JOAN RIVERS, a comedian who died last year, did not let chores get in the way of a career in showbusiness. “I hate housework,” she joked. “You make the beds, you do the dishes, and six months later, you have to start all over again.”

　　去年过世的喜剧演员琼.里弗斯从没有让家务事影响到她的演艺事业。“我讨厌家务事。”她曾戏谑道，“整理床铺，洗涤碗筷，半年之后，还得再来一次。”

　　An escape from unpaid drudgery into paid work seems a distant prospect for millions of women. 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. They are far less visible than men in work outside the home. 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. By contrast, women contribute 41% of GDP in China.

　　逃离无偿且劳累的家务，投入到有薪工作之中，对数百万女性来说似乎遥不可及。例如，在南亚，高达90%的无偿照料工作由女性承担，包括做饭、打扫卫生、照顾孩子和老人。在家庭之外的工作场合，女性的身影比男性要少见得多。在印度，她们占据不到劳动力的1/4，在不计无偿工作的情况下，甚至仅占GDP的17%。相比之下，中国女性对GDP的贡献比例高达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. 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. 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). Richer parts of the world do a lot better but are still a long way from complete gender equality. North America and Oceania, the best-ranked region, has a score of 0.74.

　　麦肯锡全球研究所的一份新报道强调，在就业和社会里，性别不平等现象在世界各地分布不均。麦肯锡的分析人员根据女性与男性相比在工作和社会中的表现，计算出了性别平等分值，样本覆盖了全球90%的人口。他们认为，除印度以外的南亚地区落后于全球，分值只有0.44(分值1表示性别完全平等)。发达地区做得好得多，但距离实现完全的性别平等则还有很长一段路要走。在北美洲及大洋洲，即使排名最靠前，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. 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. But that captures only part of the lost output. 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. 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 (see chart). The potential gains are proportionately greater in places where fewer women are in paid work. India, for instance, could be 60% richer.

　　很难用数字去说明这种情况的社会成本。不过，麦肯锡仍然设法估算出性别不平等造成的经济产出损失。一些研究也发现，如果女性工作的比例能与男性一样，那么很多国家GDP将增加5~20%。不过，那仅仅抵消了产出损失部分。即使在那些女性劳动参与率接近一半的发达地区，相比于男性，她们工作时间仍然较短，从事生产率更低的工作，更别提单纯因性别歧视而造成的低收入了。麦肯锡还认为，假使因性别差异而造成的工作参与率、工时差异、生产力都能弥平，那么，全球经济产出将增加28.4万亿美元(或26%)。在有偿工作中女性占比更低的地方，这种潜在收入会大幅度的增加。例如，印度经济产出可能会增多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. 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).

　　比较有可能实现的目标是，各国按本区域性别差异最小的国家所实现的比例来减少性别差异。根据麦肯锡的计算，当其他因素相同的情况下(几乎可以确定不可能)，到2025年，这种方式将为全球产出增加12万亿美元。

　　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. Women whose level of education is on a par with men are more likely to find well-paid jobs in technical professions. 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.

　　政府提供的一些能加快缩小两性工作差异的政策，譬如为女性提供更长时间的教育或者为妇女提供更好的法律保护。在同等学历下，女性更容易在技术专业领域上找到更高薪的工作。她们也会因此更愿意与男性平等分担无酬的工作，或者至少能像里弗斯那样宣称：最乏味的家务可以再等上六个月。

（编辑：何莹莹）