2010/01/10

Indian women drive equality in India 印度女性駕御性別平等

◎俞智敏

In her canary-yellow sari and gold earrings, with a pair of thin-framed spectacles perched on her nose, Surekha Yadav could be any woman stepping down from the train at Mumbai’s main railway station.

穿著淺黃色紗麗、戴著金色耳環,鼻子上架著一副細框眼鏡,亞達芙看起來就像任何一位剛從孟買火車站下車的女性。

But the 44-year-old mother-of-two stands out from the crowds on the platforms at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus(CST)as she doesn’t just travel on the trains -- she drives them.

但這位44歲、育有兩子的母親,在恰特拉帕蒂西瓦吉火車終點站月台上的一般群眾間顯得與眾不同,因為她不僅搭乘火車,她還負責駕駛火車。

Yadav was the first female passenger train driver on Mumbai’s Central Railways and has become a standard-bearer for women in a traditionally male-dominated industry.

亞達芙是孟買中央鐵路的首位女性客車駕駛,也因此成為這個傳統上由男性主導的產業裡的女性領袖。

Since she first jumped into the cab of Mumbai’s packed commuter trains 10 years ago -- attracting curious looks from commuters -- one other "motorwoman" now plies the same suburban route. Two are assistant drivers.

自從10年前她首次跳進孟買擁擠的通勤火車駕駛室——吸引了通勤乘客的好奇目光——以來,現在只有另一位「女駕駛」定期往來同一條郊區路線。另兩位女性則為助理駕駛。

Yadav, who admitted having no interest in trains before applying for a job as an assistant goods train driver in 1989, said she has had nothing but support from her male colleagues.

亞達芙承認,她在1989年申請擔任貨車駕駛助理職務時,對火車一點興趣也沒有,但她的男性同事們對她倒是大力支持。

Madhu Purnima Kishwar, of New Delhi’s Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, said that in the workplace gender was no bar to success -- provided women were strong. "In India, women who demonstrate that they are stronger than men usually find men falling at their feet," she said, linking it to the worship of Hindu goddesses and the importance of mothers in Indian society.

新德里的發展中社會研究中心專家奇什娃表示,性別在職場上已不再是成功的阻礙——前提是女性的能力要夠強。「在印度,能夠展現出比男性更強壯的女性,通常會發現男性願意聽其支配,」她說,並認為這種現象與印度教女神廣受崇敬,以及母親在印度社會中的重要性有關。

新聞辭典

standard bearer:名詞,原指軍隊中的掌旗手、亦指某運動、政黨或組織的領袖、代表人物,如He became the standard-bearer for their cause because of his celebrity.(由於他具有高知名度,因此成為他們這項運動的代表性人物。)

ply:動詞,指定期往返於某兩地間,如High-speed trains regularly ply between Paris and Lyons.(高速鐵路火車定期往返於巴黎與里昂之間。)

at someone’s feet:片語,指為某人著迷、受到某人支配,如Her voice kept audiences at her feet for years.(她的歌喉多年來讓聽眾為之著迷。)

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