美国北京联合会积极参加联合国人权理事会妇女权益北京边会

【美洲华联社7月14日洛杉矶讯】联合国人权理事会第47届会议“保护妇女权益,推动高质量发展”边会北京时间2021年7月14日下午3点30分北京举办。本次活动由北京市民间组织国际交流促进会、北京市妇女联合会、北京国际和平文化基金会主办,针对世界各国的妇女权益话题展开交流。

美国北京联合会荣誉会长、常务理事长李红律师受主办方邀请,针对美国妇女权益的历史、过去和现在发表演讲。美国的妇女歧视问题发生在各行各业,美国的妇女权益的奋争史也是世界各国所有妇女们争取权益的历史写照,一路走来充满艰辛和挑战。 

1769年,美国的妇女不能以自己的名义持有财产或者保留自己的收入。

1777年,美国所有的州的法律,剥夺了妇女的投票权。

……

1839年,美国的密西西比州成为第一个授予妇女以自己的名义持有地产的权利,但是只有在丈夫批准的前提下!

美国妇女权益状况在逐年改善中,然而,妇女权益及地位在这个世界上最发达的国家之一,仍有待进一步提高。 

由于时差问题,当天活动洛杉矶时间凌晨一时,美国北京联合会的老朋友资深侨领温桂芃会长、美国北京联合会义工干部们夏海伦、李阳、张琳琳和会员武元苏、徐聪、王君利及人在北京的田淑红和洛杉矶媒体美洲华联社的李晓红等都积极上线观看和聆听了各代表的发言。

北京会议现场发来的图片,正在发言的是美国北京联合会荣誉会长、常务理事长李红律师

李红律师非常心疼所有牺牲了休息时间,准时上线来参与边会的各位美国北京联合会的会员和会员之友,她在群里和大家连连表示感谢!

附件:李红律师的英语发言含中文翻译。

U.S. Women’s Rights Status Sharing

美国妇女权益状况分享

Presented by Hong Li, an Attorney of the United States

A community leader in the Asian American Community

李红,美国北京联合会荣誉会长、常务理事长、美国律师及亚裔美国人社区领袖

Ladies and Gentlemen, my name is Hong Li; It’s a pleasure to be here and join this extraordinary conference meeting to share my viewpoint of women’s rights in the United States. I was born and grew up in Beijing.When I was little, I was taught that men and women share half and half blue sky. I believe that I was born at the best time in China.

女士们,先生们,我叫李红,很荣幸能参加此次特殊的会议,有机会与各位分享我对美国妇女权益状况的一些看法。我生在北京,长在北京。从小接受的教育就是男女各顶半边天。我认为我出生在中国最好的时代。

In 1996, I went to the United States. I planned to continue to study and learn something new. However, the first lesson that I learned was that women’s rights in the most advanced country, in the United States, cannot even compare with the environment where I grew up. For example, women in the United States give up their birth name to carry their husbands’ last names after marriage, and the whole culture continues that trend of renaming women. In my mind, only older generations in China, like my grandma’s time, were that way. Since 1949, no one needs to do so because women have been liberated from Feudal oppression.

1996年,我去了美国,计划在那里继续学业,学习新知。然而,到美国我学到的第一课却是:在这个世界上最先进的国家,其妇女权益状况甚至不能与我成长的环境相提并论。例如,美国女性婚后放弃自己的婚前姓,而使用其丈夫的姓氏,这种女性改姓的趋势一直在美国文化中延续。我以前认为,只有老一辈的中国人,比如我姥姥那个时代的女性,才是这样的需要婚后冠夫姓。而自1949年以来,中国的妇女都已经无需这样做,她们已经从封建压迫中解放出来了。

In addition, it presents very well that men and women shall be paid equally for the same work in the United States from the government documents. The reality is that men and women are facing Different pay for equal work.

此外,虽然美国政府的文件明确表明男女同工同酬。现实的情况却是,男女一直都是同工不同酬!

Significantly, many female leaders in the world are elected to be premier, queen, President. However, America was not ready for a female president. That’s why Hillary Clinton didn’t become President, even though she was more qualified. Hillary Clinton had prepared her whole life. Her capability and experience should have made her well qualified to be the first female President of the United States. In 2016, I remembered that many male voters, including all kinds of Ethnicity, ignored her qualifications and said clearly that they wouldn’t choose a female to be the President of the United States, ignoring her qualifications, and just picked the other candidate.

值得注意的是,当今世界有许多女性可以成为总理、女王或者总统。然而,美国现在还不能接受一位女性总统。这就是为什么希拉里·克林顿在总统大选中败北,尽管她其实更有资格担任总统。希拉里·克林顿毕生都在为此做准备。凭借她的能力和经验,她完全有资格成为美国第一位女总统。在2016年,我记得当时很多男性选民,包括少数族裔的选民,都罔顾她的深厚资历,明确表示不会选择一位女性成为美国总统,于是投票给了另一位候选人。

The history of women’s rights in the U.S. bears witness to the suffering suffered by women from all over the world. American women’s liberation has gone through a challenging process like other countries in the world.

