Many people assume that the only reason people don't make it in today's society is because of lack of ambition or unemployment. While this is often true there are many other contributors as to why some people are poor and others are not. In a country where equal opportunity is emphasized so greatly it is shocking to see how many people live below the poverty line, for reasons other than just laziness. Some of the main causes of income inequality are lack of education and training, single parents, discrimination, inherited wealth, and luck.
Lack of education is perhaps the greatest contributor to poverty in Egypt today. Generally with education comes life skills and knowledge. Without an education it is extremely hard to make it in today's society. As Egypt is a third world developing country it is assumable there would be a large number of people in poverty. The job market is highly selective these days. With transcripts needed to obtain a job, many people will be looked down upon because of their education status.
According to Global Issues, nearly a billion people entered the 21st century unable to read a book or sign their names. It is almost impossible for people to get any sort of decent job, if they are illiterate. In a recent study I did for a project, I interviewed homeless people, asking them their reasons for living on the street. About 90 percent of them had not graduated from even high school. Having an education allows people to learn common Math and English skills, however also provides them with preparation for the real world. The more educated on is, the more attainable high paying jobs are. It is much easier to obtain a job, having graduated college or even high school.
Another big factor of poverty is the ever-growing single parent's population. With more divorces now days, more mothers are being forced to be the sole care takers of their children, making it harder to get full time jobs. If parents are not able to leave their children unattended they either have to pay for childcare or work less hours, settling for less of an income. “The divorced mother of a 16-year-old daughter, Azza Hemdan has worked for the Giza Municipal Social Solidarity Sector for 12 years, earning exactly LE 240 a month” (el-Jesri). This issue is also a large contributor to poverty in today's society. Throughout recent years there have been several discussions of one more classification for a cause of poverty.
Discrimination also plays a large role in poverty. People can be discriminated against due to their age, ethnicity, and even physical appearance. Now if English is not someone's fluent language the jobs available decrease an extreme amount. Another important factor in today's poverty line is the amount of people who inherit their wealth. If someone is born into money, as opposed to someone who must work their way up, the person with the wealthy family will most likely be rich. For some people it is necessary to work for their money, while for others it is handed down to them.
Finally another factor, which is often overlooked, is the matter of luck. If one happens to be naturally smart it will inevitably be easier to succeed in life, over someone who has to work much harder to gain knowledge. Luck is also very important in inherited wealth. Some people just get lucky and get money handed to them by their parents, and some people happen to have connections at high paying jobs. Luck is the one thing that cannot be changed in relation to poverty. All of the previous factors listed contribute greatly to our increasing poverty rate, and unless people step up and start making education a priority not much will change within our lifetime.
译文:
揭露埃及贫困事实背后的真相
在当今社会，人们猜测没有取得成功的唯一原因就是缺少抱负，或者是由于失业。当贫困现象不断重复上演的时候，好多人都试图揭示出贫富差距的真正原因。在一个强调机会均等的国家，贫富差距的现象着实令人震惊，但其原因不仅仅是懒惰，还有因为受教育程度不同而导致的收入差距、单亲家庭现象、歧视现象，遗产的继承和运气。
教育培养的缺乏也许是导致如今埃及贫困最大的原因。普遍意义上的教育包括技能训练与知识教育。在当今社会，如果没有接受过教育，想要成功是十分艰难的。埃及是第三世界发展中国家，可以想到，这里有为数不少的贫困人口。目前，工作市场是找工作的一个很好的途径。为了得到一份工作，好多人由于受自身教育程度的限制，被招工单位所蔑视。
根据全球问题网站(Global Issues)提供的数据，进入21世纪以后，有接近十亿的人口不能够读懂书和书写他们自己的名字。如果他们是文盲，想要找一份体面的工作是几乎不可能的。在我最近研究的一项调查中，我采访了一些无家可归的人，详细询问了他们为何在大街上生活的原因。他们中，有接近百分九十的人甚至连中学都没有毕业。接受系统的教育是为了让他们得到普遍的数学与英语技巧，并且，让他们在接触真实的社会之前，做好必要的准备。接受的教育水平越高，也就意味着拥有高收入的机会就越大。拥有大学学位，甚至是高中学位，找工作的时候都会轻松一些。
贫困的另一个重要因素就是日益增长的单亲家庭总数。如今，离婚的家庭越来越多，越来越多的母亲被迫要独自照顾小孩，因此，找全职工作是比较难的。假如父母双方都没有能力把孩子留下来照顾，于是他们就不得不雇保姆照顾孩子，或者减少工作时间，所以，他们只好勉强接受较少的收入。（例如：一为离婚的母亲有一个16岁的女儿，Azza Hemdan 已经为社会关系部门工作了12年，每个月只能挣240埃及磅).在当今社会，这个问题也是贫困的重要原因之一。在最近几年，关于贫困其他原因的话题，已经被越来越多的人所讨论。
歧视现象在贫困中扮演了一个重要的角色。人们由于年龄，种族，甚至是身体表征而受到歧视。现在，如果不是好多人都可以流畅的使用英语，就业缩减的的数量可能会走向极端。假如有些人生来富贵，那么得到晋升的机会将会很大，于是，富裕的家庭将会更加的富裕。对于另一种人来说，当他们将遗产继承过来，就不得不为了那些所继承的钱而工作了。
最后一个要素，就是我们经常会忽略掉的运气.假如一个人天生就十分的聪明，那么，比起那些努力工作的人，他要获得成功要容易的多。在那些通过继承得到财富的人中，运气也是十分重要的。有些人，仅仅是侥幸的从他们父母那里把财富继承过来，然而，还有一些人自己本身就有一份高收入的工作。运气与贫穷之间的关系是无法改变的。所有关于贫穷的因素都大大的增加了导致贫穷的概率，除非开始并加快速度发展教育的优先权，否则贫穷的现象是不会被改变的。