Don't Promote Me! 昇進はまっぴら

Japanese follows English.　英語の後に日本語が続きます。

I found an article about working women, "I don't want to be promoted! (only in Japanese)." Some may find it strange, thinking that everyone should want to be promoted. The article mentions the following four reasons why they don't want to be promoted:

1. Nobody will support them once they are promoted.
2. They have no role models. All female leaders are aggressive and eloquent.
4. Even if they are promoted, they aren't assigned interesting jobs.

In short, it's not worthwhile for them to be promoted because the more they are promoted the more they lose as follows:

They get:
1. Money
2. Crappy meetings
3. Pressure to marry and have kids - Women aren't considered successful unless they are married.
4. Pressure to do household chores - No matter how busy they are at work, homemaking is still women's responsibility.
5. Pity - If they are single, they are pitied no matter how successful in business. If married, they are pitied because they are too busy.

They lose:
1. Respect from co-workers - Others are scared of them, but don't respect them.
2. Time for themselves
3. Boy(girl)friend/spouse - It's unavoidable as they have no time.
4. Female friends - Due to jealousy if they are married or disdain if they aren't.

In short, for Japanese women, "working successfully" can't co-exist with "being successful" because the more successful they are at work, the less their value as women is (Look at the reason No. 2. They don't like aggressive or talkative women!), which means working women have hard time to find partners or keep relationship with them. So, isn't it reasonable that wise women try to get money and a high social status through their spouses in exchange for their appearance and doing household chores? I knew this, but what surprised me the most is that this hasn't changed at all for more than 30 years, according to Sachiko, a friend of mine.

One of the Abe administration's key policies is to make "women SHINE," i.e., to increase female workers, to cover a labor shortage and they have taken various measures, like increasing nurseries, although still not enough. But the real problem is our mindset, i.e., ignoring the importance of independence. Unless the myth that non-working women are happier than working women goes away, parents continue to send the wrong message to their daughters and grand daughters. A key to being happy is independence, financially and otherwise. Sachiko and I both work and are happy because we both independent and are proud of that. 

先日、女性社員に関する「昇進はまっぴら」という記事をネットで読んだ。理由は以下の通り。

1. 昇進すると助けてくれる人がいなくなる。
2. 手本となる女性リーダーが身近にいない。先輩は男勝りで弁が立つ人だらけ。
4. やりがいを感じられない。

つまり、昇進すればするほど失うものが多いということ。まとめると（私見ですが）、

昇進して得るもの
1. 金
2. くだらない会議
3. 結婚しろ、子を産めというプレッシャー－独身だといつまでたっても「負け組」
4. 家事のプレッシャー－日本だけかもしれないが、やっぱり家事は女の責任。
5. あわれみ－独身だと昇進しても可哀そう。結婚していても忙しすぎて可哀そう。

失うもの
1. 同僚からの尊敬－怖がられても尊敬はされません。
2. 自分の時間 　
3. 伴侶－時間ないから仕方ないか。
4. 女友達－既婚者の場合は妬みから。未婚の場合は蔑みから。

つまり、仕事での成功と人生での成功は一致しない。だって、仕事で成功すればするほど女としての価値は下がりますから。（理由の２にある通り。男勝りな女と弁が立つ女は嫌われます。）結婚相手を見つけるのも関係をキープするのも大変になります。だから、外見と家事労働の対価に、男を通して金とステータスを得るっていうのは案外賢い選択なのかも。分かってたんだけど、驚いたのは、この価値観が30年以上変わっていないということ。（幸子さん談）

安倍政権が「輝く女性」を後押しすべくいろいろやっているけど、一番の問題は「働く女より働かない女の方が幸せ」という価値観だと思う。こんな嘘が親から娘、孫へと伝えられていってしまうのはなんて悲劇なのでしょう。幸子さんと私、二人とも働いていますが幸せです。褒めてあげたいです。