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TEXT 71
经济学人 :安倍经济学 女性权益该如何维护
Asia: Women and work in Japan We're busy.Get an abortion
亚洲：日本的妇女和工作，我们很忙，你堕胎去吧
原文
Pregnant women are furious about how they aretreated at the office.
孕妇在职场上受到的待遇让她们感到愤怒。
“ABENOMICS is womenomics,” Japan’s prime minister declared, marrying two atrocious words in a single phrase, at a glamorous shindig called WAW!, or the “World Assembly for Women in Tokyo”, on August 28th-29th. Before an international audience of high-powered female leaders and businesswomen, Shinzo Abe promised to help women “shine” at work as a way to boost Japan’s talent pool and economy. As the conference opened, the Diet (parliament) passed a long-awaited law calling on companies to find ways to promote more women.
Yet such grand visions are beside the point for most working women. Sayaka Osakabe, founder of a new non-profit outfit called Matahara Net, which campaigns for the rights of pregnant women at work, says that before “shining” women just need to be allowed to work without being harassed. Matahara, (a contraction of “maternity” and “harassment”), is illegal but rife.
The worst examples involve bosses urging pregnant women to have abortions. One woman who now works for Matahara Net landed a prized “career-track” job at a big bank alongside her boyfriend, who worked in another department. After she became pregnant, a manager told her he would “crush” both her own career and that of her boyfriend if she went ahead and had the baby. In 2011 she took the hint and had an abortion.
Ms Osakabe herself suffered two miscarriages. She says that stress caused by ill-treatment at work was partly to blame. Other women have had to apologise in front of co-workers for becoming pregnant. Those on precarious part-time contracts are particularly vulnerable to being fired while on maternity leave. A fifth of young mothers experience some kind of office harassment, according to Rengo, Japan’s biggest trade union confederation.
Part of the problem is the country’s culture of pointless workaholism—office workers are expected to stay late even if they have no work to do. Anyone exempted from this ordeal—mothers with young children, for instance—is envied. Also, since companies seldom hire cover for women on maternity leave, colleagues have to pick up the burden. Twice as many female as male colleagues dish out verbal criticism of pregnant women. It is one reason why seven out of ten women give up their jobs on having their first child.
Not all women think this is a problem. Ayako Sono, a conservative who was once on a government panel on education, calls matahara a “dirty” expression that signifies women’s overreaction to minor social discomforts. Yet it is hard for the government to ignore the harassment, since it contributes to the relentless decline in the Japanese population, policymakers’ biggest headache. Women who find it hard to combine work and motherhood often forgo the latter.
Last year the Supreme Court ruled for the first time on matahara. It found in favour of a mother who had sued a medical practice in Hiroshima for demoting her. This judgment, and Mr Abe’s championing of working-women’s rights, have emboldened more women to speak out. Those expecting are starting to expect better treatment.
译文
日本的首相宣称：“安倍经济是女性经济”。8月28日至29日，在出席一场名为WAW!的热闹会议或者说聚集了“居于东京的女性世界领袖”的会议上，他把两个在日本都非常艰难的词联姻到一个短语里。当着一群来自世界各地位高权重的女性政治领袖和女性企业家面前，安倍晋三承诺，将会帮助女性在各自工作岗位上“绽放光芒”，以此来催动日本人才市场和经济的蓬勃发展。随会议的开展，国会通过了一部早已被世人期盼已久的法律，要求每个企业想方设法促进更多女性员工的晋升。
然而如此美好远大的愿景实非大多数职业女性所盼。Sayaka Osakabe，是一家名叫Matahara Net的非营利性组织的创始人。这家公司致力于为孕期职业妇女争取权益。她说，在“绽放光芒”之前，女性更紧迫的需求是能在工作岗位上更安心。Matahara（词汇缩写自“孕妇matenity”和“骚扰harassment”的组合），这种现象尽管受到法律禁止，却仍然十分普遍。
最糟糕的情况包括上司敦促怀孕的职业女性堕胎。某位现在正在Matahara Net工作的女性曾和她的男朋友在同一家大型银行的不同部门工作，当时她还曾因完成“职业追溯”工作而受到过褒奖。但当她怀孕后，那家银行的经理告诉她，如果她坚持下去，生下孩子，那么他将会“碾碎”她和她男朋友两个人的职业人生。于是在2011年，她迫于压力，选择了堕胎。
Osakabe女士自己也曾承受过两次流产。她说自己在工作中遭遇的不公正待遇带来的巨大压力也是造成流产的部分原因。还有些女性曾经不得不就自己怀孕一事向一同共事的人道歉。而那些只签订了兼职合同的女性则非常容易在孕假期间被辞退。根据日本最大的贸易联合体公司Rengo统计，每五个已经当了妈妈的职业女性中就有一人遭遇过某种类型的办公室骚扰。
造成这些问题的部分原因在于这个国家无意义的工作狂文化——这种文化下，办公室职员哪怕没有实际工作要完成，也需要留在公司直到很晚。任何人一旦试图违背这种规则——比如需要照顾年幼孩子的母亲——就会受到来自各方的嫉妒。此外，由于公司很少雇佣人手填补因怀孕而请假的女性岗位，她的同事们将不得不挑起这份负担。人数两倍于女性员工的男性职员甚至会因此直言责骂他们怀孕的女同事。这也是为什么每十个职业女性中有七个会在她们怀上第一个孩子时选择辞职。
但也并非所有女性都认为这是了不得的大事。Ayako Sono，一位曾在政府教育技术部门工作的女性认为，matahara是个“恶毒”的词汇，彰显了女性对某些社会不适应症的反应过度。就算也有这样的声音，政府却很难就这样对职场骚扰问题视而不见，因为它导致了日本本已剧烈下滑的人口数量进一步减少，而人口缩减问题是让政策制定者最为头痛的难题。因为骚扰问题的存在，让那些感觉很难身兼职员和母亲身份的职业女性往往选择放弃后者的角色。
去年，高等法院第一次就一例matahara案件进行了宣判。判决起诉一家位于广岛的诊所逼迫其堕胎的女性获胜。这个判例，以及安倍先生关于职业女性权利的演讲，让越来越多女性鼓起勇气发出呼声。这开始令职场女性期待自己也许可以获得更好的待遇。
✪注释
1.be furious about 对...不满
例句:She was furious about our mistake. 她对我们的错误非常愤怒。
2.speak out 说出；畅所欲言
例句:He said other things I cannot speak out for shame. 他还说了些我羞于启齿的话。
3.in favour of 支持；赞成
例句:The vote was overwhelmingly in favour of the Democratic Party. 压倒多数的选票投给了民主党。
4.dish out 给予；分发
例句:Politicians can really dish out sweet talk. 政客对发表甜言蜜语很有一套。
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