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Just before Christmas 2005, Frances Stojilkovic was offered what sounded like free money.
就在2005年圣诞节前夕，弗朗西丝·斯托吉尔科维奇得到了一笔听起来像是免费的资金。
She was working as a carer, providing in-home assistance to elderly and disabled people.
她是一名护理员，为老年人和残疾人提供居家援助。
The letter she received, along with 11,000 other women working for Glasgow city council, told Stojilkovic she was entitled to compensation resulting from wage disparity between men and women.
斯托吉尔科维奇，以及其他1.1万名就职于格拉斯哥市议会的女性收到的这封信说，她们有权获得由于男女工资差异而产生的补偿金。
This was the first time most of the women had heard that they were being paid less than their male counterparts – but what drew the attention of Stojilkovic and her friends was the promise of a cash injection.
这是大多数女性第一次听说她们的薪酬低于男性--但引起斯托吉尔科维奇和她的朋友们注意的是现金投入的承诺。
“It was a carrot dangling before Christmas. Everyone wanted to have something for their kids,” she told me recently.
“那是圣诞节前悬挂着的胡萝卜。每个人都想给自己的孩子买点东西，“她最近告诉我。
Stojilkovic is a no-nonsense woman, born and bred in Glasgow.
斯托吉尔科维奇在格拉斯哥出生和长大，是一个务实严肃的女人。
When she got the letter, she was in her early 40s, and had been working as a home carer for about a year.
她收到这封信时40出头，已经做了一年左右的家庭看护工作。
She loved the job, and was conscious of its importance – sometimes she was the only person someone spoke to that day. But it did not pay well.
她热爱这份工作，并意识到工作的重要性--有时她是那天唯一可以交谈的人。但这并没有带来丰厚的回报。
Many of Stojilkovic’s colleagues, especially the single mothers, worked multiple jobs to make ends meet: night shifts cleaning or weekends in retail.
斯托吉尔科维奇的许多同事，特别是单身母亲，为了维持生计，打了好几份工：上夜班做清洁或周末做零售工作。
She considered herself lucky because she and her husband both had jobs – he worked in restaurants – so they had two incomes.
她认为自己很幸运，因为她和丈夫都有工作--他在餐馆工作--所以他们有两份收入。
But she still worked a lot of overtime, and weeks would go by when she and her husband saw little of each other.
但她仍然经常加班，她和丈夫彼此没见几面几个星期就过去了。
Stojilkovic was excited at the prospect of a payout.
斯托吉尔科维奇对可能获得的薪酬感到兴奋。
Having done the job for a year, she was told, she was entitled to 2,800 pounds.
在做了这项工作一年后，她被告知她有权获得2800英镑的薪水。
“I just thought – 2,800 pounds! I’m rich!” she recalled.
她回忆道：“我刚刚想--2800英镑！我有钱了！”
The compensation package, negotiated behind the scenes between Glasgow city council and the unions, had strict limits.
格拉斯哥市议会和工会私下谈判的补偿方案有多项严格限制。
The maximum amount anyone would receive was 9,000 pounds.
任何人都可以获得的最高金额是9000英镑。
“At the time, that sounded to me like winning the lottery,” Stojilkovic said.
斯托吉尔科维奇说：“在我当时看来就像中了彩票一样。”
But some of her colleagues who had worked as carers for 10 or 20 years wondered if this sold them short.
但她的一些做了十年、二十年护理员的同事想知道，9000英镑的补偿金是否低估了她们的价值。
Stojilkovic remembers that their managers always had the same response: “Yous are being greedy. It’s a lot of money.”
斯托吉尔科维奇记得，她们的经理总是得到同样的回答：“你们太贪婪了。这是一大笔钱。
The letter told the women that if they didn’t take the money, they had the right to pursue claims through employment tribunals with private lawyers, but warned “you could end up with nothing”.
这封信告诉这些女性，如果她们不收下这笔钱，他们有权通过设有私人律师的就业法庭提起诉讼，还警告称“你们可能最终会一无所有”。
As instructed by the letter, Stojilkovic made her way to a leisure centre in town where she would receive “independent, impartial legal advice”.
按照这封信的指示，斯托吉尔科维奇应前往镇上的一个休闲中心。在那里，她将接受“独立、公正的法律建议”。
In return for the one-off lump sum, the women, who mostly worked in care and education, were required to sign paperwork giving up their right to make further equal pay claims.
作为一次性支付的补偿金，这些主要在护理和教育行业工作的女性被要求签署文件，放弃进一步提出同工同酬要求的权利。
The leisure centre was hectic, and Stojilkovic queued with two friends who were entitled to the maximum payment.
这个休闲中心很繁忙，斯托吉尔科维奇和有权获得最高补偿金的两个朋友一起排队。
