① Women have historically been paid less. But in the US in the 1980s, they began to catch up—fast. During that decade, the gender pay gap closed by about one percentage point a year. Had that trend continued, the gender wage gap would have been closed by 2017.
② But the trend didn’t continue, and the gap remains yawning.
③ According to a new study from academics at Harvard, the stagnation can be put down, perhaps counterintuitively, to the introduction of state and federal family leave policies.
④ The academics argue that during the 1990s, as governments began to introduce leave policies, it was mainly women who took advantage of them. Though the leave policies might have helped those women to stay in the workplace—instead of dropping out to have families—those who returned saw their wages had increased at lower rates than the men.
⑤ After family leave was introduced in the US, in fact, the rate of gender wage convergence fell to just 0.03 percentage points per year, and has remained there ever since.
⑥ Those monitoring the process towards salary equity at work have long watched as progress slowed in many countries around the world. In fact, that progress began to reverse during the pandemic (大流行病).
⑦ The gender pay gap is one of the most outstanding examples of that lack of parity (平等), and still exists just about everywhere. The motherhood penalty has become a shorthand for describing why: In many places, especially rich countries, women earn the same as men until they reach their childbearing years. Women who have children begin to see their salaries slip behind their male counterparts.
⑧ Part of this is because women take on more of the umpaid labor at home, which can eat into time available for work and energy for career advancement. But it’s also because mothers are passed over for raises and promotion, and because time out of the workplace sets women back, even if that time is taken voluntarily, and supported by company or government policy.
⑨ What would have happened if leave policies hadn’t been introduced? The study doesn’t go into that question, other than to say that if the 1980s trend continued, we would have been at parity by now.
⑩ It’s possible, however, that the journey towards wage parity would have stalled either way. If women’s gains in the 1980s were made through the erasure of things like bias, once those less uncontrollable problems had been addressed, there would still have been an issue with women—who are the ones to bear children and take care of them in the early weeks because of biological factors like the ability to breastfeed, forcing them to take breaks, whether or not those breaks were mandated.
1.1.What do we learn about the gender pay gap in the US during the 1980s?
A It was being slowly closed.
B It was shrinking rapidly.
C It started to yawn.
D It remained substantial.
解析：选B。
B细节理解题。第一段明确提到，在20世纪80年代的美国，女性薪资开始快速赶了上来。在那十年间，性别薪资差距每年缩小约一个百分点，并指出如果这一趋势持续下去，到2017年，性别薪资差距就会消失。这表明20世纪80年代差距缩小的速度很快。选项B“它正快速缩小”准确概括了这一现象，故为正确答案。选项A与文中描述的快速缩小趋势不符。选项C与事实完全相反，20世纪80年代是缩小最快的时期。选项D描述的是现状，而非20世纪80年代的情况。故选B。
2.2.What happened with the introduction of state and federal family leave policies?
A The process towards salary equity at work began to reverse.
B The rate of gender wage convergence started to fa ll noticeably.
C The trend of women returning to work after childbirth started.
D The narrowing of the gender pay gap attracted more attention.
解析：选B。B推理判断题。第三段首次谈及家庭休假政策，第四段谈论这项政策对性别薪资差距的负面影响，第五段用数据佐证负面影响：美国实施家庭休假政策后，性别薪资差距缩小速度降至每年仅0.03个百分点。这与选项B“性别薪资差距缩小速度显著下降”完全吻合(从1%降至0.03%)，故为正确答案。选项A中的“开始倒退”是大流行病期间的现象，非家庭休假政策的直接结果。选项C中的“重返职场”是政策目的而非实际影响。文中未提及对性别薪资差距缩小的关注度，故排除选项D。故选B。
3.3.What partly accounts for the slip in women’s salaries?
A The insufficient motivation women generally have for career advancement.
B The opportunities numerous women give up for pay raise and promotion.
C The huge amounts of time and energy women spend taking care of the family.
D The lack of policy support from government and business corporations.
解析：选C。C细节理解题。倒数第四段提及女性在生育后薪资开始落后于男性的现象，并在下一段具体说明了原因。部分原因在于女性承担了更多在家庭中所做的无偿劳动，这挤占了她们用于工作和职业发展的时间和精力。选项C与此相符，故为正确答案。选项A不正确，文中未提及女性职业发展动力问题；选项B不正确，原文是说生育后的女性通常没有加薪和晋升机会，而非主动放弃；选项D与家庭休假政策相矛盾，故排除这三项。故选C。
4.4.What does the new study say about wage party?
A It would have stalled if those controllable problems had not been addressed.
B It would have halted if company and government had not worked together.
C It would have been achieved with the complete erasure of gender biases.
D It would have been attained with the continuation of the 1980s trend.
解析：选D。D细节理解题。倒数第二段明确指出，新研究指出若延续20世纪80年代的趋势，如今本可实现薪资平等。选项D准确概括了研究的核心结论，即如果维持20世纪80年代的薪资缩小速度，理论上已经可以实现平等，故为正确答案。研究强调的是即使解决可控问题(如偏见)，仍存在生理因素导致的不可控问题，故选项A和C错误。文中未提及政企合作因素，故排除选项B。故选D。
5.5.What prevents women from achieving parity with men in the final analysis?
A Ignoring biases against women in the workplace.
B Giving birth to children and taking care of them.
C Failing to mandate breaks for childbirth and care.
D Lacking resources to address biological problems.
解析：选B。B细节理解题。文章最后得出结论，由于哺乳能力等生理因素，女性必然要承担生育责任并在产后初期照顾婴儿，这迫使她们不得不休假，无论这种休假是否是被强制要求的。选项B指出了女性面临的最根本障碍——由生育和抚养子女带来的生理性职业中断，故为正确答案。文中指出偏见是可解决的“可控问题”，并非障碍，故排除选项A。选项C与文中表述相矛盾，故排除。文中强调的是生理因素，而非资源问题，故排除选项D。故选B。
