????日本首相安倍晉三大力倡導(dǎo)的“女性經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)”面對(duì)著諸多挑戰(zhàn)與希望，這一切都能在他身邊那位著裝時(shí)尚的女性——他的太太昭惠身上得到全面的詮釋。

????和許許多多的日本女性一樣，安倍昭惠自小接受的觀(guān)念就是“家庭主婦是通往幸福的最穩(wěn)妥的道路”。她的職業(yè)生涯充其量只能算是淺嘗輒止——一次是在電通廣告公司（Dentsu），另一次則是擔(dān)任一家廣播電臺(tái)的主持人。2012年，她在東京開(kāi)辦了一家主打有機(jī)概念的小型居酒屋，試圖重新勾畫(huà)自己的人生，她的婆婆對(duì)此驚駭不已，要求她遠(yuǎn)離這些場(chǎng)合。

????然而……

????安倍昭惠素來(lái)坦率，曾在諸多議題上公然反對(duì)丈夫的觀(guān)點(diǎn)，既包括應(yīng)否持有核武器的問(wèn)題，也包括應(yīng)否提升銷(xiāo)售稅的問(wèn)題（對(duì)于兩者她均表示反對(duì)）。她曾說(shuō)過(guò)：“不能表達(dá)自身看法的女性，會(huì)變得越來(lái)越壓抑?！?/p>

????這一次，這位日本第一夫人則將自己的坦率用在了一件夫婦兩人均表示贊成的事情上——利用少量女性人才重振長(zhǎng)期低迷的日本經(jīng)濟(jì)。她在本周二下午，向美國(guó)戰(zhàn)略和國(guó)際研究中心（Center for Strategic and International Studies，簡(jiǎn)稱(chēng)CSIS）的聽(tīng)眾們表示：“我們需要大膽的革新。”安倍昭惠在這處位于美國(guó)華盛頓的智庫(kù)所在地進(jìn)行的演講主題，便是“女性經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)對(duì)日本及世界的重大意義”。

????這絕不是玩笑。日本是全世界老齡化速度最快的國(guó)家，到2050年時(shí)，該國(guó)的勞動(dòng)人口將會(huì)減少將近40%。盡管日本女性中，擁有大學(xué)學(xué)位的人口比例非常高，但大部分都在生了第一個(gè)孩子后就變成了家庭主婦。

????世界銀行（World Bank）對(duì)工業(yè)化國(guó)家的女性在經(jīng)濟(jì)活動(dòng)中的參與程度進(jìn)行了排名，日本和韓國(guó)一同敬陪末位，尤其是專(zhuān)業(yè)類(lèi)和管理類(lèi)職位方面的排名。高盛（Goldman Sachs）預(yù)計(jì)，如果能彌合職業(yè)發(fā)展上的性別差距，日本的國(guó)內(nèi)生產(chǎn)總值（GDP）有望提升13%。

????安倍昭惠指出：分析人士認(rèn)為，日本臭名昭彰的“7天24小時(shí)”職業(yè)文化植根于該國(guó)的同儕壓力和普遍存在的加班費(fèi)制度，即便是白領(lǐng)階層也不例外，而吸引更多的女性進(jìn)入職場(chǎng)，正意味著要對(duì)這一傳統(tǒng)加以革新?！芭匀粢诼殬I(yè)上有所發(fā)展，就需要一些彈性更大的工作，”安倍昭惠說(shuō)，“如果女性要和男性一樣辛苦工作，就很難讓人相信這個(gè)社會(huì)是幸福的?！?/p>

????安倍晉三的政策議程包括擴(kuò)大日托范圍，鼓勵(lì)企業(yè)將育兒假延長(zhǎng)一倍，以及呼吁到2020年時(shí)，將女性在政府及企業(yè)領(lǐng)導(dǎo)層任職的人數(shù)比例提高到30%。他也在著手修訂對(duì)公司報(bào)告的規(guī)定，加入了女性擔(dān)任公司董事的人數(shù)要求。

????然而，動(dòng)員日本女性步入職場(chǎng)，僅僅做出政策上的變革恐怕是不夠的。當(dāng)我請(qǐng)這位日本第一夫人描述一下女性經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)所面對(duì)的最大阻力時(shí)，安倍昭惠承認(rèn)，這種阻力是社會(huì)性的：“這種女性將個(gè)人幸福押注在家庭主婦生活上的文化與意識(shí)?！?/p>

????這個(gè)問(wèn)題并不新鮮。1993年，我曾經(jīng)在日本生活了一段時(shí)間，和其他的西方記者一樣，我著手調(diào)查了日本剛剛萌芽的“女權(quán)主義”文化——英語(yǔ)世界的學(xué)者們堅(jiān)持認(rèn)為女權(quán)主義正在日本崛起。而我所發(fā)現(xiàn)的情況卻是，中年婦女樂(lè)于在家相夫教子（畢竟，她們真的會(huì)想過(guò)那種工薪階層的辛苦生活嗎？），年輕女性和未成年少女對(duì)婚姻的興趣則遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)超過(guò)她們對(duì)職業(yè)的熱情。不用說(shuō)，這一切都在當(dāng)年媒體大肆報(bào)道的皇太子妃雅子身上得到了很好的體現(xiàn)。當(dāng)年，這位曾在美國(guó)哈佛大學(xué)（Harvard）接受教育的經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家兼外交官忍痛放棄了自己如日中天的事業(yè)，嫁給了日本皇太子，從此生活在與世隔絕的日本皇室中。【那年，我曾經(jīng)就她的意外決定，在《洛杉磯時(shí)報(bào)》（LA Times）上撰寫(xiě)了一篇文章?！?/p>

