Women Advancing in Japanese Society - Part Three: Is Balancing Family and Work Responsibilities Becoming Easier for Women?

J. Sean Curtin (Fellow, GLOCOM and Asia Times) and Machiko Osawa (Professor of Economics, Japan Woman's University)

A full list of articles in this series can be found here.

The Cabinet Office 2004 annual white paper on gender participation found that more men than ever before said they favoured the idea of women continuing to work after marriage, with only 10 percent saying they should not.1 However, most husbands admitted they did not do their fair share of housekeeping chores and child-rearing activities, the two areas which cause working women the most stress. The same report also found that 40.6 percent of women were in favour of temporarily quitting work after childbirth and not re-entering the workforce until their offspring had grown up or at least entered school. One reason for wanting to do this was the feeling that it was too difficult to balance childrearing and housework responsibilities with the demands of work. The results also indicated that women who have an occupation feel it is especially difficult to bring up children while pursuing a career.

Are women really moving forward in the workplace?

Sean Curtin: Various data appears to indicate that over the last decade women have made great strides in the world of paid employment. There are now more women than ever before occupying senior management positions, prominent women politicians and businesswomen have emerged and the government has initiated a whole series of family-friendly policies to balance the demands of work and home. What is your opinion about these developments?

Machiko Osawa: Female politicians, well-educated women and women educated overseas, these are the kinds of women who have been allowed to play a greater role in society and it is this group which acts as the role models for the younger generation of women. However, a much larger group of women has been far less fortunate.

Sean Curtin: With regard to roles models, it is certainly true that well-educated women and those educated overseas have been able to use their talents and abilities to a far greater degree than in previous generations. There are also a lot more companies with family-friendly work policies than there used to be. The increase in the number of foreign companies has also benefited well-qualified women as overseas firms are often much more willing to employ women in senior posts than their Japanese counterparts. So, there are definitely positive signs as well as negative ones. How would you assess the situation overall? Are women moving forward in the workplace?

Machiko Osawa: In terms of the employment opportunities, I would have to say yes. In terms of balancing family and work responsibilities - especially raising children - I would have to say not really. I will give you a concrete example, when women have a child it is extremely difficult for them to continue with their career. This is still a big problem in Japan.

Sean Curtin: Do you think this situation will change in the future because of the predicted labour shortage, which is the inevitable result of the rapid graying of the population? This demographic shift has forced the government to establish a whole new series of family-friendly work policies specifically designed to help keep women in the workforce after childbirth. Do you think these policies will actually create new opportunities for women?

Machiko Osawa: The key question will be the way corporations develop their own family-friendly work policies. If these become more accommodating and adaptable for working women by such initiatives as shortening working hours and understanding the need to change corporate culture, then progress is possible.

Sean Curtin: International surveys show that comparatively speaking Japanese corporate culture is not particularly female-friendly and certainly at the very top level of management there is a noticeable absence of women.

Machiko Osawa: Yes, I think that honestly speaking Japanese corporate culture can be describe as being against working mothers. I think that what the government really has to do is change corporate culture. If the government is not successful, and it is a difficult task, then there will be a reduction in female participation in the workforce. This will create real problems, which is something that the government has said it doesn't want.

Note
1 According to the 2004 annual government white paper on gender participation, in 1972, 40 percent of men said women should not work or should devote themselves to housework after getting married. But in 2002, this figure had dropped to about 10 percent. A significant change in the attitude of men aged in their twenties and above was particularly evident from 1992 to 2002, with those favouring their wives continuing to work after having children accounting for 37.2 percent in 2002, up from 19.8 percent in 1992. The shift is attributed to economic difficulties caused by the long recession, sluggish growth in wages, rising unemployment rates, and a growing belief that a man's income alone is no longer sufficient to support a family.

A full list of articles in this series can be found here.

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