【单选题】

Women, according toChairman Mao, hold up half the sky—but inCalifornia some are better rewarded for this effort than others.According to a new study from the Public Policy Institute ofCalifornia,Asian women born in the United States outstrip all their sisters in terms of earning power.

The average hourly wage forAmerican-bornAsian ladies in 2001 (the latest year with reliable figures) was $19.30, withAmerican-born whites coming next. On the bottom rungs of the ladder came Latinas: if born abroad, they earned a mere $10.40 an hour (though this was comfortably aboveCalifornia’s then $6.25 minimum wage); if born inAmerica, they managed $15.10 an hour.
Education is the biggest reason for the ethnic disparities. Some 55% ofCalifornia’sAmerican-bornAsian women have at least a bachelor’s degree, and an impressive 84% of them either have jobs or are looking for them.By contrast, only 14% ofAmerican-born Hispanic women have a bachelor’s degree and only 74% of them are in the labour market. Meanwhile, Latinas born abroad are often condemned to low-paying jobs by an even inefficient education or a poor knowledge ofEnglish. Much the same can be said ofAsian women born in South-EastAsia, a category that includes refugees from Laos, Vietnam andCambodiA、The institute calculates that they earned an average of $15.80, almost $1 less than other foreign-bornAsians.
But education is not the only factor in play forCalifornia’s women. Larger families make it more difficult for Latinas to go out to work in the first place; blacks often live too far away to commute to well-paid jobs; and just asAsians may benefit from high expectations, so other groups may suffer from low ones.
The institute makes an attempt, heroic or politically correct, to adjust for such factors, imagining, for example, that a foreign-born Latina has the same family structure, education and place of residence as the averageCalifornian woman. That brings the average wage for foreign-born Latinas up to a more respectable $15.20; yetAmerican-bornAsians still rule the roost.But before the golden girls get too happy, the institute reckons thatCalifornian women of all sorts tend to earn roughly 20% less than their menfolk do.
Who are "the golden girls"A．California women.
B．American-bornAsian women.
C．foreign-bornAsian women.
D．American-born Latinas.