经济学人----亚洲女性们拒绝婚姻

WomenarerejectingmarriageinAsia.Thesocialimplicationsareserious亚洲女性们拒绝婚姻，带来严重社会影响Aug20th2011|fromtheprinteditionTWENTYyearsagoadebateeruptedaboutwhethertherewerespecific“Asianvalues”.Mostattentionfocusedondubiousclaimsbyautocratsthatdemocracywasnotamongthem.Butamoreintriguing,iflessnoticed,argumentwasthattraditionalfamilyvalueswerestrongerinAsiathaninAmericaandEurope,andthatthispartlyaccountedforAsia’seconomicsuccess.InthewordsofLeeKuanYew,formerprimeministerofSingaporeandakeenadvocateofAsianvalues,theChinesefamilyencouraged“scholarshipandhardworkandthriftanddefermentofpresentenjoymentforfuturegain”.20年前爆发过一场是否存在特定“亚洲价值观”的争论。争论的焦点主要集中在亚洲独裁者们关于民主并不在其中的含糊论调上。但是一个也许不那么惹眼却更让人感兴趣的说法是，亚洲人的传统家庭观念比美洲和欧洲人要强，而这也是亚洲经济取得如此成功的部分原因。新加波前总理李光耀积极倡导亚洲价值观，用他的话说，中国家庭鼓励“求知上进，辛勤工作，勤俭节约，吃苦在前，享乐在后”。Onthefaceofithisclaimappearspersuasivestill.InmostofAsia,marriageiswidespreadandillegitimacyalmostunknown.Incontrast,halfofmarriagesinsomeWesterncountriesendindivorce,andhalfofallchildrenarebornoutsidewedlock.TherecentriotsacrossBritain,whoseoriginsmanybelievelieinanabsenceofeitherparentalguidanceorfilialrespect,seemtounderlineaprofounddifferencebetweenEastandWest.表面来看，李光耀的说法现在似乎依旧盛行。在亚洲大部分地区，婚姻是很普遍的现象，非婚生子女几乎无人知晓。相比之下，在一些西方国家，大约半数的婚姻以离婚告终，而且有一半的孩子是非婚生的。很多人认为英国近期的暴乱，就是由于父母缺乏教导或是子女不孝，这似乎也凸显了东西方之间的巨大差异。YetmarriageischangingfastinEast,South-EastandSouthAsia,eventhougheachregionhasdifferenttraditions.ThechangesaredifferentfromthosethattookplaceintheWestinthesecondhalfofthe20thcentury.Divorce,thoughrisinginsomecountries,remainscomparativelyrare.What’shappeninginAsiaisaflightfrommarriage(seearticle).然而，在东亚、东南亚和南亚，尽管各自有着不同的传统，人们对待婚姻的态度正迅速发生改变。这些变化和20世纪下半叶西方的变化不同。尽管某些亚洲国家的离婚率在上升，但相对来说还很低。亚洲的变化在于人们不愿意结婚。（见文章）Marriageratesarefallingpartlybecausepeoplearepostponinggettinghitched.Marriageageshaverisenallovertheworld,buttheincreaseisparticularlymarkedinAsia.PeopletherenowmarryevenlaterthantheydointheWest.Themeanageofmarriageintherichestplaces—Japan,Taiwan,SouthKoreaandHongKong—hasrisensharplyinthepastfewdecades,toreach29-30forwomenand31-33formen.结婚率正在降低，这部分是由于人们推迟走进婚姻。全世界的结婚年龄都有所上升，但是亚洲最为突出。现在亚洲人甚至比西方人结婚还晚。过去几十年，亚洲最富裕地区——日本，台湾，韩国，香港的平均结婚年龄已大幅上升：女性是29至30岁，男性是31至33岁。