bridged, the world economy would be $28.4 trillion (or 26%) richer, McKinsey reckons.
麥肯錫還認為，假使因性別差異而造成的參與率、工時差異、生產力都能彌平，那么全球經濟的富裕程度將增加28.4萬億美元（或26%）。
The potential gains are proportionately greater in places where fewer women are in paid work.
在女性少有參與有償工作的地方，這種潛在收入會相應的增加。
India, for instance, could be 60% richer.
例如印度可能會增富60%。
A more realistic target is for countries to close their gender gaps at the rate achieved by the country in their region with the best recent record in this respect.
比較有可能實現的目標是將全球各國在自己區域為了縮小性別差異曾經創造的最好記錄計算。
That would add $12 trillion to global output by 2025, according to McKinsey's calculations, other things being equal (which they almost certainly will not be) .
根據麥肯錫的計算，當其他因素相同的情況下（幾乎可以確定不可能），到2025年全球產出將增加12萬億美元。
The policies that would quicken a closing of the gender gap at work, such as keeping girls at school for longer and providing better legal protections for women, are in the gift of government.
國家可以為了加快縮小兩性間差異而采取一些措施，譬如為女性提供更長時間的教育或者為婦女提供更好的法律保護，這對國家也是一種回饋。
Women whose level of education is on a par with men are more likely to find well-paid jobs in technical professions.
在同等學歷下，女性更容易在技術專業領域上找到更高薪的工作。
They are also more likely to share unpaid work more equitably with men—or, at least, to be able to claim, as Rivers did, that the dullest chores can wait for another six months.
她們也會因此更愿意與男性平等分擔無酬的工作，或者至少能像Rivers 那樣宣稱：最乏味的家務可以再等六個月。
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