????日本首相安倍晉三大力倡導的“女性經濟學”面對著諸多挑戰與希望，這一切都能在他身邊那位著裝時尚的女性——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念就是“家庭主婦是通往幸福的最穩妥的道路”。她的職業生涯充其量只能算是淺嘗輒止——一次是在電通廣告公司（Dentsu），另一次則是擔任一家廣播電臺的主持人。2012年，她在東京開辦了一家主打有機概念的小型居酒屋，試圖重新勾畫自己的人生，她的婆婆對此驚駭不已，要求她遠離這些場合。

????然而……

????安倍昭惠素來坦率，曾在諸多議題上公然反對丈夫的觀點，既包括應否持有核武器的問題，也包括應否提升銷售稅的問題（對于兩者她均表示反對）。她曾說過：“不能表達自身看法的女性，會變得越來越壓抑。”

????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期低迷的日本經濟。她在本周二下午，向美國戰略和國際研究中心（Center for Strategic and International Studies，簡稱CSIS）的聽眾們表示：“我們需要大膽的革新?！卑脖墩鸦菰谶@處位于美國華盛頓的智庫所在地進行的演講主題，便是“女性經濟學對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家，到2050年時，該國的勞動人口將會減少將近40%。盡管日本女性中，擁有大學學位的人口比例非常高，但大部分都在生了第一個孩子后就變成了家庭主婦。

????世界銀行（World Bank）對工業化國家的女性在經濟活動中的參與程度進行了排名，日本和韓國一同敬陪末位，尤其是專業類和管理類職位方面的排名。高盛（Goldman Sachs）預計，如果能彌合職業發展上的性別差距，日本的國內生產總值（GDP）有望提升13%。

????安倍昭惠指出：分析人士認為，日本臭名昭彰的“7天24小時”職業文化植根于該國的同儕壓力和普遍存在的加班費制度，即便是白領階層也不例外，而吸引更多的女性進入職場，正意味著要對這一傳統加以革新?！芭匀粢诼殬I上有所發展，就需要一些彈性更大的工作，”安倍昭惠說，“如果女性要和男性一樣辛苦工作，就很難讓人相信這個社會是幸福的。”

????安倍晉三的政策議程包括擴大日托范圍，鼓勵企業將育兒假延長一倍，以及呼吁到2020年時，將女性在政府及企業領導層任職的人數比例提高到30%。他也在著手修訂對公司報告的規定，加入了女性擔任公司董事的人數要求。

????然而，動員日本女性步入職場，僅僅做出政策上的變革恐怕是不夠的。當我請這位日本第一夫人描述一下女性經濟學所面對的最大阻力時，安倍昭惠承認，這種阻力是社會性的：“這種女性將個人幸福押注在家庭主婦生活上的文化與意識?！?/p>

????這個問題并不新鮮。1993年，我曾經在日本生活了一段時間，和其他的西方記者一樣，我著手調查了日本剛剛萌芽的“女權主義”文化——英語世界的學者們堅持認為女權主義正在日本崛起。而我所發現的情況卻是，中年婦女樂于在家相夫教子（畢竟，她們真的會想過那種工薪階層的辛苦生活嗎？），年輕女性和未成年少女對婚姻的興趣則遠遠超過她們對職業的熱情。不用說，這一切都在當年媒體大肆報道的皇太子妃雅子身上得到了很好的體現。當年，這位曾在美國哈佛大學（Harvard）接受教育的經濟學家兼外交官忍痛放棄了自己如日中天的事業，嫁給了日本皇太子，從此生活在與世隔絕的日本皇室中?！灸悄辏以浘退囊馔鉀Q定，在《洛杉磯時報》（LA Times）上撰寫了一篇文章?！?/p>

????昭惠似乎希望藉由一些現實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（長久）。中間可能會遭遇離婚，或者是丈夫因遭遇不幸而無法工作，”她說道，或許是在暗指日本經濟已較以往更不穩定，能為已婚男性提供的終身就業機會有所減少，“一旦發生什么事情，女性就需要獨立……我身邊有些朋友就遇到了這樣的情況?！?/p>

????安倍夫妻檔所面對的這個國家，無論在招聘、晉升還是薪酬方面，都存在著根深蒂固的性別歧視，同時還有擔憂自身地位不保的男性不斷做出強烈的抵制。對此，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……男性們需要面對現實，他們別無選擇，只能接受改變……（他們應當）仔細想想來自女性方面發出的怨言?！保ㄘ敻恢形木W）

????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.”