奥巴马夫人、桑德伯格等女强人谈在职母亲

上周日是母亲节，所有美国人都会在这一天思考母性，以及它对他们的意义（并同时买上一两束花）。不过对我们赞美的许多女性而言，“母亲”只是她们众多头衔之一。实际上，美国劳工部（Department of Labor）的数据显示，孩子还未满18岁的美国母亲，有70%都在工作，其中承担全职工作的超过75%。

为了庆贺母亲节，以下列出了一些最著名的女性关于协调家庭和工作的精彩言论。尽管其中有些振奋人心，另一些却表明母亲要做好平衡恐怕没那么轻松。

美国前第一夫人米歇尔·奥巴马：

“对我来说，成为母亲让我变得更加职业，因为每晚回家看到女儿，都会提醒我努力工作的目标。而职场奋斗也让我成了更好的母亲，因为追寻梦想的同时，我也给女儿们做出了如何追寻梦想的榜样。”

YouTube首席执行官苏珊·沃西基：

“有人认为在我这样的岗位上带小孩很难，但我能量充沛。我在家里和工作中也有很多资源，更不用说还有经营大型机构的技巧。”

Facebook首席运营官和《向前一步》作者谢丽尔·桑德伯格：

“当一对夫妻宣布他们要有孩子时，所有人都会对男方说：‘恭喜！’并对女方说：‘恭喜！你的工作怎么办？’人们普遍认为带小孩是女方的责任。30多年来，这种观点几乎没有变过。”

笑星、演员和编剧蒂娜·菲：

“我认为可能每个母亲在每天早上都有同样的感觉：很多时间你都在想‘这不可能做到——噢，这不可能做到。’接着你开始不断前进，做到那些不可能的事。”

电视制片人和编剧珊达·莱姆斯：

“人们可以辞职不工作，但我不能不当母亲。我永远都是个母亲了。母亲永远不可能休息，永远不可能放假。成为母亲重新定义了我们，彻底改造了我们，摧毁并重塑了我们。成为母亲让我们得以从孩子的角度面对自己，从人类的角度面对自己的母亲，并面对那些有关自己究竟是谁的最深沉的恐惧。成为母亲要求我们振作起来，否则就可能永远搞砸另一个人的人生。”

百事公司（Pepsico）首席执行官卢英德：

“回顾过去，给我的痛楚仿佛地狱一般。”

《赫芬顿邮报》（Huffington Post）创始人阿里安娜·赫芬顿：

“我认为，尽管所有母亲多少都会感到内疚，但在职母亲的内疚之情会放大百倍。”（财富中文网）

译者：严匡正 

Last Sunday was Mother’s Day, a day when people all over America reflect on motherhood and what it means to them (and buy a bouquet or two of flowers while they’re at it). Yet for many of the women we celebrate, “mom” is just one of their many titles. In fact, 70% of mothers with children under 18 participate in the labor force, with more than 75% of them being employed full-time, according to the Department of Labor.

In honor of Mother’s Day, below is a roundup of some of the best quotes from the most well-known mothers about splitting their time between home and the office. While some of their words are encouraging, other quotes paint a not-so-rosy picture of working moms’ balancing act.

Former First Lady of the United States Michelle Obama:

“For me, being a mother made me a better professional, because coming home every night to my girls reminded me what I was working for. And being a professional made me a better mother, because by pursuing my dreams, I was modeling for my girls how to pursue their dreams.”

YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki:

“People assume it’s hard to have a child with the job I have, but my energy level is high. I also have a lot of resources at home and at work, not to mention the skills to run a big organization.”

Facebook COO and Lean In author Sheryl Sandberg:

“When a couple announces that they are having a baby, everyone says ‘Congratulations!’ to the man and ‘Congratulations! What are you planning on doing about work?’ to the woman. The broadly held assumption is that raising their child is her responsibility. In more than thirty years, this perception has changed very little.”

Comedian, actor and author Tina Fey:

“I think every working mom probably feels the same thing: You go through big chunks of time where you’re just thinking, ‘This is impossible — oh, this is impossible.’ And then you just keep going and keep going, and you sort of do the impossible.”

TV producer and writer Shonda Rhimes:

“You can quit a job. I can’t quit being a mother. I’m a mother forever. Mothers are never off the clock, mothers are never on vacation. Being a mother redefines us, reinvents us, destroys and rebuilds us. Being a mother brings us face-to-face with ourselves as children, with our mothers as human beings, with our darkest fears of who we really are. Being a mother requires us to get it together or risk messing up another person forever.”

Pepsico CEO Indra Nooyi:

“You will look back and it will hurt like hell.”

Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington:

“I think while all mothers deal with guilt, working mothers are plagued by guilt on steroids.”