剩女压力:中国女性的两难处境

CHINESE women have taken great strides, but many young women still find themselves caught in a dilemma. Growing up in an era of rapid economic and social development, they are more aware of gender issues than their mothers, so they feel more pressured in the traditional patriarchal society.

中国女性已大踏步前进，但许多年轻女性仍发现自己进退两难。生长在一个经济和社会快速发展的时代，她们比她们的母亲更加意识到性别问题，所以在传统的父权社会她们感到更多的压力。

As an only child, they face high academic and career expectations. Many parents expect them to compete with men. But as they get older and excel in their careers, they are still expected to fulfill family duties to get married, bear a child and oversee a household.

作为独生子女，她们承担着太高的学术和职业期望。很多家长期望她们与男性竞争。但当她们年纪越来越大在事业上出类拔萃，她们仍被期望完成结婚生子以及照顾家庭的责任。

"My parents had very high expectations of me when I was little. They said I should compete with boys. Now they always say nobody is going to marry me because I'm too competitive," says 31-year-old Zhu Xiaoling, who was recently promoted in a local trading company. "That is very confusing and contradicts what they taught me."

“父母在我小时候对我期望很高。他们说我应该和男孩子竞争。现在他们总是说没有人要娶我，因为我太好强，”31岁的朱小玲说，她最近在当地的贸易公司获得升职。“这与他们教我的非常混乱和矛盾。”

Her parents were not happy about her promotion. In fact, she felt denigrated. They suggested the biggest reason for promotion was the fact she is unmarried, convincing her boss that she would spend more time at work than her peers, who are mostly switching their focus to family.

她的父母不喜欢她的晋升。事实上她觉得被侮辱了。他们认为升职的最大原因是她未婚的事实说服了她的老板，相比她的同龄人大部分将重心转向家庭，她会花更多的时间在工作上。

"It was heartbreaking to hear this from my parents," Zhu says. "I understand their concerns, but they undervalue me and consider my work capability to be zero. That's not comforting when I face other work obstacles."

“从我的父母那听到这个是令人心碎的，”朱说。“我理解他们的担忧，但是他们低估了我，认为我的工作能力是零。当我面对其他工作困难时这不是安慰。”

At the same time, the disparaging phrase and mentality sheng nu, literally "leftover women," hangs over many career women, warning that their market value is declining ever faster after what is considered the prime time to marry and bear a child.

同时“剩女”（字面意思即“剩女”）的轻蔑短语和心态笼罩着许多职业女性，并警告其说当过了结婚生子的黄金年龄之后她们的市场价值下降得更快。

The age was once 30 but now it is 27. Still, many women, and especially their parents, really start to panic as they turn 25.

这个年龄曾经是30岁但现在是27岁。不过许多女性尤其是她们的父母在她们25岁之后就真的开始惊慌。

"Women PhDs" is another disparaging expression like "leftover women," because when a woman gets a PhD, she is often well past the so-called prime age and is no longer desirable.

“女博士”是另一个类似“剩女”的轻蔑表达，因为当一个女人取得博士学位，她通常已经过了所谓的黄金年龄并不再受欢迎。