听力课堂TED音频栏目主要包括TED演讲的音频MP3及中英双语文稿，供各位英语爱好者学习使用。本文主要内容为演讲MP3+双语文稿:女性将如何带领我们走向自由、正义与和平，希望你会喜欢！

【演讲者及介绍】H.E. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

利比里亚前总统、诺贝尔奖获得者H.E. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf促进自由、和平、正义、妇女赋权和民主统治。

【演讲主题】女性将如何带领我们走向自由、正义与和平

How women will lead us to freedom, justice and peace

【中英文字幕】

翻译者 Lark Yu 校对者 Yolanda Zhang

I was the first woman president of an African nation. And I do believe more countries ought to try that.

我是非洲国家的首位女性总统。我认为，应当有更多国家尝试让女性担任领导。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

(Applause and cheers)

（掌声与欢呼声）

Once the glass ceiling has been broken, it can never be put back together -- however one would try to do that. When I assumed the presidency of Liberia in January 2006, we faced the tremendous challenges of a post-conflict nation: collapsed economy, destroyed infrastructure, dysfunctional institutions, enormous debt, bloated civil service. We also faced the challenges of those left behind. The primary victims of all civil wars: women and children.

一旦这种无形的屏障被打破，形势则势不可挡——而女性则可以崭露头角。当我在2006年1月担任利比里亚总统的时候，作为一个刚刚结束国内冲突的国家，我们面临着巨大的挑战：处于崩溃边缘的经济、毁坏殆尽的基础设施、丧失效力的制度、巨额的债务以及臃肿的行政管理体系。我们也面临着落后群体带来的诸多挑战。作为内战的主要受害者：妇女和儿童。

On my first day in office, I was excited ... and I was exhausted. It had been a very long climb to where I was. Women had been those who suffered most in our civil conflict, and women had been the ones to resolve it. Our history records many women of strength and action. A President of the United Nations General Assembly, a renowned circuit court judge, a president of the University of Liberia. I knew that I had to form a very strong team with the capacity to address the challenges of our nation.

在我上任的第一天，我很兴奋......但同时也精疲力竭，这是一段漫长而艰辛的道路。女性是在内战冲突中遭受苦难最多的群体，同时女性也是有能力解决这一问题的群体。我们的史料记载了许多女性的努力和行动——联合国大会的一名主席，一名著名的巡回法院法官，一位利比里亚大学校长。我知道自己必须打造一个强有力的团队，能够克服我们国家所面临的挑战。

And I wanted to put women in all top positions. But I knew that was not possible. And so I settled for putting them in strategic positions. I recruited a very able economist from the World Bank to be our minister of finance, to lead our debt-relief effort. Another to be the minister of foreign affairs, to reactivate our bilateral and multilateral relationships. The first woman chief of police to address the fears of our women, who had suffered so much during the civil war. Another to be the minister of gender, to be able to ensure the protection and the participation of women. Over time, the minister of justice, the minister of public works, the minister of agriculture, the minister of commerce and industry.

而且我希望女性们身居要位。但我知道那不太可能。因此我决定把她们放在具有战略意义的岗位。我从世界银行招募了一位很能干的经济学家担任金融部长，领导我们的债务减免工作；另一位女性担任外交部部长，重启我们的双边与多边外交关系；首位女警察局长来安抚那些女性群体的恐惧情绪，她们在内战中备受煎熬；还邀请了一位担任性别部长，旨在确保女性获得保护和参与权。后来，我还任命了女性司法部长、公共事务部长、农业部长和工商部长。

Participation in leadership was unprecedented in my administration. And although I knew that there were not enough women with the experience to form an all-women cabinet -- as I wanted -- I settled to appoint numerous women in junior ministerial positions, as executives, as administrators, in local government, in diplomatic service, in the judiciary, in public institutions. It worked.

国家领导权的女性参与度在我的任期中达到了前所未有的高度。尽管我知道有相关经验的女性少之又少，不足以组成全女性内阁——正如我设想的一样——我决定提名大量女性担任各类初级的部长职位，诸如行政领导管理者，让她们的身影遍及地方政府、外交服务部门、司法机构、公共服务机构。该举措已被证明是行之有效的。

At the end of 2012, our economic growth had peaked at nine percent. Our infrastructure was being reconstructed at a very fast pace. Our institutions were functioning again. Our debt of 4.9 billion had been largely canceled. We had good relationships with the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the African Development Bank. We also had good working relationships with all our sister African countries and many nations all over the world.

截至2012年年底，我们的经济增速达到了9%。基础设施以极快速度得以重建。我们的政府机构恢复了正常运转。我们高达49亿的债务被大幅减免。我们和国际货币基金组织（IMF）、世界银行和非洲发展银行都建立了良好的关系。我们同时与非洲姊妹国家，以及全世界的许多国家建立了健康的合作发展关系。

Our women could sleep peacefully at night again, without fear. Our children were smiling again, as I promised them during my first inaugural address. The reputation and credibility of our nation, lost in the many years of conflict, were restored.

