Japan: Work and Family Still a Difficult Balance so Most Women Still Put Careers on Hold

Demographic data from the National Institute of population and Social Security Research shows that Japan’s population could shrink by 25 percent by 2050 if the birthrate doesn't increase. In response, 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 approved yet. Although the Constitution of 1946 guaranteed equality for men and women under the law, 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.
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. Currently 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). 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.
According to the Health, Labour and Welfare Ministry, out of the total population of men and women over the age of 15, only 24 percent of women are participating in the workplace. The situation is improving, however, 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. But lack of daycare remains a major problem. It is also difficult for women to strike a balance between work and their home life due to long working hours.
Discrimination also exists in the workplace, beginning at the recruitment phase. 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. Another issue is that over half of Japanese women are non-regular workers, who are not able to claim the rights that female regular workers are granted.
 

“Careers On Hold For Most Women,” IPS News, 12/20/09; http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49759