2016年3月末,我初為人母。我還記得抱著我一周大的兒子時那種無法言喻的感受,我覺得生命中的頭等大事從根本上發(fā)生了改變,我知道這是大家都有的感受。
Like so many parents, I wondered how I was going to balance my work with my new role as a parent, and in that moment, I remember that the statistic for the US’s policy on maternity leave flashed in my mind.
像很多父母那樣,我考慮著該如何在工作和為人父母方面尋得平衡。那一刻,美國關(guān)于產(chǎn)假政策的數(shù)據(jù)在我腦海中閃現(xiàn)。
American women are currently entitled to 12 weeks unpaid leave. American men are entitled to nothing.
目前,美國女性享有12周無薪產(chǎn)假的權(quán)利,而美國男性在這方面卻什么都沒有。
I remember thinking to myself, 'If the practical reality of pregnancy is another mouth to feed in your home, and America is a country where most people are living paycheck to paycheck, how does 12 weeks unpaid leave economically work?'
我當(dāng)時就想,“如果懷孕面臨的現(xiàn)實(shí)就是家里多了一張嘴,而美國又是一個大多數(shù)人依靠薪水度日的國家,那么這12周無薪假如何能讓人在經(jīng)濟(jì)上維系下去?”
The truth is: for too many people, it doesn’t.
真相是:對于多數(shù)人而言,這是無法負(fù)擔(dān)的。
One in four American women go back to work two weeks after giving birth because they can’t afford to take any more time off than that. That is 25 per cent of American women.
4個美國女性中就有1個在產(chǎn)后2周內(nèi)回歸工作崗位,因?yàn)樗齻兂袚?dān)不起更長時間的產(chǎn)假。這可占了美國女性總數(shù)的25%。
Equally disturbing, women who can afford to take the full 12 weeks often don’t, because it will mean incurring a “motherhood penalty” – meaning they will be perceived as less dedicated to their job and will be passed over for promotions and other career advancement.
同樣令人不安的是,那些可以休滿12周產(chǎn)假的女性卻通常選擇不這么做。因?yàn)樾莓a(chǎn)假會招致“為人母的懲罰”,意味著她們會被認(rèn)為事業(yè)心不強(qiáng),從而錯失升職機(jī)會和其他職場晉升。
In other words, in order to liberate women, we need to liberate men.
換言之,想要解放女性,我們也需要解放男性。
Paid parental leave is not about taking days off work; it’s about creating the freedom to define roles, to choose how to invest time, and to establish new, positive cycles of behavior.
帶薪休產(chǎn)假不是休假不工作這么簡單,它是給予人定義角色的自由,去選擇怎樣分配時間,養(yǎng)成新的、積極的行為模式。
Maternity leave, or any workplace policy based on gender, can – at this moment in history – only ever be a gilded cage. Though it was created to make life easier for women, we now know it creates a perception of women as being inconvenient to the workplace. We now know it chains men to an emotionally limited path.
產(chǎn)假,或任何基于性別的職場制度,目前來看不過是鍍金牢籠。雖然,這些制度是為了讓女性生活得更容易一點(diǎn),但我們現(xiàn)在知道,它給人造成一種印象,即職場有女性很不方便。同時,它還限制了男性情感的表達(dá)。
Paid parental leave does more than give more time for parents to spend with their kids. It changes the story of what children observe, and will, from themselves, imagine possible.
帶薪產(chǎn)假能夠帶來的不僅是讓父母有更多時間陪伴孩子,它更是改變了孩子們的認(rèn)知,讓他們從自身出發(fā)想象無限可能。
In my own country, the United States – currently, the only high income country in the world without paid maternity, let alone parental leave.
我的祖國美國,目前是世界上唯一一個沒有女性帶薪產(chǎn)假的高收入國家,更別提育嬰雙親假了。
Every generation must find their north.
每一代人都要找到自己的方向。
When women around the world demanded the right to vote, we took a fundamental step towards equality. North.
當(dāng)全世界的女性要求投票權(quán)的時候,我們向平等邁出了基礎(chǔ)性的一步。這就是方向。
When same-sex marriage was passed in the US, we put an end to a discriminatory law. North.
當(dāng)同性婚姻在美國獲得批準(zhǔn)的時候,我們?yōu)槠缫曅苑僧嬌狭司涮枴_@就是方向。
When millions of men and boys, and prime ministers, and the President of the General Assembly, when men in this room and around the world – the ones we cannot see, the ones who support us in ways we cannot know but we feel – when they answered Emma Watson’s call to be HeForShe, the world grew. North.
當(dāng)數(shù)以百萬計(jì)的男人和男孩、首相、聯(lián)合國大會主席、今天在座的各位及世界各地的男性——雖然我們看不到他們,雖然他們在以未知的方式支持著我們,但我們都能感受到那種支持,當(dāng)他們響應(yīng)艾瑪·沃森HeForShe的號召時,這世界就進(jìn)步了。這就是方向。
We must ask ourselves, how will we be more tomorrow than we are today?
我們必須要捫心自問,我們要怎樣做才能讓明天比今天更好?
The whole world grows when people like you and me take a stand, because we know that beyond the idea of how women and men are different, there is a deeper truth that love is love, and parents are parents.
當(dāng)像你我這樣的人站出來發(fā)聲,這世界就進(jìn)步了。因?yàn)槲覀兩钪诔侥信詣e差異的觀念之后,有一個更深層的真理:愛就是愛,父母就是父母。
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