????昭惠似乎希望藉由一些現(xiàn)實(shí)性的因素鼓舞日本女性參加工作?！百t妻良母的生活未必會(huì)（長(zhǎng)久）。中間可能會(huì)遭遇離婚，或者是丈夫因遭遇不幸而無(wú)法工作，”她說(shuō)道，或許是在暗指日本經(jīng)濟(jì)已較以往更不穩(wěn)定，能為已婚男性提供的終身就業(yè)機(jī)會(huì)有所減少，“一旦發(fā)生什么事情，女性就需要獨(dú)立……我身邊有些朋友就遇到了這樣的情況。”

????安倍夫妻檔所面對(duì)的這個(gè)國(guó)家，無(wú)論在招聘、晉升還是薪酬方面，都存在著根深蒂固的性別歧視，同時(shí)還有擔(dān)憂(yōu)自身地位不保的男性不斷做出強(qiáng)烈的抵制。對(duì)此，昭惠一如既往地給予了尖銳的反駁：“在此之前，日本的男性一直都在忽略女性的抱怨……男性們需要面對(duì)現(xiàn)實(shí)，他們別無(wú)選擇，只能接受改變……（他們應(yīng)當(dāng)）仔細(xì)想想來(lái)自女性方面發(fā)出的怨言?！保ㄘ?cái)富中文網(wǎng)）

????Both the challenge and the promise of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s “womenomics” campaign are wrapped in the stylish woman at his side—his wife Akie.

????Like so many Japanese women, Akie Abe grew up thinking that being a housewife was the surest path to happiness. She’s been, at best, a dabbler in the world of work—one stint at advertising agency Dentsu, another as a radio DJ. When, in 2012, she took a stab at charting her own life by opening a small organic izakaya pub in Tokyo, her appalled mother-in-law demanded that she stay off the premises.

????And yet…

????Akie is brashly outspoken, openly disagreeing with her husband on everything from nuclear power to raising the sales tax (she opposes both). “Women who can’t speak their minds grow depressed,” she has said.

????Now Japan’s first lady is deploying that outspokenness on behalf of an initiative they can both agree on: Reviving the country’s long stagnant economy with a jolt of female talent. “We are in need of bold change,” she told the audience at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) on Tuesday afternoon. Akie spoke at the Washington-based think tank’s event titled, “Womenomics: Why it Matters for Japan and the World.”)

????No kidding. Japan—aging faster than any country in the world–is on a course to lose nearly 40% of its workforce by 2050. Despite a high rate of college degrees, most Japanese women stay home after their first child.

????The country, along with Korea, also sits at the bottom of the World Bank’s ranking of industrialized countries’ inclusion of women in their economies — particularly in professional and management ranks — and Goldman Sachs estimates that closing the gender employment gap would boost Japan’s GDP by 13%.

????Akie argues that luring women into the workforce means changing the country’s infamous 24-7 work culture that analysts say is built on peer pressure and ubiquitous overtime pay, even among white collar workers. “For females to flourish there is a need for more flexible work,” Akie said. “It’s hard to believe that a society where women work as hard as men is a happy one.’’

????The Prime Minister’s policy agenda includes expanded daycare, encouraging businesses to double child-care leave times, and issues calls to raise the portion of government and business leadership positions held by women to 30% by 2020. He is also revising corporate reporting requirements to include the number of female directors on the companies’ boards.

????But mobilizing Japanese women may require more effort than policy change. When I asked Japan’s first lady to describe the biggest obstacle facing womenomics, she admits it’s a societal one: “The culture and consciousness of women who have the dream to be Lucky Strike housewives.”

????That problem is far from new. I spent part of 1993 living in Japan and, like other Western journalists, went in search of a budding “feminist” culture that English-speaking scholars insisted was emerging. What I found instead were middle-aged housewives content to run the family (who would want the grind of a salary-man’s life, after all?), and young women and girls far more interested in marriage than professions. All of this, of course, was captured that year in the media hype over Masako Owada, the Harvard-trained economist/diplomat who reluctantly dropped her turbo-charged career to marry the Crown Prince and live the confined life of Japanese royalty. (I wrote about the surprising decision for the LA Times that year.)

????Reality, it seems, is what Akie hopes will inspire Japanese women to work. “The life of the good housewife may not be [forever]. There is divorce, or because of an accident a husband might not be able to work,” she said, perhaps referencing the increased instability of a Japanese economy that offers husbands fewer lifetime guarantees of employment. “If something happens, a woman needs to be independent…Some of my friends are in that situation.”

????The husband-wife Abe team faces a country with long ingrained discrimination in hiring, promotion, and pay—and plenty of backlash from threatened men. True to form, Akie offered a pointed retort: “Up until now Japanese men have been ignoring the complaints of women… Men are facing a reality and there is no choice but to accept the change…[They should] think about complaints from the female side.”