我们的女性朋友们又能在夜晚安然入睡，而不再感到恐惧了。我们的孩子们笑颜可以再次绽放，一如我在就职演讲中所承诺的一样。我们国家在连年的冲突内战中消失殆尽的声誉和信用，也得以修复和重建。

But progress is never guaranteed. And in our legislature, in my first term, women were 14 percent. In the second term, it declined to eight percent, because the environment was increasingly toxic. I had my fair shares of criticism and toxicity. Nobody is perfect. But there's nothing more predictable than a strong woman who wants to change things, who's brave to speak out, who's bold in action.

而发展进步却从未获得承诺和保证。但在我首届任期中的立法机构里，女性席位占比14%。而在第二届任期，女性占比减少到了8%，由于机构作风越来越腐化，当然我有相当一部分责任，毕竟人无完人。然而更为确定和可预期的是，一名强悍的女性希望去改变过去的旧有事物，敢于发声，并无畏地展开行动。

But I'm OK with the criticism. I know why I made the decisions I made, and I'm happy with the results. But that's why more women leaders are needed. For there will always be those who will tear us down, who will tear us apart, because they want the status quo to remain.

而我可以接受批评，也清楚自己做出决定的原因所在，也对结果感到欣喜。但这也是需要更多女性领袖的原因。因为总是会有对我们提出质疑的人们，他们会摧毁我们，因为他们希望维持现状。

Although sub-Saharan Africa has had major breakthroughs in women's leadership and participation, particularly in the legislature -- in parliament, as it's called -- so many women, 50 percent and over, one of our nations, well over 60 percent, the best in the world -- but we know that's not enough. While we must be very thankful and applaud the progress we have made, we know that there is much more work to be done. The work will have to address the lingering vestiges of structural ... something against women.

尽管沙哈拉以南非洲已经在女性领导权和参与性方面取得重大突破，尤其是在立法权上——在议会中，就像倡导的那样——如此众多的女性，半数或更多，民族之林中的一个，有超过60%，世界上表现最亮眼——但我们知道这还不够。但我们依然非常感谢，并为我们取得的进步鼓掌欢庆，我们清楚要做的工作依然很多。要解决依然存在的结构性遗留问题......一些歧视或不利于女性的问题。

In too many places, political parties are based on patronage, patriarchy, misogyny that try to keep women from their rightful places, that shut them out from taking leadership positions. Too often, women face -- while the best performers, while equal or better in competence -- unequal pay. And so we must continue to work to change things. We must be able to change the stereotyping. We must be able to ensure that those structural barriers that have kept women from being able to have the equity they rightfully deserve.

在很多地方，政党极度依赖赞助资金，男权主义和厌女观都在极力阻止女性占据的位置，并将她们隔离在领导岗位之外。通常情况下，即使是表现优异的女性，拥有同等能力甚至能力更强，也面临着同工不同酬的问题。因此我们需要继续努力改变这样的状况。我们要改变这种刻板印象。要尽可能确保移除这种阻碍了她们理应享受的平权待遇的结构性障碍。

And we must also work with men. Because increasingly, there is recognition that full gender equity will ensure a stronger economy, a more developed nation, a more peaceful nation. And that is why we must continue to work. And that is why we're partners.

同时我们需要和男性合作。因为我们越来越能达成共识，即全面的性别平等将带来更强健的经济发展、更繁荣的国家，以及更和平稳定的国家。这就是我们一定要继续努力的原因，也是我们需要合作伙伴的原因。

I will be launching a Center for Women and Development that will bring together --

我将成立一个妇女与发展中心并联合——

(Applause)

（掌声）

women who have started and are committed to their joining of leadership. With women who have excelled and advanced in leadership together. Over a 10-year period, we strongly believe that we will create this wave of women who are prepared to take, unabashedly, intentional leadership and influence throughout society.

那些开始和致力于集结领导力的女性，那些在领导力方面有着更加出色表现的女性。我们坚信，在十年内，我们将掀起一次浪潮，而推动这一浪潮的，正是那些做好准备、勇敢无畏，并在全社会有意识的发挥领导作用和影响力的女性。

This is why --

这也是为什么——

(Laughs)

（笑声）

at 81, I cannot retire.

尽管已是耄耋之年，我依然不能退休。

(Applause and laughter)

（掌声和笑声）

Women are working for change in Africa. Women are working for change throughout the world. I will be with them, and one of them, forever.

在非洲，女性正在为变革而努力。全世界的女性都在为变革而努力。我会永远与她们并肩，共同战斗。

Thank you for listening. Go out and change the world.

感谢聆听。走出去改变世界吧。

(Applause and cheers)

（掌声和欢呼声）