Aug 10

　　Chile, which has South America's most successful economy, elected its first female president this year. But the lot of Chilean women is by many measures worse than that of their sisters elsewhere in the region. A smaller proportion of them work and fewer achieve political power. According to a recent report by the Inter-Parliamentary Union, 15% of representatives in the lower house of Chile's Congress are women, less than half the proportion in Costa Rica and Argentina and below the level in eight other countries in the region, including Venezuela and Bolivia. Chilean women hope that Michelle Bachelet's presidency will improve their position but there are worries that she will do more harm than good.

　　No one is sure why Chilean women lag. The wage gap with men is relatively large. Women earned 19% less than men in 2003, according to a government survey; the gap was nearly 40% in jobs requiring high levels of education. Chile may also be more socially conservative than other South American countries. The women's affairs ministry still finds such phrases as “boys like to learn, girls like to play at tea parties” in textbooks.

　　智利妇女落后了

　　南美洲经济最成功的国家智利今年选出了第一位女总统。但是智利妇女在许多指标上都比她们在该地区的其他姐妹差。她们工作的比例要低，更少的人获得政治上的权利。根据“议会间联盟”最近一项报告，在智利国会的下议院中，只有15%的议员是妇女，这个比例不到哥斯达黎加和阿根廷的一半，并低于这个地区包括委内瑞拉和玻利维亚在内的其他8个国家。智利妇女希望米歇尔·巴切莱特就任总统期间能改善她们的地位，但是也担心她成事不足，败事有余。

　　没人知道为什么智利妇女会落后。她们和男性的工资差距相对较大。根据政府的调查，2003年妇女挣钱比男性少19%。在对教育程度要求较高的工作中，这一差距接近40%。在社会习惯方面，智利比其他南美洲国家也许更加保守。妇女事务部在学生课本中仍然发现这样的句子——“男孩喜欢学习，女孩喜欢派对”。