日本可能是世界上唯一一個要求配偶使用相同姓氏的國家，但是如今日本女性開始呼吁廢除這條古老的法律，因為這項規(guī)定給她們的職業(yè)生涯帶來了諸多困擾。

For Akiko Saikawa, the administrative nightmare began soon after she married.

對于Akiko Saikawa來說，行政噩夢在她結(jié)婚后不久開始。

The office worker from Tokyo had to go through dozens of procedures to change her name on her passport and other documents, as well updating her social media accounts. All because she had been required, by law, to change her surname as a married woman.

這位來自東京的上班族必須經(jīng)歷數(shù)十道程序，才能更改她的護照和其他文件上的姓名，以及更新她的社交媒體賬戶。這一切都是因為按照法律規(guī)定，已婚女性必須更改姓氏。

Couples in Japan are free to choose which surname to take when they marry, but in 95% of cases, it is the woman who changes her name, often with reluctance.

在日本，夫妻結(jié)婚時可以自由選擇姓氏，但在95%的情況下，是女方改姓，通常是不情愿的。

"It was very time consuming and inconvenient,” Saikawa says. “But the most troublesome part was that my name on our family register changed to that of my husband. That means I have had to make it clear to employers that I want to continue being referred to by my maiden name at work.”

“這非常耗時和不方便，”Saikawa說?！暗盥闊┑氖牵业膽艏系男帐献兂闪宋艺煞虻男帐?。這意味著我必須向雇主明確表示我希望在工作中繼續(xù)使用我的娘家姓。”

Now attention is turning to the archaic law that forbids married couples from using separate surnames, and the almost three decades of inaction after a government panel drew up proposals to change part of a civil code first adopted in the late 1800s.

現(xiàn)在人們開始關(guān)注一項古老的法律，該法律禁止已婚夫婦使用不同的姓氏，而在政府小組起草了改變19世紀(jì)末啟用的這部民法典部分內(nèi)容的提案后，近30年來一直沒有采取任何行動。

Inconvenience aside, campaigners say the insistence on using the same surname is another sign of Japan’s lack of progress on gender equality.

除了不便之外，活動人士表示，堅持使用相同的姓氏是日本在性別平等方面缺乏進展的另一個跡象。

Machiko Osawa, a professor and specialist in labour economics at Japan Women’s University, blames the lack of progress on “old-fashioned patriarchal attitudes” in the ruling Liberal Democratic party (LDP) and among supreme court justices “who insist on supporting an antediluvian status quo”.

日本女子大學(xué)的勞動經(jīng)濟學(xué)教授和專家Machiko Osawa指責(zé)執(zhí)政的自由民主黨和最高法院法官們“堅持支持陳舊的父權(quán)主義態(tài)度”，將缺乏進展歸咎于這些因素。

"Newlywed women have to waste so much time changing their names on banking accounts, credit cards, passports and all other official documents. And for those who have established themselves as professionals, being forced to change their name is a denial of what they have accomplished. It sows confusion and subordinates them to men,” Osawa says.

Osawa指出：“新婚女性必須花費很多時間在銀行賬戶、信用卡、護照和其他官方文件上更改她們的姓名。對于那些已經(jīng)在職場上建立了自己的專業(yè)形象的人來說，被迫改名是對她們所取得成就的否定。這種做法會造成混亂，并使她們屈從于男性?！?/p>

Locked out of hotel rooms

無法進入酒店房間

After years of stalling, pressure is building on the LDP, not just from rights campaigners, but also senior business leaders who say the rule is proving an obstacle to Japanese firms that do business overseas.

日本自民黨多年來一直拖延，不只是受到維權(quán)活動人士的壓力，也受到高級商界領(lǐng)袖的壓力，后者表示該規(guī)定對于進行海外業(yè)務(wù)的日本公司構(gòu)成了障礙。

Masahiko Uotani, chief executive of the cosmetics giant Shiseido, said he knew of female executives who had been locked out of hotel rooms or denied admission to meetings on overseas business trips because their ID didn’t match their surname.

資生堂的首席執(zhí)行官魚谷雅彥表示，他知道有女性高管因為身份證與姓氏不符而被拒絕入住酒店房間或被拒絕參加海外商務(wù)會議。

"The current system is becoming a barrier to career development for those who are internationally active,” Uotani said at a meeting of the Japan Business Federation, a powerful lobby group, according to the Mainichi Shimbun.

