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US Specialist Jennifer Fifield of the 2nd Battalion of the 12th Cavalry Regiment attends a briefing at the forward operating base of Liberty camp April 1, 2007, before leaving for a mission in Baghdad's northwest Sunni neighborhood of Ghazaliya. [Reuters]
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Mothers in the US military are stressed, poorly paid and need more help caring for their children, according to a report issued by Congress on Friday.
Nearly half of all women in theactive-duty militaryhave been deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, and 24,475 women are there now, the report by the Joint Economic Committee said.
Yet child care services are not keeping up with longer and more frequent deployments, said the report, released to coincide with Mothers' Day in the United States on Sunday.
Moreover, women get only 6 weeks of leave after the birth of a child, it found.
"Making sure military mothers have the quality child care, generousfamily leave, and access to mental health services they need is key to their family well-being and our national security," New York Democratic Rep. Carolyn Maloney said in a statement.
"Not addressing these issues could have serious implications for the retention of women in the military, and the readiness and effectiveness of our forces."
The Joint Economic Committee, a bipartisan group of senators and members of the House of Representatives, used Defense Department figures for much of the report.
It said that women represent one in seven US military personnel in Iraq, and that most are in the lowest-paid ranks.
Women make up about 14.3 percent of the active-duty military, according to the report, and about 40 percent of women in the active-duty force have children compared with 44 percent of active-duty men.
However, military women are much more likely to be single or divorced, or married to other members of the military who also face deployment.
That leaves grandparents, other relatives or paid caregivers to take care of young children when parents are deployed or redeployed.
The report, available on the Internet at http://www.jec.senate.gov, said the military may be stretched to recruit and retain women if it does not provide better services.
"The military has increased the number of available child care centers, but the National Military Families Association estimates that the military is approximately 35,000 short of expected need," it said.
(Reuters)
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美國國會上周五公布的一份報告顯示，美國軍人媽媽的壓力大、薪水低、而且在照顧孩子方面需要更多幫助。
據聯合經濟委員會的報告，美國現役軍人中近一半的女兵都被派往了伊拉克或阿富汗，目前已達到24475人。
此份于上周日母親節當天公布的報告稱，雖然軍隊駐扎在這兩個地區的時間越來越長、調兵也越來越頻繁，但孩子看護服務并沒有跟上。
此外，該調查發現，女兵的產假只有六周。
紐約民主黨代表卡羅琳·瑪洛尼在一份聲明中說：“保證軍人媽媽能更好的照顧孩子、享有充足的探親假及必要的心理健康咨詢服務對于她們的家庭幸福及我們的國防安全十分關鍵。”
“如果這些問題得不到解決，會對軍隊留住女兵、軍隊自身的敏銳性和效率產生嚴重影響。”
此份報告由參議院和眾議院的兩黨議員組成的聯合經濟委員會公布，其中大部分數據來源于美國國防部。
報告中稱，女兵占駐伊美軍總數的七分之一，而且她們中的大多數人薪水都很低。
女性約占美國現役軍人的14.3%，約40%的現役女兵有孩子，現役男兵的這一比例為44%。
但女兵單身、離婚或嫁給軍隊里其他同樣面臨調配的男兵的幾率較大。
這造成了在父母被調配或重新調配期間，孩子由祖父母、其他親戚或保姆照顧的局面。
該份在http://www.jec.senate.gov網站上公布的報告稱，如果軍隊不提高相關服務，招募及留住女兵將會變得很困難。
報告稱，“目前軍方已經增開了兒童看護中心，但據全國軍人家庭協會估計，軍隊開設的兒童看護中心數量比預計需要少近3萬5千個。”
（來源：英語點津 姍姍編輯）
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