In this April 18, 2011 file photo, a woman at a job fair in New York talks to an employer. For the first time, American women have passed men in gaining advanced college degrees as well as bachelor's degrees, part of a trend that is helping redefine who goes off to work and who stays home with the kids. |
For the first time, American women have passed men in gaining advanced college degrees as well as bachelor's degrees, part of a trend that is helping redefine who goes off to work and who stays home with the kids. Census figures released Tuesday highlight the latest education milestone for women, who began to exceed men in college enrollment in the early 1980s. The findings come amid record shares of women in the workplace and a steady decline in stay-at-home mothers. The educational gains for women are giving them greater access to a wider range of jobs, contributing to a shift of traditional gender roles at home and work. Based on one demographer's estimate, the number of stay-at-home dads who are the primary caregivers for their children reached nearly 2 million last year, or one in 15 fathers. The official census tally was 154,000, based on a narrower definition that excludes those working part-time or looking for jobs. "The gaps we're seeing in bachelor's and advanced degrees mean that women will be better protected against the next recession," said Mark Perry, an economics professor at the University of Michigan-Flint who is a visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank. "Men now might be the ones more likely to be staying home, doing the more traditional child rearing," he said. Among adults 25 and older, 10.6 million U.S. women have master's degrees or higher, compared to 10.5 million men. Measured by shares, about 10.2 percent of women have advanced degrees compared to 10.9 percent of men — a gap steadily narrowing in recent years. Women still trail men in professional subcategories such as business, science and engineering. When it comes to finishing college, roughly 20.1 million women have bachelor's degrees, compared to nearly 18.7 million men — a gap of more than 1.4 million that has remained steady in recent years. Women first passed men in bachelor's degrees in 1996. Some researchers including Perry have dubbed the current economic slump a "man-cession" because of the huge job losses in the male-dominated construction and manufacturing industries, which require less schooling. Measured by pay, women with full-time jobs now make 78.2 percent of what men earn, up from about 64 percent in 2000. (Read by Nelly Min. Nelly Min is a journalist at the China Daily Website.) (Agencies) |
美国女性获取学士及以上学位的比例首度超过美国男性,这种趋势在某种程度上将对“男主外女主内”的传统分工重新进行界定。 周二发布的调查数据突出显示了女性教育的新的里程碑。自从20世纪80年代早期以来,女性在大学录取率方面就开始领先男性。与此同时,跨入职场的女性比例达到了历史新高,全职妈妈的人数也不断下降。 女性获得教育使她们有更多就业机会,就业范围也更大,这让传统的男女性别分工发生了改变。根据人口统计学家的估计,在家照顾小孩的全职爸爸人数在去年达到了近200万,也就是15个父亲当中有1个是全职爸爸。官方统计的数目是15.4万,这一数据对居家爸爸的定义更狭窄,不包括那些有兼职工作和正在找工作的父亲。 密歇根大学福林特校区的经济学教授马克•佩瑞说:“从男性和女性在获取学士学位和更高学位上的差距来看,女性在下一次经济危机中将更安全。”佩瑞是一位保守派专家,现在在美国企业研究所做访问学者。 他说:“男性现在或许是更可能待在家里、承担传统育儿角色的那一方。” 在25岁及25岁以上的美国人群中,1060万女性有硕士或更高学位,而有此学历的男性只有1050万。从比例上来看,10.2%的女性有硕士以上(含硕士)的高学历,而男性的这一比例为10.9%,这一差距在近年来正不断缩小。不过,女性在商业、科学和工程等专业领域依然落后于男性。 在大学毕业后,约2010万女性获得学士学位,而只有近1870万男性获得学士学位,相差140多万,而且这一差距在近年来趋于稳定。1996年女性获得学士学位的人数首次超过了男性。 包括佩瑞在内的一些研究人员将眼下的经济衰退戏称为“男性衰退”,因为大量的失业发生在男性劳动力为主的建筑行业和制造业,这些行业所需的教育较少。从收入来看,拥有全职工作的女性现在的收入是男性收入的78.2%,相比2000年的64%提高了。 相关阅读 (中国日报网英语点津 陈丹妮 编辑:冯明惠) |
Vocabulary: tally: a record of the number or amount of something, especially one that you can keep adding to(记录;积分表;账) visiting scholar: 访问学者 trail: to be losing a game or other contest(在比赛或其他竞赛中)落后,失利,失败 subcategory: a secondary or subordinate category(子类别) dub: to give somebody/something a particular name, often in a humorous or critical way(把……戏称为;给……起绰号) |