據(jù)《每日新聞》報道，魚谷在日本商業(yè)聯(lián)合會的一次會議上表示：“當(dāng)前的體制對于那些在國際上活躍的人來說，已經(jīng)成為了職業(yè)發(fā)展的障礙?！?/p>

The federation, known as Keidanren, has collected testimony from other professional women who have fallen foul of the single-name requirement. One said that having to change her last name “is ruining my career as the academic papers I’ve written under my maiden name are not being recognised”, according to the Mainichi. Another said: “In some cases, my business name has not been accepted when signing contracts.”

該聯(lián)合會被稱為經(jīng)團聯(lián)，已經(jīng)收集了其他遭受單姓要求限制的職業(yè)女性的證詞。據(jù)《每日新聞》報道，其中一位女性表示，被要求改姓“正在毀掉我的職業(yè)生涯，因為我以婚前姓寫的學(xué)術(shù)論文沒有被認可”。另一位女性表示：“在某些情況下，我的職場名字在簽訂合同時未被接受。”

Now Keidanren has thrown its weight behind the campaign in a reflection of a shift in Japanese corporate culture. While almost 84% of companies allow women to keep their original surnames in the workplace, according to a 2022 survey by the Institute of Labour Administration, the extra documentation needed on overseas work trips continues to cause confusion.

現(xiàn)在，日本經(jīng)團聯(lián)支持這項運動，反映了日本企業(yè)文化的轉(zhuǎn)變。根據(jù)勞動管理研究所2022年的調(diào)查，幾乎84%的公司允許女性在工作場所保留自己的原姓，但在海外工作出差時需要額外的文件仍然引起困惑。

"I want it to be implemented as a top priority to support women’s working styles,” Keidanren’s head, Masakazu Tokura, said recently, declaring himself “bewildered” by the lack of progress since the ministry panel made its recommendation in 1996.

“我希望將其作為支持女性工作方式的首要任務(wù)來實施。”日本經(jīng)濟團體聯(lián)合會會長十倉雅和最近表示，他對自1996年部委小組提出建議以來的進展緩慢感到“困惑”。

While the government has allowed maiden names to appear alongside married names on passports, driving licences and residence certificates, Japan remains maybe the only country in the world that requires spouses to use the same name.

盡管政府已允許婚姻證件、駕駛執(zhí)照和居住證上同時顯示娘家姓和婚姓，但日本可能仍是世界上唯一要求配偶使用相同姓氏的國家。

Conservative LDP members argue that amending the civil code would amount to an assault on traditional values by “undermining” family unity and causing confusion among children.

保守派自民黨成員認為修改民法將對傳統(tǒng)價值觀構(gòu)成一種攻擊，"破壞"家庭團結(jié)并導(dǎo)致孩子們困惑。

Osawa, who is “not optimistic” that recent pressure will lead to a legal change, dismisses the family values argument as an “excuse for inaction”.

Osawa并不樂觀，認為最近的壓力不會導(dǎo)致法律變革，他對家庭價值觀的論點不屑一顧，認為這只是一種“無所作為的借口”。

"Japan’s divorce rate is on a par with that of the UK and Germany, so the current law on names is not supporting family stability,” Osawa said. “Times have changed, and most households need a double income to make ends meet, so having a choice for couples to decide what name to go by makes sense, and it promotes gender equality.”

“日本的離婚率與英國和德國相當(dāng)，因此現(xiàn)行的姓名法律并不能維護家庭穩(wěn)定，”小澤說。“時代已經(jīng)改變，大多數(shù)家庭需要雙份收入來維持生計，所以讓夫妻可以選擇自己的姓氏是有意義的，它促進了性別平等。”

The prime minister, Fumio Kishida, has urged caution, claiming last year that “various opinions among the public” meant more discussion was needed to win “broad” support for the change.

日本首相岸田文雄敦促各方謹慎行事，去年他聲稱“公眾意見各異”，需要更多討論來贏得對這一變革的“廣泛”支持。

Saikawa hopes other women do not have to navigate the bureaucratic maze she faced after marrying. “Having separate surnames would mean they would no longer have to alter their name dozens of times, reset their careers and rebuild the reputation they had established under their maiden name,” she says.

Saikawa希望其他女性不必像她一樣在婚后面對繁瑣的官僚迷宮。她說：“擁有不同的姓氏意味著她們不再需要多次改名，重新開始職業(yè)生涯，并重建自己用婚前姓氏建立的聲譽?！?/p>

"And they would be able to cherish a name that represents their family’s history and is a part of their own identity.”

“她們將能夠珍視一個代表她們家族歷史并成為她們身份的一部分的名字?！?/p>

英文來源：衛(wèi)報

編輯：丹妮

審核：董靜、韓鶴