单选题
Even today in the modern, developed world, surveys show that parents still prefer to have a boy rather than a girl. One longstanding reason why boys have been
1
as a greater blessing has been that they arc
2
to become better economic providers
3
their parents" old age. Yet it is time for parents to
4
again. Girls may now be a better investment.
Girls get better
5
at school than boys, and in most developed countries more women than men go to
6
Women will thus be better
7
for the new jobs of the 21st century, in which brains
8
a lot more than physical strength. In Britain far more women than men are now
9
to become doctors. And women are more
10
to provide sound advice on investing their parents" nest egg. Surveys show that women consistently
11
higher financial returns than men do.
12
, the increase in female employment in the rich world has been the main
13
force of growth in the past couple of decades. Those women have
14
more to global GDP growth than have either new technology or the new giants, China and India. Add the
15
of housework and child-rearing, and women probably account
16
just over half of the world output. It is
17
that women still get paid less and few
18
it to the top of companies, but,
19
prejudice fades over coming years, women will have great scope to
20
their productivity and incomes.