Women in the workforce

　　EVEN today in the modern, developed world, surveys show that parents still prefer to have a boy rather than a girl. One longstanding reason why boys have been seen as a greater blessing has been that they are expected to become better economic providers for their parents' old age. Yet it is time for parents to think again. Girls may now be a better investment.
　　Girls get better grades at school than boys, and in most developed countries more women than men go to university. Women will thus be better equipped for the new jobs of the 21st century, in which brains count a lot more than brawn. 
　　Furthermore, the increase in female employment in the rich world has been the main driving force of growth in the past couple of decades. Those women have contributed more to global GDP growth than have either new technology or the new giants, China and India. Add the value of housework and child-rearing, and women probably account for just over half of world output. It is true that women still get paid less and few make it to the top of companies, but, as prejudice fades over coming years, women will have great scope to boost their productivity-and incomes.
　　Governments, too, should embrace the potential of women. Women complain (rightly) of centuries of exploitation. Yet, to an economist, women are not exploited enough: they are the world's most under-utilised resource; getting more of them into work is part of the solution to many economic woes, including shrinking populations and poverty.
　　Some people fret that if more women work rather than mind their children, this will boost GDP but create negative social externalities, such as a lower birth rate. Yet developed countries where more women work, such as Sweden and America, actually have higher birth rates than Japan and Italy, where women stay at home. Others fear that women's move into the paid labour force can come at the expense of children. Yet the evidence for this is mixed. For instance, a study by Suzanne Bianchi at Maryland University finds that mothers spent the same time, on average, on childcare in 2003 as in 1965.The increase in work outside the home was offset by less housework and less spare time and less sleep.
　　What is clear is that in countries such as Japan, Germany and Italy, which are all troubled by the demographics of shrinking populations, far fewer women work than in America, let alone Sweden. If female labour-force participation in these countries rose to American levels, it would give a helpful boost to these countries' growth rates. Likewise, in developing countries where girls are less likely to go to school than boys, investing in education would deliver huge economic and social returns. Not only will educated women be more productive, but they will also bring up better educated and healthier children. More women in government could also boost economic growth: studies show that women are more likely to spend money on improving health, education, infrastructure and poverty and less likely to waste it on tanks and bombs.
　　It used to be said that women must do twice as well as men to be thought half as good. Luckily that is not so difficult.

　　参考译文：

　　女性工薪阶层
　　调查表明，即使在当今的发达国家，父母依然更喜欢男孩而不是女孩。认为男孩更具优势的一个传统原因是，男孩可以在父母年老时提供更好的经济帮助。现在父母该重新考虑了，女孩或许是更好的投资。
　　女孩在校学习的分数比男孩高，而且在大多数发达国家，上大学的女性比男性多。因此，面对21世纪的新工作，女性具备更好的就业能力，毕竟21世纪是讲究聪明的头脑而非强壮的肌肉的时代。
另外，在过去二十年中，就业女性的增长是发达国家经济增长的主要推动力。女性对全球国民生产总值（GDP）增长的贡献比新技术和新巨头（如中国和印度）的贡献多得多。加上处理家务和养育孩子的价值，女性的贡献或许超过全球产出的一半。虽然女性获得较少的工资，也难以荣升到公司高层，但是，就像这些年来人们对她们的偏见逐渐减少那样，女性在提高她们的生产率和收入方面具有很大的拓展空间。
　　政府同样要发挥女性的潜能。几百年来女性抱怨她们受到剥削（这是理所当然的），但对于一个经济学家来说，女性的潜能还没有充分开发，她们是世界上最没有得到充分利用的资源，为更多女性提供工作是许多经济难题（包括人口缩减和消除贫穷）的部分解决方案。
　　有人担心，如果更多的女性参加工作而不是在家照顾孩子，虽然她们可以推动国民生产总值的增长，但也会产生负面的社会现象，如人口出生率的降低。但是，较多女性参加工作的发达国家（如瑞典和美国）的人口出生率比较多女性留在家庭的国家（如日本和意大利）还要高。也有人担心女性加入雇佣劳动大军会影响孩子的成长。但这种现象是复杂的。例如，Maryland大学Suzanne Bianchi的研究发现，2003年和1965年母亲花在照顾孩子上的平均时间相同。工作时间的增加被较少的家务、休闲和睡眠时间抵消了。
　　显而易见，在深受人口缩减困扰的国家，如日本、德国和意大利，参加工作的女性比美国的少得多，更不用说瑞典的了。如果这些国家的女性劳动力能增加到美国的水平，那么这些国家的人口出生率将会大大增加。同样，在那些女孩上学机会比男孩少的发展中国家，增加教育的投资将会使国家获得巨大的经济和社会回报。受过教育的女性不仅能增加生产率，而且可以养育教育程度更高、更健康的孩子。更多女性在政府工作也可以推动经济增长：研究发现，女性更愿意把金钱花在改善健康、教育、基础设施和贫穷上面，而不会把大量金钱浪费在坦克和炸弹上。
　　过去传闻，女性必须做两倍于男性的工作才能获得一半于男性的良好评价。幸运的是，事实并没有如此困难。