May 26, 2013

Prime Minister Abe Shinzo has announced his plan to extend childcare leave for a maximum of three years for mothers. Meanwhile, public voices are being raised demanding better working conditions for both fathers and mothers so that they can both take childcare leaves and raise their children together.

A woman working in the distribution industry went back to her office in late April after taking a nearly three-year-long childcare leave.

Her company allows both regular and non-regular workers to take parental leave for three years. However, those who actually take the leave for more than two and a half years are less than 10% of its employees.

“If the government promotes the three-year childcare leave, a measure to provide salaries for the entire period will be helpful,” she said. Under the childcare leave law, workers who leave their office to take care of their children can receive benefits (50% of their monthly wage on average) for only up to a year and a half.

Many women workers share concerns over layoffs and other negative effects on their working conditions that may be brought about by taking childcare leave. One of them said that her salary was cut by 20% just because she took childcare leave to attend the graduation and entrance ceremonies of her children.

Yoshida Hiroki, representing the non-profit organization Fathering Japan, pointed out that men’s working conditions must be improved in order to encourage both fathers and mothers to secure time to take care of their children.

Since the above-mentioned woman’s husband cannot come home from work till 10 p.m., she has to take care of their two children all by herself during weekdays.

According to the government’s research, one in five Japanese men in their 30s work more than 60 hours a week. Japanese father of children who are six years old or younger spend one hour a week on average doing housework and providing childcare, which is one-third of time spent by fathers in the U.S. and European countries.

“Measures should be taken to increase the number of both male and female regular workers and reduce their work hours so that both husbands and wives can take care of children,” said Yoshida, who also calls for a government measure to make it easier for fathers to take childcare leaves.