Japan - Many Women's Careers on Hold
Because Shortage of Childcare
By Catherine Makino
TOKYO, Dec 20, 2009 (IPS) - Tomoko Ando and her husband divorced
because she refused to quit her job as a lawyer and start a family. The
shortage of daycare centres has created a dilemma for women like Ando who want
to continue working, but also start a family.
"It was
a painful decision," said the 35-year old. "I worked hard to become a
lawyer and didn't want to give up my career. I would be left in charge of
raising the children and doing the housework."
Many women
in Japan have to quit their jobs because there is a shortage of
daycare facilities. More than 25,384 children are on waiting lists. The new
government plans to come up with an overall plan by the end of January to help
cut the waiting lists.
According to
Japan's Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, 42
percent of women don't return to their jobs after childbirth. Only 7 percent of
men help with household chores, while 90 percent of wives do all the work,
according to the government's White Papers on Gender Equality 2009.
Since the
1970s as major socioeconomic changes took place in Japan, women delayed marriage and had fewer children. The
average number of children per family is 1.3; the nation has one of the lowest
birth rates in the world. The average age for marrying today is 28, an upward
rise of 2.7 over the past 20 years.
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Working
Women
According to the National Institute of
population and Social Security Research Japan's population could shrink by 25 percent by 2050 if the
birthrate doesn't increase.
Japan's new government of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has
promised to bring the birthrate back to a sustainable level and ease the
expense of raising children.
The government wants to give families a monthly allowance of 125 dollars
per child under 15 beginning April 2010 and increased to 290 dollars the
following year. It hasn't been approve yet.
Takamato Takamatsu, a simultaneous translator who travels for her job,
worked while raising her two sons. They now attend university.
"I had a better income than most people, so I could splurge on
babysitters," she said. "Although, Japanese looked at me with
great scepticism because babysitters aren't that accepted here. But I told
them I was raised in the United States, so I got away with playing by different rules."
The attitudes about women are slowing change in Japan. But the idea that women should stay at home is deeply
rooted. It wasn't until after World War II that women began taking an
active role in a variety of economic and social activities.
Before the war the Constitution did not guarantee the equality of men and
women; women didn't have the right to vote nor run for office. At that
time, under the Civil Code, wives were seen as inefficient, they didn't
have rights to property and inheritance; even their parental rights were
limited.
After the war the Constitution in 1946 guaranteed equality for men and
women under the law.
Still, according to a survey conducted by the Cabinet office, 50 percent of
people thought a husband should go to work, and a wife should stay home and
take care of the family.
Takamatsu who bucked the trend, however, has the last word. She
said: "Both my sons got into a top university, which I think made some
of the women who were critical of working mothers think again. Perhaps
they'll be more tolerant and supportive of the choices of their daughters
(or daughters-in-law)!"
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Many
women's activists groups say Japan
needs to encourage women in the workplace, especially if they want to sustain a
workforce and stay in the global expansion race. The workplace still remains
difficult due to discrimination and family responsibilities.
According to
the Health, Labour and Welfare Ministry, out of the total population of men and
women over the age of 15, 24.04 percent of women are participating in the
workplace.
"It is
true, that there is little space for working mothers in the workplace,"
says Mari Miura of Sophia University in Tokyo. "But the situation for women has improved, as now
there is child care leave, daycares in workplaces, flexibility with schedules,
and the right to refuse night shifts."
In addition,
Japan has adequate maternity leave, six weeks prior and eight
weeks after childbirth, however daycare centres are what is lacking.
"It is
nice to be able to spend time with babies for such a long time, but in terms of
career information, such a long interruption harms women," Miura says
"Even though women want to get back to work earlier, it is sometimes
impossible due to the shortage of day care." It's also expensive to
provide day care services to 0-1 year old children.
It is also
difficult for women to strike a balance between work and their home life due to
long working hours, "This puts strong psychological pressure on working women,"
Miura told IPS.
Then there's
discrimination which women encounter. It starts at the level of recruitment;
many companies have a multiple career track system (employment management
categories). The first track is the top tier and so on. Women hired in the
first track are extremely low.
The reason
only a few women are hired for the first track is because it requires women to
work long hours and accept a company's orders to relocate. Although they have
the right to refuse overtime work, someone else would have to do the job for
them.
The other
problem, she says, is that over half of Japanese women are non-regular workers.
"Basically, non-regular workers are not able to claim the rights that
female regular workers are granted."
It's in the
home where women have power. They are the decision makers. Usually it is the
women's role to control the family's budget while men are busy at work to
shoulder family responsibility.
Sandra
Shoji, an instructor at Tokyo International University, after talking to students and observing neighbours' kids,
believes the trend for women marrying later is changing because of the economic
recession, fewer jobs and lower salaries.
Female
students now want to secure both a job and a husband for financial security and
emotional support. Many girls think that their chances for finding a full-time
job in this economy are low.
"So,"
Shoji says, "with all this tiresome and incessant job-hunting - it is much
more exiting to day-dream about getting married. Especially since being a
housewife in Japan is considered to be an honourable, full-time job."
Housewives
can wear the clothes they want, decorate their houses and have cute babies.
They daydream about shopping with their married girlfriends while pushing their
babies in fashionable baby strollers.
In trains,
women read books and magazines about catching a husband. They go to
speed-dating parties to find a possible husband who is a few years older than
they are and has a full-time job.
"I was
surprised to find more female university students dating blue collar
workers," Shoji says. "They are looking for a husband with a track
record of employment, which is more difficult to find these days."