女人想灑脫地不化妝不打扮就出門，那可不行。美麗的紅利讓她們無法忽視自己的外表，而每天花在化妝上的時間和金錢又是一筆不小的代價。現實是殘酷的，對美麗的期待讓這個世界很難公平，美麗有價，但權衡利弊更重要。
Have you heard of the “makeup tax”? It refers to the time and money women spend on their appearances in the hopes of doing well at work. Many career women fear that if they don’t live up to society’s expectations, they will lose out on promotions and pay raises.
你聽過“化妝稅”嗎？它指的是女人為了事業成功而花在經營儀表上的時間和金錢。很多職業女性擔心一旦自己辜負了社會（對女性美麗外表）的期望，她們將會失去升職加薪的機會。
The “makeup tax” affects a lot of women. US presidential candidate and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton is no exception. Last month, in an online Q&A session on Facebook, Clinton was asked about her morning grooming routine by Libby Brittain, a female Facebook staffer. Brittain complained that she has to spend more than 30 minutes getting ready for work while her boyfriend “zip[s] out the door”.
“化妝稅”影響了大批女性，連美國總統候選人、前國務卿希拉里·克林頓也不例外。上個月，在臉書的一檔在線問答互動活動上，臉書公司的女性僱員莉比·布里頓問希拉里是如何應對日常打扮的。布里頓還抱怨說自己每天要花30分鐘以上用來梳洗準備才能去工作，而她的男朋友“開門就能去上班”。
“I wonder about how the ‘hair and makeup tax’ affects other women–especially ones I admire in high-pressure, public-facing jobs,” wrote Brittain, who added that as a “young professional woman” she’d like to know how Clinton handles it while “staying focused on the ‘real’ work ahead”.
布里頓寫道：“我想知道’美髮和化妝稅’是如何影響其他女性的，特別是那些我崇拜的，身居要職，工作壓力大還經常要拋頭露面的女性“，之後她又補充說，作為一個“年輕的職業女性”，她想知道克林頓是如何在一堆“真槍實彈”的工作擺在面前時還兼顧美髮和化妝的。
Clinton acknowledged that the “makeup tax” is a problem. “Amen, sister,” she wrote in her answer. “It’s a daily challenge. I do the best I can –and as you may have noticed, some days are better than others !”
克林頓也承認“化妝稅”確實是個問題。 “你我同在，姐妹，”她回答到。 “這是每天都要面對的挑戰。我盡力做到最好——如你所見，有些時候做的好些，有些時候不盡人意。”
Olga Khazan, writing in The Atlantic, thinks Clinton shouldn’t have treated the question so lightheartedly. The “makeup tax” is very real, Khazan says. Women invest time and money into makeup because it impacts their relationships and their careers. Men also use grooming products, but they never have to worry about the price of makeup.
奧爾加·卡贊在《大西洋月刊》上撰文提到她認為克林頓不應該用這麼隨意的態度對待這個問題。卡讚說“化妝稅”是真實存在的。女人投入大把的時間和金錢化妝，因為這關係到她們的愛情和事業。男人也會用些化妝品，不過他們可不必擔心化妝的成本。
According to a Washington Post report, the cosmetics industry makes $60 billion (384 billion yuan) each year in the US. The personal finance website Mint.com claims that the average US woman will spend $15,000 on makeup in her lifetime. Applying makeup also costs time. If it takes you an average of 10 minutes to apply makeup every morning before going to work, that’s an hour per week, or two full days per year.
根據《華盛頓郵報》的報導，美國的化妝品行業每年能掙600億美元（3840億人民幣）。個人理財網Mint.com說平均每個美國女性一生中要花1萬5千美元用於購買化妝品。同時，化妝也是個耗費時間的活兒。如果每天早上上班之前你平均要花10分鐘來化妝，那麼每周有一小時用於化妝，每年有整整兩天用在了化妝上。
Critics might say, “Just don’t wear makeup!” But few people can afford to ignore society’s expectations. Years of research have shown that attractive people earn more, yet men aren’t expected to wear makeup in order to look good.
批評者說：“那就別化妝嘛！”但基本上沒有人敢無視這種社會期望。一項歷經數年的實驗顯示外表迷人的人掙得更多，而社會並沒有期待男人通過化妝變得好看。
According to The New York Times, a 2014 study published in the Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology found that both male and female participants thought “regular” women looked best when they applied a moderate amount of makeup. Another 2012 study found that subtle makeup made women seem not only attractive, but more likable and competent. A 2006 study published in the Journal of Applied Social Psychology found that participants were more likely to award “prestigious jobs” to women who used makeup than to the same women when their faces were unadorned.
據《紐約時報》消息，《實驗心理學季刊》曾在2014年刊登過一項研究，研究發現男性和女性參與者都認為淡妝狀態下的女性顏值最高。 2012年的另一項研究則表明淡妝不僅讓女性更好看，還讓她們看起來更討人喜歡和能幹。 2006年《應用社會心理學雜誌》發布的一篇研究發現被試更願意把優越的職位提供給化過妝的女性而非那些未施粉黛的。
“I wish society didn’t reward this,” Daniel Hamermesh, an economics professor at the University of Texas at Austin and author of Beauty Pays, told The New York Times. “I think we’d be a fairer world if beauty were not rewarded, but it is.”
德克薩斯大學奧斯汀分校經濟學教授、《美麗有價》一書的作者丹尼爾·漢默許說“我不希望社會鼓勵這種行為。如果美貌不被嘉獎，那麼世界將更公平，可惜這是不可能的。”
本文來源 紐約時報
