中國網站品牌欄目（頻道）
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Last year, France spent $135billion on family benefits. Fleur Cohen, a doctor, with her children. |
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French women seem to have it all: multiple children, a job and, often, a figure to envy. What they don't have is equality. A recent 22-country survey by the Pew Research Center summed it up: three in four French people believe men have a better life than women, by far the highest share in any country polled. "French women are exhausted," said Valérie Toranian, editor-in-chief of Elle magazine in France. "We have the right to do what men do — as long as we also take care of the children, cook a delicious dinner and look immaculate. We have to be superwoman." France ranks 46th in the World Economic Forum's 2010 gender equality report, trailing the United States, most of Europe, but also Kazakhstan and Jamaica. Francecrystallizes the paradox facing many women across the developed world in the early 21st century: They have more say over their sexuality (in France birth control and abortion are legal and subsidized), they have overtaken men in education and are catching up in the labor market, but few make it to the top of business or politics. Having children is relatively easy in France, one reason Paris seems to teem with stylish career women with several offspring. At 31, Fleur Cohen has four children and works full-time as a doctor. As she drops her youngest at nursery in stilettos heels and a pencil skirt you would never guess that she gave birth only three months ago. In Paris, Ms. Cohen's husband is a doctor, too. But she bathes all four children, cooks and does the Saturday shopping. "If I didn't prepare food for my children, I would feel less like a mother," she said. Women spend on average five hours and one minute per day on childcare and domestic tasks, while men spend two hours and seven minutes, according to the national statistics office Insee. A majority of medical graduates in France are female. Yet all 11 department heads in her hospital are men. "French men have always been slow to give up power," said Jean-Francois Copé, parliamentary leader of President Nicolas Sarkozy's center-right party, who is defending a bill to oblige companies to fill 40 percent of boardroom seats with women. Women were allowed to vote for the first time only in 1945. Since a 1998 law obliged political parties to have an equal number of men and women candidates on their party lists, parties have tended to pay fines rather than comply. Four pieces of equal pay legislation have passed since 1972. But in 2009, even childless women in their forties still earned 17 percent less than men. (Read by Renee Haines. Renee Haines is a journalist at the China Daily Web site.) |
法國女性似乎樣樣不缺，她們有一群孩子，有一份工作，還有一副令人羨慕的好身材。 但她們缺一樣東西：那就是平等。皮尤調查中心近日對22個國家開展的一項調查顯示，四分之三的法國人認為法國男性的生活質量高于女性，該比例居各受訪國之首。 法國版《Elle》雜志主編Valérie Toranian說：“法國女性過得很累。” “我們可以做男人所做的事——但前提是我們要同時照顧好孩子，能做得一手好菜，還要把自己打扮得漂漂亮亮。我們得做個‘女超人’。” 法國在世界經濟論壇2010年性別平等度排名報告中名列第46位，位居美國和歐洲大多數國家之后，甚至落后于哈薩克斯坦和牙買加。 21世紀早期發達國家很多女性所面臨的悖論在法國得到了充分體現：女性在生育方面有了更多的話語權（在法國，節育和墮胎合法并受到政府補貼）；女性的受教育水平超過男性，在就業市場的地位逐漸提高，但卻鮮有人進入商界或政壇高層。 在法國要孩子相對比較容易，所以在巴黎隨處可見外表入時、卻已是幾個孩子母親的職場女性。31歲的弗勒?科恩已是四個孩子的母親，她現在是一名全職醫生。當你看見她腳踩高跟鞋、穿著A字裙把孩子送到托兒所去時，你一定想不到她三個月前剛剛生了孩子。 科恩的丈夫也是一名醫生。但她（除了工作外），每天還得給四個孩子洗澡，做飯，每周六還得出去購物。她說：“如果我不給孩子們做飯，我會覺得自己沒盡到母親的責任。” 據法國全國統計辦公室Insee的統計數據顯示，法國女性平均每天照顧孩子和做家務活的時間為5小時1分鐘，而男性在這些事情上所花的時間為2小時7分鐘。 法國多數醫學院畢業生為女性。但在科恩所在的醫院，所有11個科室的負責人都是男性。 法國總統尼古拉?薩科齊領導的中右翼政黨（人民運動聯盟）的議長讓-弗朗索瓦?科普說：“法國男性的權力意識較強。”目前該黨正推動一項議案，要求公司中的女董事比例不得低于40%。法國女性于1945年獲得選舉權。1998年，法國通過了一項要求政治團體中男女成員人數相同的法案，但各政黨則寧愿交罰款，也不愿服從。 1972年后法國共通過了四項推動男女報酬平等的法律。但2009年，四十多歲沒有子女的女性的收入仍比男性低17%。 相關閱讀： （中國日報網英語點津 蔡姍姍 編輯：馮明惠） |
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Vocabulary: immaculate:clean,spotless（整潔的；無污跡的） crystallize: 使具體化 teem with:充滿；富于 |
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