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What are the most effective tools for creating economic growth? It’s a question that drives and plagues government officials and researchers alike, as an endless quest for increased growth dictates policies that touch all of our lives. From tax reform to trade policy, decisions on immigration, infrastructure and education, growth is what lies beneath it all.
什么是拉动经济增长最有效的方法？正是这个问题让那些政府官员，学者们上下求索，苦心寻觅。对经济增长的永恒追求决定着政府政策，而政策与我们每个人的生活都息息相关。从税制改革到贸易政策，从移民管控到基础设施建设、教育制度，在底层起决定性作用的都是经济增长。
But there is another powerful driver of economic growth that has long gone largely unrecognized: women’s economic empowerment. Commonly framed as a human rights or social issue, the conversation around women in the global workforce is now shifting towards the potentially explosive financial impact that increased gender equality could bring to both developed and emerging economies.
但是还有一种强大的经济增长引擎，长期以来一直被大多数人忽视：女性推动经济的力量。女权主义的发展过去一直被认为是人权问题或社会问题，如今人们的关注点越来越转向世界劳动力市场中女性所具有的促成经济爆发式增长的影响力，无论是对发达国家还是发展中国家。
While women make up just over half the worldwide population, a recent studydetermined that they account for only 37% of measured global GDP. But make no mistake, today’s women are working–just not as consistently as men in the type of work that factors into GDP. In addition to formal jobs, women do 60% of the unpaid work, such as child and elderly care, shopping, and household tasks that allow society to run smoothly. In the U.S., if household production were properly accounted for in national income accounts, this work alone would amount to 26% of GDP.
女性占据着超过一半的世界人口数量，一项近期研究显示，他们在全球GDP测评值中只占有37%的份额。但是不容忽略的是，如今女性都在工作——只是不像男人那样从事着持续性的工作，因而可以算入对GDP的考量。除了正是工作之外，女性还承担着60%无薪资的工作，比如养育孩子，照顾老人，采购，处理家务，保证着社会的正常运行。在美国，假设家庭事务的处理被合理的计算入国民收入核算，仅这一工作就可以换算成26%的GDP。
The Citi GPS report tells the story of women as a powerful, often untapped driver of economic growth. The research has far-reaching potential to raise awareness of the issues and ultimately shift public policy. The numbers are, in fact, staggering: Countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) could see as much as a 20% leap in GDP if female involvement in the economy was raised to that of men.
Citi GPS 报告告诉人们，女性已经成为强大，并且往往被忽略的经济增长引擎。这项研究具有深远的意义，能够唤起人们对相关问题的总是，并且最终促成政府政策的改善。事实上，这是一个惊人的数字：经济合作与发展组织提供的数据表明，如果女性对国民经济的参与度提升至与男性相同的水平，GDP可实现高达20%的跳跃式增长。
You read that right: 20%.
你没看错，是20%。
To put that number into context, today’s estimates set the total potential growth for OECD countries at about 1.5 percent per year from 2016-18. According to Ebrahim Rahbari, and one of the report’s lead authors, the potential for growth through women’s economic empowerment far outweighs other options to boost growth such as monetary or fiscal stimulus packages.
放在具体的经济环境下来说，据当前数据预测，女性促使的经济增长总产值相当于经济合作与发展组织成员国从2016-2018年年均1.5的国民总产值。这份报告的主要撰稿人之一，Ebrahim Rahbari称，女性拉动经济增长的潜能远远超过了货币政策，财政刺激等促进经济增长的调控方式。
“The 20% number is an ambitious, best-case scenario because it relies on female participation levels, average working hours and average productivity levels matching that of men. More conservative, perhaps more realistic estimates for the near-to-medium term put the potential at 6% if we create the conditions to increase female participation in the economy,” Rahbari says. “But even at 6%, it far surpasses what you would expect as a gain from alternative options to boost growth such as the proposed tax reform in the US, which might boost GDP by around 1-1.5% over a few years. The size of the opportunity is just huge.”
“20%这个估算值是一种最理想状态下，最理想主义的数字，因为这取决于女性的参与度，平均工作时长，以及是否能达到与男性想当的平均工作效率水平。在更为保守主义，更现实的估算下，用更为低调的说法来说，如果我们能创造条件增加女性对国民经济的参与度，这个数字大概为6%。”Rahbari说。“不过就算是6%，这个数字也远远超过了其他促进经济增长的选项所能带来的经济增长，比如在美国已被提出的税制改革预计能在未来几年拉动约1%-1.5%的经济增长。女性拉动经济增长的力量可谓潜力无限。
