为什么越来越多女性选择冷冻卵子

长期以来，人们认为职业女性推迟当妈妈是因为她们认为事业比孩子重要。但有调查称，大多数冷冻卵子的女性之所以这样做并不是因为事业，而是因为她们找不到和自己同样成功的男性。耶鲁大学人类学教授马西亚•英霍恩称，职业女性冷冻卵子，主要是因为找不到和自己一样聪明、上进的男性。“可供她们选择的高材生不够多。简而言之，就是受教育的女性供过于求。”

Most women freeze their eggs because they cannot find a similarly successful man (stock)

Career women have long been thought to be putting motherhood on ice because they choose their job over a baby.
长期以来，人们认为职业女性推迟当妈妈是因为她们认为事业比孩子重要。

However, most women who freeze their eggs are doing so not because of their career but because they cannot find a similarly successful man.
但是，大多数冷冻卵子的女性之所以这样做并不是因为事业，而是因为她们找不到和自己同样成功的男性。

The claim was made following reports that women are a third more likely to attend university than men in the UK.
这种说法的根据是，有报道称英国女性读大学的概率比男性高出1/3。

Their problem, according to US and Israeli researchers, is that they are unable to find similarly clever, driven men because fewer males are entering higher education.
据美国和以色列研究人员称，她们的问题是找不到和自己一样聪明、上进的男性，因为受过高等教育的男性更少。

Their findings have been backed up by British fertility clinics.
他们的发现得到了英国生育诊所的证实。

The study's author Marcia Inhorn, professor of anthropology at Yale University, said of women who freeze their eggs: 'There are not enough graduates for them. In simple terms, this is about an oversupply of educated women.
耶鲁大学人类学教授马西亚•英霍恩是这项研究报告的作者，他称，冷冻卵子的女性“可供选择的高材生不够多。简而言之，就是受教育的女性供过于求。”

'In China they call them "leftover women". '
“在中国她们被称为‘剩女’。”

Professor Geeta Nargund, medical director of Create Fertility, said: 'Women tell us frequently that they are freezing their eggs because the men they meet feel threatened by their success and so are unwilling to commit to starting a family together.'
创造生育力诊所的主任医师吉塔•纳尔古恩德教授表示：“经常有女性称，她们冷冻卵子是因为，她们的成功让遇见的男子倍感威胁，所以不愿承诺一起组建家庭。”

Freezing eggs as an 'insurance policy'
保险起见：冷冻卵子

In western countries soaring numbers of women are freezing their eggs as an 'insurance policy' to beat their biological clock.
在西方国家，越来越多的女性将卵子冷冻起来，以此作为对抗人体生理钟的“保险对策”。

The latest study examined 150 women in the US and Israel, more than 90 percent of whom said they were not intentionally 'postponing' their fertility because of their education or career.
这项美国和以色列的最新研究对150名女性进行了调查，其中超过90%的女性称，她们并不是因为学业或事业而故意“推迟”生育。

Rather, they were desperately 'preserving' their fertility before their eggs ran low and they lost their chance to have a child, because they were single or without a man to marry.
相反，在卵子数量耗尽、失去生育机会之前，她们极力“保存”自己的生育能力， 因为她们还是单身或还没结婚。

More university educated women than men
受高等教育的女性比男性多

Last year 30,015 more women aged 18 were accepted for university in the UK than men of the same age, according to UCAS.
据英国大学入学申请办事处（UCAS）称，去年英国大学录取的年龄在18岁的女性比同龄男性多30015人。

In that year, 56 percent of acceptances were for females.
去年56%的被录取者是女性。

Up until 2014, 3,676 women in Britain had opted to have their eggs frozen, with experts saying it is now more popular than ever.
截至2014年，英国有3676名女性选择冷冻卵子，专家称“冻卵”从未像现在这么受欢迎。

University admissions service UCAS said while 36.8 percent of women entered higher education in 2016, the figure for men was 27.2 percent, with more women than men on two-thirds of courses.
UCAS称，2016年有36.8%的女性接受了高等教育，而男性仅有27.2%接受高等教育，有2/3的课程女学生比男学生多。

The gender gap for higher education is now as large as that between rich and poor people, which was described as a 'worrying inequality' by former UCAS chief executive Mary Curnock-Cook.
如今高等教育中的性别差距和贫富差距一样严重，UCAS前负责人玛丽•科诺克-库克称之为“令人担忧的不平等”。

What the experts say
专家怎么说

Describing the phenomenon, Professor Inhorn said: 'This is an issue that has been misinterpreted so much - this idea of a selfish career woman, putting her fertlility on hold.'
针对这一现象，英霍恩教授说：“有人认为推迟生育的职业女性很自私，这是一种很深的误解。”

She added: 'Maybe women need to be prepared to be more open to the idea of a relationship with someone not as educated.
她说：“也许女性需要做好准备，以更加开放的态度对待和教育程度不如自己的人谈恋爱这件事。”

'But also may be we need to be doing something about our boys and young men, to get them off to a better start.'
“但可能我们也需要采取一些行动，让年轻的男孩们有更好的起点。”

Professor Simon Fishel, founder of Care Fertility, said: 'Anthropologically we are always searching, consciously or unconsciously, for like-minded people so it is not a great leap to understand that women are looking for someone on the same level, who is university-educated or a professional.
创造生育力诊所的创始人西蒙•费舍尔教授称：“从人类学的角度来看，我们一直有意或无意地寻找志同道合的人，因此，受过高等教育的女性或职业女性寻找与之水平相当的对象是人之常情。”

'They certainly ask about that when looking for a sperm (or egg) donor, so it is likely to apply to a partner.
“人们在寻找精子（或卵子）捐赠人时肯定会考虑这个问题，所以在寻找伴侣时很可能也是这样的。”

'This problem of "missing men" is absolutely the case in many situations in the UK, but there is a wider problem behind the increasing desire for egg freezing, not least about men and women being too unaware of their biological clocks.'
“在英国，很多时候都存在‘男性匮乏’问题，但越来越多女性希望冷冻卵子的背后隐藏的更普遍问题是，男人和女人对于人体的生理钟一无所知。”

英文来源：每日邮报
翻译&编辑：董静
审校：yaning