AlotofAsiansarenotmarryinglater.Theyarenotmarryingatall.AlmostathirdofJapanesewomenintheirearly30sareunmarried;probablyhalfofthosewillalwaysbe.Overone-fifthofTaiwanesewomenintheirlate30saresingle;mostwillnevermarry.Insomeplaces,ratesofnon-marriageareespeciallystriking:inBangkok,20%of40-44-yearoldwomenarenotmarried;inTokyo,21%;amonguniversitygraduatesofthatageinSingapore,27%.Sofar,thetrendhasnotaffectedAsia’stwogiants,ChinaandIndia.Butitislikelyto,astheeconomicfactorsthathavedrivenitelsewhereinAsiasweepthroughthosetwocountriesaswell;anditsconsequenceswillbeexacerbatedbythesex-selectiveabortionpractisedforagenerationthere.By2050,therewillbe60mmoremenofmarriageableagethanwomeninChinaandIndia.很多亚洲人不是晚婚，而是根本不打算结婚。三十出头的日本女性中，有近三分之一的人还没结婚，也许她们中有一半人将永远不结婚。奔四的台湾女性中，有五分之一以上是单身，大多数不会结婚了。某些地区的不婚率尤其高的惊人：在曼谷，有20%的40至44岁大龄女性没有结婚；在东京这一比例是21%。新加坡这一年龄段且拥有大学学历的女性中，有27%的人没有结婚。目前为止，这一趋势还没有影响到亚洲的两大巨头，中国和印度。但是以后可能会有影响，因为导致亚洲其他国家出现这一现象的经济因素，也已经席卷了中国和印度。而且由于这两国存在选择性堕胎现象，会使得影响更加严重。到2050年，中国和印度的适婚男女中，男性会比女性多6000多万。Thejoyofstayingsingle单身的乐趣Womenareretreatingfrommarriageastheygointotheworkplace.That’spartlybecause,forawoman,beingbothemployedandmarriedistoughinAsia.Womentherearetheprimarycaregiversforhusbands,childrenand,often,forageingparents;andevenwheninfull-timeemployment,theyareexpectedtocontinuetoplaythisrole.Thisistrueelsewhereintheworld,buttheburdenthatAsianwomencarryisparticularlyheavy.Japanesewomen,whotypicallywork40hoursaweekintheoffice,thendo,onaverage,another30hoursofhousework.Theirhusbands,onaverage,dothreehours.AndAsianwomenwhogiveupworktolookafterchildrenfindithardtoreturnwhentheoffspringaregrown.Notsurprisingly,Asianwomenhaveanunusuallypessimisticviewofmarriage.Accordingtoasurveycarriedoutthisyear,manyfewerJapanesewomenfeltpositiveabouttheirmarriagethandidJapanesemen,orAmericanwomenormen.由于女性有了自己的工作，她们对于婚姻打了退堂鼓。这部分是由于，对于亚洲女性来说，兼顾工作和家庭非常困难。女性担负着照顾丈夫孩子，通常还有年迈父母的重任，即使有一份全职的工作，她们还是要继续担此重任。诚然全世界女性都是如此，然而亚洲女性的负担尤其沉重。日本女性通常每周工作40小时，此外平均还要做30小时的家务。而她们的丈夫平均做三个小时而已。那些为了照顾孩子放弃工作的亚洲女性们，则发现当孩子长大后，她们也很难再去工作了。因此亚洲女性对于婚姻的看法异常悲观，这点不足为奇。据今年的一项调查，相比日本男人，或是美国男女来说，日本女人对于婚姻持乐观态度的要少得多。Atthesametimeasemploymentmakesmarriagetougherforwomen,itoffersthemanalternative.Morewomenarefinanciallyindependent,somoreofthemcanpursueasinglelifethatmayappealmorethanthedrudgeryofatraditionalmarriage.Moreeducationhasalsocontributedtothedeclineofmarriage,becauseAsianwomenwiththemosteducationhavealwaysbeenthemostreluctanttowed—andtherearenowmanymorehighlyeducatedwomen.虽然工作使女性们更难维持婚姻，也给她们带来别的选择。更多的女性经济独立，因此她们中越来越多的人追求单身生活，这比单调乏味的传统婚姻更有吸引力。受教育程度更高也导致结婚率下降，因为受过最好教育的亚洲女性们通常最不愿意结婚，而现在受过高等教育的女性越来越多。Nomarriage,nobabies不结婚，没孩子TheflightfrommarriageinAsiaisthustheresultofthegreaterfreedomthatwomenenjoythesedays,whichistobecelebrated.Butitisalsocreatingsocialproblems.ComparedwiththeWest,Asiancountrieshaveinvestedlessinpensionsandotherformsofsocialprotect