關注民生:中國單身媽媽們的困境(1)

When Yi Ran learned she was pregnant three years ago she was overwhelmed with fear. The 30-year-old store assistant was not married, her boyfriend was just an occasional relation and she felt at her age this could be the last chance to have a child.

三年前，當易冉（音）得知她懷孕了，她陷入了恐懼之中。那時已三十歲的她，是一名店鋪助理，尚未結婚，她與他的男朋友只是偶然認識併發生了關係。她感覺到以她當時的年齡，那可能是自己最後一次生育機會。

But as she mustered courage and decided to carry on with her pregnancy, the woman fell into an invisible growing world of unwed mothers struggling to survive in tradition-dominated China. Every year the number of women giving birth out of wedlock grows by 10-13 percent, and their age becomes increasingly young, according to surveys carried by local press.

然而當她鼓起勇氣決定繼續妊娠將留住孩子的時候，她陷入了一個不斷變大着的無形世界——在那個世界裏，未婚媽媽們在傳統統治下的中國竭力生存。根據一個地方媒體的調查，每年未婚生育女性的數量以10%-13%的比例在增長，並且她們的年齡越來越年輕。

Like many others, Yi Ran did not tell anybody in her entourage about the pregnancy. She chose instead to quit her job, open an online store and work from home, where she can look after her son at the same time.

像很多其他人那樣，易冉沒有告訴她周圍的人她懷孕的事情。她選擇了辭去工作，開了一個網店，在家裏工作，這樣她能在工作的同時照顧兒子。

She said that her heart is heavy with anxiety as she strives to make ends meet while a fine imposed on illegal births still looms large over her days.

她說，當她竭力維持生活的時候，一項針對違法生育的罰款與她如影隨形，這使得她她心裏充滿了焦慮。

“I fear I will not be able to pay” she said.

“我很怕我無法支付罰款”，她說道。

Yi Ran’s son also does not exist on China’s population records, because he has no household registration –hukou in Chinese - available only to children born within the frame of legal marriage.

易冉的兒子同樣沒有被列入中國的人口記錄中，因爲他沒有戶口——戶口只給那些在合法婚姻狀況下生育的兒童。

The plight of single mothers

單身媽媽們的困境

The question of young women giving birth out of wedlock rose to attention a month ago when firemen rescued an abandoned baby from a sewage pipe. The case made headlines in China and shocked the whole nation.

一個月之前，消防員從下水道救出一名棄嬰的事件使得年輕女性未婚生育的問題引起關注。該案例成爲中國頭條新聞，震驚全國。

A 22-year-old waitress in southeast China gave birth in a public toilet, then flushed the newborn’s body away in an attempt to avoid condemnation and punishment for bearing a child without being married. Only after the baby was rescued days later did she come out to explain that fear and dismay at her future as a single mother led to her actions. Police, however, returned the child to his mother.

中國西南地區一個22歲的女服務員在一個公廁生下一個嬰兒，然後爲了逃避由於未婚生育引起的譴責和懲罰，將嬰兒從下水道沖走。在孩子得救幾天以後，她才現身解釋源自對自己作爲單身媽媽未來的恐懼和驚慌導致她做出這樣的行爲。然而，警方將他的孩子交給她的母親扶養。

Rising incomes, liberal sexual behavior and growing mobility are all impacting women’s choices on family and relations.

不斷提高的收入，自由性行爲和人口流動性的加劇這些因素都影響着婦女對家庭和兩性關係的選擇。

A survey conducted by the Guangdong Province Research Center on Family Planning revealed that 50 to 80 percent of female migrant workers in the province have premarital sex; among them 50 to 60 percent have had in accidental pregnancy.

一份來自廣東省計生調查中心的調查顯示：在廣東省，50%-80%的女性農民工都有過婚前性行爲，她們當中50%-60%的人都曾有過意外懷孕。

When they decide to keep their baby, single women are aware they are breaking the law. Chinese family planning agencies punish any contravention of the one-child policy, including birth out of wedlock.

當她們決定留住孩子的時候，這些單身女性注意到她們是在違法。中國計劃生育機構對違反一個孩子政策，包括非婚生育的行爲是要進行處罰的。

Wei Wei, a social worker with Little Bird –an NGO that provides help for migrant workers –says Chinese society does not support aid to unwed mothers, as other causes come first in the helping line.

魏偉（音），一個幫助農民工的非政府組織“小鳥”（Little Bird）的一名社會工作者，說當其它原因率先出現在幫助線的時候，中國社會不支持向未婚媽媽提供幫助。

“Their status is illegal, they do not have any legal protection. And this is a thorny social group, there’s no organization that looks after them, ” says Mr. Wei.

“她們的情況是非法的，她們沒有受到任何法律保護。這是一個令人頭疼的社會羣體，沒有任何組織幫助她們，”魏先生說道。

Invisible children

黑戶孩子

Wei Wei said the phenomenon is widespread, especially in manufacturing clusters like Guangzhou and Shenzhen where migrant workers flock together.

魏偉說這種現象一直在蔓延，尤其在像廣州、深圳那些農民工集中聚集的製造業集中的地方。

“The biggest problem they face once their partner abandons them is the issue of hukou, they are not able to get a household registration for the child” he said. “They also find themselves in very hard economic condition, because the original family excludes them, they do not have any income and it’s hard for them to find a job.”

“當被伴侶拋棄，她們面臨的最大的問題是戶口，她們無法爲孩子上戶口”，他說，“她們同樣會發現自己的經濟狀況非常糟糕，因爲孃家排斥她們，她們沒有任何收入，並且很難找到工作。”

Yi Ran’s son is now three years old.

易冉的兒子現在已經三歲了。

Without the household registration he will not be allowed into kindergarten and each time he falls ill, medical fees are higher than average. But as she does not posses any marriage certificate, the young woman is not able to apply for registration.

沒有戶口，他沒法上幼兒園；每次生病的時候，他的醫療費用都比一般人要高。但是由於她沒有結婚證，導致她無法爲兒子申請戶籍。

“Getting a household registration for my son is my biggest concern, that’s where I would really need help” she said.

“爲我兒子上戶口現在是我最關心的問題，這也是我真正需要幫助的地方”，她說道。

Little Bird’s Wei Wei said the law does not consider this situation.

在“小鳥”工作的魏偉說法律不考慮這種（上戶口的）情況。