双语早读｜研究：新冠疫情加剧全球性别不平等

一项全球研究显示，新冠疫情正在加剧全球性别不平等的现状。疫情暴发后，女性的失业率、辍学率都高于男性，女性承担的无偿劳动和遭受的性别暴力也增多了。研究人员警告称，再不采取行动，过去几十年来在性别平等上取得的成就都将付之东流。

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一项全球研究显示，新冠疫情对女性在社会和经济层面带来的打击比对男性的打击要沉重得多，这一影响可能会逆转几十年来在性别平等上取得的进步。

The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic threatens to reverse decades of progress made towards gender equality, according to a global study that reveals women have been hit much harder socially and economically than men.

先前开展的与新冠疫情相关的性别不平等研究主要聚焦于危机对健康的直接影响。举例而言，众所周知，从全球来看男性的感染率、住院率和死亡率都更高。然而，迄今为止很少有研究关注疫情在世界范围内间接引起的众多社会和经济影响对性别不平等产生的作用。

Previously, coronavirus-related gender disparity studies have focused on the direct health impacts of the crisis. It is well known, for example, that across the globe men have experienced higher rates of Covid cases, hospitalisation and death. However, until now, few studies have examined how gender inequalities have been affected by the many indirect social and economic effects of the pandemic worldwide.

华盛顿大学健康指标与评估研究所开展的这项研究表明，在社会和经济方面，女性遭受的负面影响比男性更大。该研究发表在《柳叶刀》期刊上。

The research, conducted by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington and published in the Lancet, shows that women have experienced greater negative social and economic impacts than men.

最大最持久的性别鸿沟出现在雇佣和无偿劳动领域。2021年9月在全球范围内有26%的女性报告称自己失去了工作，相比之下只有20%的男性失去了工作。女性辍学及遭受性别暴力的可能性也比男性更高。

The greatest and most persistent gender gap was seen in employment and uncompensated labour, with 26% of women reporting loss of work compared with 20% of men globally in September 2021. Women and girls were also more likely to drop out of school and more likely to report an increase in gender-based violence than men and boys.

Screenshot from Guardian

该研究的首席作者伊曼纽尔·盖基杜教授称：“这项研究提供了第一份表明疫情期间在健康、社会和经济等全球广泛领域存在性别不平等的全面证据。证据指出，新冠疫情会恶化疫情暴发前就存在的社会和经济方面的性别不平等。”

"This study provides the first comprehensive global evidence on gender disparities for a wide range of health-related, social and economic indicators throughout the pandemic,” said senior author Prof Emmanuela Gakidou. “The evidence suggests that Covid-19 has tended to exacerbate previously existing social and economic disparities.

“社会正处于急需对女性赋权大力投入的关键时刻，以确保性别平等上取得的成就不因为新冠疫情而停滞或被逆转。我们不能让疫情带来的社会和经济影响持续到后疫情时代。现在必须采取措施，不仅要逆转当下的性别不平等，还要缩小疫情暴发前就存在的性别鸿沟。”

"Society is at a pivotal moment where investment in the empowerment of women and girls is critically needed to ensure that progress towards gender equality does not get stalled or reversed because of the Covid-19 pandemic. We cannot let the social and economic fallouts from the pandemic continue into the post-Covid era. Action must be taken now to not only reverse the current disparities, but to further close the gaps present before the pandemic began.”

该研究分析了从193个国家公开获取的数据集，数据来自2020年3月至2021年9月针对疫情期间健康和幸福状况开展的多项调查。分析结果发现，自从疫情暴发以来，在世界的每一个地区，女性的失业率都高于男性。截至2021年9月，分别有26%的女性和20%的男性报告称自己在疫情期间失去了工作。

The study analysed publicly available datasets from 193 countries using surveys taken from March 2020 to September 2021 on health and wellbeing during the pandemic. In every part of the world, women experienced higher rates of employment loss than men since the start of the pandemic. By September 2021, 26% of women and 20% of men had reported losing their job during the pandemic.

该研究的另一位首席作者路易莎·弗洛尔博士表示：“在某些国家，女性受到的经济影响比男性更大是因为这些大量雇佣女性的行业受新冠疫情的打击更大，比如酒店业或家政服务业。另外，许多国家的社会分工传统观念都认为女性应该承担更多家务和育儿责任，从而降低了女性从事有偿劳动的时间和能力。”

"Economic impacts have affected women more than men in some countries because they tend to be employed disproportionately in sectors harder-hit by Covid-19, such as the hospitality industry or as domestic workers,” said Dr Luisa Flor, the study’s co-lead author. “Moreover, gendered social norms in many countries attribute household and childcare responsibilities preferentially to women and reduce their time and ability to engage in paid labour.”

相比男性，女性更可能放弃有偿工作来照顾家人，长此以往性别鸿沟也就越来越大。2020年3月，这一行为的男女比例为1比1.8，而到了2021年9月，这一行为的比例扩大到了1比2.4。超半数受访者称，疫情期间做家务和照料家人等无偿劳动量增多，其中报告这一情况的女性在世界各地都明显多于男性，北非和中东地区除外。

Women were more likely than men to report forgoing paid employment to care for others, with the gender gap widening over time. In March 2020, the ratio for women to men was 1.8 but by September 2021 it had increased to almost 2.4. More than half of respondents reported an increase in unpaid labour such as domestic work and caring for others during the pandemic, with women significantly more likely to report such increases everywhere except north Africa and the Middle East.

Screenshot from Guardian

从全球来看，女性比男性更可能辍学。在这方面中欧、东欧和中亚的性别鸿沟最大，辍学的女性比男性多四倍。总体上，有54%的女性和44%的男性表示自己察觉到疫情期间所在社区的性别暴力增加了。

Globally, women and girls were more likely to drop out of education than men and boys. The largest gender gaps were seen in central Europe, eastern Europe and central Asia where four times more women than men dropped out of education. Overall, 54% of women and 44% of men said they perceived that gender-based violence had increased in their community during the pandemic.

没有参与这项研究的约翰斯·霍普金斯大学布隆伯格公共卫生学院的罗斯玛丽·摩根指出：“我们在疫情期间的研究越深入，就越感觉到性别不平等加剧的状况在未来只会更糟，疫情暴发前在性别平等方面取得的任何进步都可能被逆转。希望这一数据能让决策者意识到有必要趁早采取行动。”

"The further we progress in this pandemic the more we feel that the inequities being exacerbated are only going to worsen, and that any pre-pandemic progress towards gender equality will be reversed,” said Rosemary Morgan of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, which was not involved in the study. “Hopefully this data will reenforce the need for decision-makers to act before it is too late.”

关键词： 无偿劳动 长此以往