英國：金融業收入性別差距達80%

Women in some of Britain's leading financial companies receive around 80 percent less in bonus and performance-linked pay than their male colleagues, the country's equality watchdog said on Monday.

A survey of 50 finance firms found that women earned an average of 2,875 pounds ($4,712) a year in performance pay compared to 14,550 pounds for men, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) said.

There was also a 39 percent gap between women and men in annual basic pay, rising to 47 percent when bonuses and other additional payments were added.

"The finance sector has one of the highest overall gender pay gaps in the UK economy," the commission said.

It said women working full-time in the finance firms surveyed earned 55 percent less annual gross salary than men, compared to a pay gap of 28 percent for the economy generally.

"The financial sector has the potential to play a central role in Britain's recovery. But it has to address this shocking disparity of rewards," said EHRC Chairman Trevor Phillips.

The sector's age profile could be a factor in holding back women, the commission said.

"An unusually high proportion of workers in the sector fall into the 25-39 age group -- the age at which women tend to have childcare responsibilities."

The British Bankers' Association said big payouts were made to a relatively small number of people and that part of the gender pay gap in finance was due to lifestyle choices made by women.

"In general, women tend to be attracted to areas such as retail banking, fund management, insurance and other functions where people skills are at a premium -- these, traditionally, do not attract the higher bonuses," the BBA said.

"Women also often make different choices when it comes to balancing work and home life. The industry employs proportionately quite young people and this too can have an impact on salaries as it clashes with those years when more women than men take time out to look after children."

英國性別平等監督機構於本週一稱，英國幾大金融公司的女職員所獲得的獎金和績效收入比男同事少約80%。

英國平等與人權委員會(EHRC)對50家金融公司開展的一項調查發現，女職員的年均績效收入爲2875英鎊（合4712美元），而男職員的這一收入則高達14550英鎊。

此外，在年基本薪酬方面，男員工比女員工也高出39%，再加上獎金和其它額外收入，這一差距則達到47%。

該委員會稱：“在英國，金融行業的整體收入性別差距最大。”

該機構稱，在受調查的幾家金融公司中，全職女員工的年總收入比男員工低55%，而全國的總體平均差距爲28%。”

英國平等與人權委員會主席特里弗•菲利普斯說：“金融行業能在英國經濟復甦中扮演核心角色，但它必須解決其驚人的性別收入差距問題。”

該委員會稱，在金融領域，年齡對於女性來說是一個不利因素。

報告稱：“在金融行業，25歲至39歲的從業者所佔比例相當高。而這一年齡段的女性大都有照顧孩子的任務。”

英國銀行家協會稱，獲得高薪的畢竟只是少數人，金融行業的性別收入差距部分是因爲女性生活方式的選擇。

該協會稱：“總體來看，女性傾向於從事小額銀行、基金管理、保險以及其它一些需要與人溝通的業務——而這些職位的獎金通常不會太高。”

“而且在平衡工作和家庭生活問題上，女性常常會做出不同的選擇。金融業中的年輕人所佔比例較高，這也會對薪水產生影響，因爲與男性相比，在這一階段有更多的女性需要抽出時間照顧孩子。”

Vocabulary:

disparity：the condition or fact of being unequal, as in age, rank, or degree; difference（差異，不同）

hold back：to restrain or check（阻止，抑制）

at a premium：of exceptional quality or greater value than others of its kind; superior（難得，非常珍貴，需要很大，短缺）

take time out to：暫停下來；抽出工作中的時間