美国妇女权益的历史变迁也见证了全世界妇女所遭受的苦难。美国妇女解放事业与世界上其他国家一样,一路走来充满挑战。

In 1769, women cannot own property in their own name or keep their own earnings.

1769年,妇女不能以自己的名义持有财产或保留自己的收入。

In 1777, All states passed laws that take away women’s right to vote.

1777年,美国各州都通过法律,剥夺了妇女的投票权。

1839 – The first state (Mississippi) grants women the right to hold property in their own names – with permission from their husbands.

1839年,密西西比州是美国第一个授予妇女以自己的名义持有房地产权利的州,但是前提需要得到丈夫的批准。

We can tell that women’s rights in the U.S. have improved year by year. However, we still realize that we need to continue improving women’s rights in one of the most advanced countries of the world.

可以看出,美国的妇女权益状况在逐年改善。然而,妇女权益及地位在这个世界上最发达的国家之一,仍有待进一步提高。

Eliminating all forms of gender discrimination and achieving equality between men and women are the essential signs of the progress of human civilization. The “Mexico Declaration” adopted by the United Nations First World Conference on Women in 1975 stated: “The equality of men and women refers to the equality of human dignity and value of men and women, as well as the equality of rights, opportunities and responsibilities of men and women.”

消除一切形式的性别歧视,实现男女平等,是人类文明进步的本质标志。1975年联合国第一次世界妇女大会通过的《墨西哥宣言》指出:“男女平等是指男女作为人的尊严和价值的平等以及男女权利、机会和责任的平等。”

However, the United States has not yet ratified the “Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women,” the core UN human rights convention. The gender discrimination problem in the United States has seriously hindered the realization of women’s human rights.

然而,美国尚未批准联合国的核心人权公约《消除对妇女一切形式歧视公约》。美国的性别歧视问题已经严重阻碍了妇女人权的实现。

It’s no doubt that the status of women in the United States is much better than in the past 20 years.Now many women can choose not to use their husband’s last name after getting married. I believe the progress has a lot to do with improving women’s education in the U.S.

毫无疑问,美国女性的地位在过去20年内已经有了很大的提高。现在很多女性结婚后选择不随夫姓,这与美国女性教育水平提高有很大关系。

Comparing the year 2016 to 2021, we know that things are getting better. We have elected the first female vice president in the United States. This is a good sign. However, during vice president Ms. Harris’ election campaign, she has suffered many attacks…Women need to work twice as hard as men to overcome challenges such as double standards.

相较于2016年,2021年的形势正在好转。我们选出了美国第一位女性副总统,这是一个好标志。但是,副总统哈里斯女士在竞选活动中,也遭受了许多攻击……女性需要比男性加倍努力,才能克服基于性别的双重标准等各种困难。

Today, we are still waiting for a female President in the United States, and we don’t know how long it will take to get there. However, we saw some positive situations from primary elections, such as at the city level, electing females as their city council members, mayors. People are accepting more and including all kinds of colors and cultures to be the official representatives.

今天,我们仍然在等待一位美国女总统,也不知道前方还有多长的路要走。但是,美国初选当中出现了一些积极的态势,例如在城市一级选举中,一些女性通过竞选成为市议会议员、市长。人们越来越接受并包容各种肤色和文化背景的人士担任公职。

It just so happens that women of color have been hit hardest by the corona-virus in the United States. The corona-virus pandemic has dramatically affected the status of women in the workforce. Even women who have retained their jobs know that they are paid, on average, less than men.

才刚发生的,美国有色人种女性遭受到新冠疫情最严重打击,新冠病毒大流行极大地影响了女性在劳动力市场中的地位。即使是保住工作的女性也知道,她们的平均工资低于男性。

Women’s rights in the United States are still an ongoing topic; the government and community needs to address the impact of the pandemic on women or tackle preexisting gender inequalities; otherwise, there is a risk of losing ground as more women leave the workforce permanently. The damage could be lasting and take years to repair.

美国的妇女权益问题仍然是一个持续存在的话题,政府和社区需要应对疫情对妇女的负面影响,或是解决先前存在的性别不平等问题。否则,随着越来越多的女性永久地离开劳动力市场,我们可能会前功尽弃。所带来的伤害可能会是长期的,需要数年时间才能修复。

We need to believe that men and women should be equal. The path forward is long, but it is a road we must travel to make progress for gender equality.

我们要相信,男女本就应该平等。虽然前进的道路很漫长,但为了促进性别平等,这是我们必须要走的一条路。

(图文来源: 美国北京联合会)