Name: Japan's Govt Used Women To Save Its Economy - By Exploiting Them | AJ+
Uploaded: 2019-11-04T04:37:41.000Z
Duration: 5 min 32 s

In November 2017, one woman and her baby brought a Japanese city council to a standstill.

2017年11月，一名婦女和她的孩子讓日本的一個市議會陷入了僵局。

One of them was shouting, "This is the most sacred job!"

其中一個人在喊："這是最神聖的工作！"

They said, "No, leave immediately with the baby."

他們說："不行，馬上帶著孩子離開。"

Yuka Ogata is an assemblywoman for Kumamoto city.

In other words, she's one of the few Japanese women in a position of leadership.

換句話說，她是為數不多的處於上司地位的日本女性。

Yuka made headlines on her first day back at work since giving birth.

湯佳在產後復工的第一天就上了頭條。

She was kicked out of an assembly meeting for showing up with her newborn baby in her arms.

她因為抱著剛出生的嬰兒出現在集會會議上，被趕了出來。

I told them,“Well, I am representing people like me, so I have all the right to be here.”

我告訴他們，"好吧，我是代表像我這樣的人，所以我有權利在這裡。"

They told me, “No, no, no, they cannot open the session as long as there's a baby in the chamber.”

他們告訴我，"不不不，只要室內有嬰兒，他們就不能開庭。"

Over 60% of women in Japan quit their jobs after giving birth to their first child.

在日本，超過六成的女性在生完第一個孩子後就辭職了。

And employers expect that, which is why they're less likely to invest in the career development of their women employees.

而僱主們也希望如此，所以他們不太會在女性員工的職業發展上進行投資。

It's not uncommon for employers to demote or pressure women into quitting as soon as they become pregnant.

僱主一懷孕就降職或施壓讓女性辭職的情況並不少見。

This is known as matahara, or maternity harassment.

這就是所謂的 "母原"，也就是孕期騷擾。

Yuka has long fought for women's rights in the workplace.

長期以來，Yuka一直在為女性的職場權益而奮鬥。

But most of her proposals, such as having a nursery room built in her workplace, have been vetoed by her city council.

但她提出的大部分建議，比如在工作場所建一個育嬰室，都被市議會否決了。

And so she took her baby to work to confront her colleagues with the reality of motherhood.

於是，她帶著孩子去上班，面對同事們做母親的現實。

I want the people in politics, people in power, to listen to what we are saying.

我希望從政的人，當權的人，聽一聽我們在說什麼。

We are really struggling, and we want to have children, but we can't.

我們真的很苦惱，我們想生孩子，但我們不能。

Yuka's story highlights a larger problem in Japanese society: the failure of Womenomics.

由香的故事凸顯了日本社會一個更大的問題：女性經濟學的失敗。

In a nutshell, Womenomics is Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's plan to save the economy by bringing more women into Japan's male-dominated workforce.

簡而言之，Womenomics是首相安倍晉三的計劃，通過讓更多女性加入日本男性主導的勞動力隊伍來拯救經濟。

You see, more than a quarter of Japan's population is over the age of 65.

你看，日本有超過四分之一的人口年齡在65歲以上。

Its population is aging dramatically, to the point where adult diapers are outselling baby diapers.

其人口急劇老化，以至於成人紙尿褲的銷量超過了嬰兒紙尿褲。

And not enough babies are being born to replace that aging population.

而且沒有足夠的嬰兒出生來替代老齡化的人口。

That leads to an acute shortage of labor, and ultimately, to economic stagnation.

這就導致了勞動力的嚴重短缺，最終導致經濟停滯。

In an attempt to tackle this, the prime minister decided women could fill the labor gap.

為了解決這個問題，總理決定婦女可以填補勞動力缺口。

And he packaged that as an advance for women's rights.

而他把這包裝成婦女權利的進步。

He said he wanted to create a society in which  "all women shine.”

他說，他想建立一個 "所有女性都能發光 "的社會。

More women in senior positions, improved maternity leave, etc.

更多婦女擔任高級職務，改善產假等。

But Womenomics has been failing women big time.

但是，婦聯一直讓女性大失所望。

Instead of uplifting them, it's exploiting them.

與其說是提升他們，不如說是剝削他們。

Here's why: See, the number of women workers has actually increased since Womenomics.

這就是為什麼。你看，自從 "女性經濟學 "之後，女工的數量實際上已經增加了。 See, the number of women workers has actually increased since Womenomics.

But in 2018, Japan ranked 110th out of 149 countries in the global gender gap index.

但在2018年，日本在全球149個國家的性別差距指數中排名第110位。

And that's partly because of the quality of the jobs that women are getting. They're mostly getting part-time jobs without the benefits that come with full-time work.

而這部分是因為婦女所得到的工作品質問題。她們大多從事的是兼職工作，沒有全職工作帶來的福利。

There is more and more part-time jobs for women.

Part-time jobs with very low wages and no welfare.

兼職工作，工資很低，沒有福利。

So now there are many women who have jobs but still struggle to make ends meet.

所以現在有很多女性雖然有了工作，但是仍然在為生活而努力。

There's another reason why Japan ranks this low in the gender gap index.

日本在性別差距指數中排名這麼低，還有一個原因。

This is Prime Minister Abe's cabinet, the people making the nation's most important political decisions.

這是安倍首相的內閣，是做出國家最重要政治決策的人。

The reason why the situation is the way it is now is because there's very few women in decision-making positions.

之所以會出現現在這樣的情況，是因為決策崗位上的女性很少。

Only 12.4% of lawmakers, senior officials, and managers in Japan are women.

日本的立法者、高級官員和管理人員中只有12.4%是女性。

And it wasn't until 2015 that large companies were finally required by law to set targets for increasing women in management and to disclose those results to the public.

而直到2015年，大公司才終於被法律要求制定增加女性管理層的目標，並向公眾披露這些結果。

But surprise, surprise, there are no penalties if they fail to comply.

但驚喜的是，如果他們不遵守規定，就不會受到懲罰。

Is [Womenomics] working from Shinzo Abe's point of view?

從安倍晉三的角度來看，[女性經濟學]是否在發揮作用？

Maybe to some extent because his objective is to raise production.

也許在一定程度上是因為他的目標是提高產量。

But to me, the government's plan to make women shine ...

但在我看來，政府讓女性發光的計劃... ...

I guess it's safe to say, it's a bit different from what we want.

我想可以說，這和我們想要的有些不同。

Womenomics was the greatest sign of hope women had seen in years.

Womenomics是多年來婦女看到的最大的希望跡象。

It meant something profound and unprecedented.

這意味著一些深刻的、前所未有的東西。

Their well-being was no longer a burden, but at last, a national priority.

他們的福祉不再是一種負擔，而是終於成為國家的優先事項。

Six years on, there are more women in the workforce, but they're still losing out.

六年過去了，工作崗位上的女性越來越多，但她們仍然在流失。

How Womenomics is enforced, or how it affects women, doesn't seem to matter to those who came up with it.

婦女學如何執行，或者說它對女性的影響如何，對提出它的人來說似乎並不重要。

In Japan, we have a term, "kodakara," which means children are treasures.

在日本，我們有一個名詞 "kodakara"，意思是孩子是寶。

These days we don't hear that word anymore.

如今，我們已經聽不到這個詞了。

When this is what it's like to be a working woman in Japan, is it any wonder why they're still struggling to shine?

當日本的職業女性就是這樣的時候，難怪她們還在苦苦地掙扎著發光。