英经济萧条致家庭煮夫数量超主妇

There are now 227,000 stay-at-home fathers, an increase of 10 percent on the previous year.

The number of stay-at-home fathers reached a record high last year, new figures show, as families saw a rise in female breadwinners.

Men now make up nearly 10 percent of those who care for children while their partner goes out to work, official employment statistics revealed today.

There were 227,000 men staying at home to look after family between September and November last year, a rise of 19,000 compared to the same period in 2011 and the highest increase since figures began in 1993.

Experts suggested that the shift was down to men losing their jobs in the recession and either failing to find new employment or deciding that it did not make financial sense for them to return to work if their partner was a high earner.

Overall more than 2.3m people are classed as “economically inactive” because they are at home looking after children, the Office for National Statistics said.

The number of women staying at home saw a small rise over the period to reach just over 2.1m, but has been higher in the past.

The ONS said the figures reflected a growing trend where it was more common for the man to stay at home while his spouse went out to work.

A recent European Commission report said couples where both the man and woman earn money “lost ground” during the economic downturn in favour of female breadwinners, who increased their share to almost 10 percent.

Jenny Garrett, the author of Rocking Your Role, a guide for women who earn the main salary in their family, welcomed the trend.

“The figures don’t surprise me. I think it’s a lot to do with the sectors that have been hit most by the current economic climate, which in the private sector were quite male dominated,” she said.

“Many men are now having to think about whether to retrain or possibly take a job that is not as highly paid, and asking whether it is worth their while if their partner is in a good job.”

However, she warned that there was still a “taboo” around female breadwinners and stay-at-home fathers.

“It’s something that’s kept quiet or treated as a bit embarrassing. We need to have more conversations about it in order for it to become more acceptable and for people to understand what makes the family unit work,” she said.

(Read by Brian Salter. Brian Salter is a journalist at the China Daily Website.)

双语资讯

(Agencies)

最新数据显示，随着养家的女性增多，去年居家父亲的数量又创新高。

根据今天官方公布的就业统计数据，在照看孩子的父母中，男性占了近10%，而其配偶则外出工作。

去年9月至11月间，有约22.7万名男性在家看孩子，较2011年同期增加1.9万人，达到自1993年开始统计以来的最大增幅。

专家表示，之所以发生这一转变，只因为在经济萧条期很多男性失去了工作，他们有的要么没有再找到新的工作，要么认为如果妻子的收入高，自己即使再回工作岗位对家庭财务也起不了什么作用。

国家统计局称，共有230多万人被算在“无经济能力”之列，因为他们整日呆在家里负责看孩子。

居家女性数量同比小幅增加，刚过210万，但居家女性过去一直多于居家男性。

国家统计局表示，这一数据反映出一种与日俱增的趋势，即男人料理家务而妻子外出工作的现象变得更普遍。

欧盟委员会近期公布的一份报告称，经济萎靡期，双收入夫妇“风光不再”，而养家的女性却处于优势地位，数量增加近10%。

《撼动你的角色》一书的作者珍妮•加内特对这一趋势表示欢迎。该书是专门写给作为家庭主要收入者的女性的指导书。

她表示，“我对这一数据并不感到惊讶。我倒觉得这与许多遭受当前经济形势重创的部门有很大关系，要知道在私营部门还是男性占据主导。”

“许多男性眼下不得不考虑重新接受培训或找一份薪水不是很高的工作。他们也想知道，如果妻子找到份好工作，自己出去工作是否值当。”

然而，她警告称，养家女性和居家父亲切忌触及“禁区”。

她说，“这就像是不能对外言说或有点令人尴尬的事情。为了让更多的人接受、让人理解家庭的运作原理，我们需要针对这一问题展开更多的对话。”

Vocabulary:

lose ground: 处于不利的地位，失势