Career interruption of Japanese women: why is it so hard to balance work and childcare?

Many Japanese women temporarily leave their jobs during the childrearing phase. In this paper, the author summarizes the present situation and causes of this interruption of work by Japanese women in the childrearing phase, mainly by re-aggregating the results of the National Survey of Households with Children conducted by the Japan Institute for Labour Policy and Training in 2012. This analysis revealed that 62 per cent of all women in the childrearing phase, and of these, 56 per cent of those with a university degree or higher educational background, are classified in 'interruption type' career courses. The regular employee ratio of women in 'interruption type' employment is 36 percentage points lower than those in '(job) continuation type' employment, and their average annual incomes are also only about half. Around 60 per cent of women in the childrearing phase think it ideal to continue working after childbirth, exposing a wide gap between ideals and realities when it comes to balancing work with childcare. Possible factors behind the expansion of job interruption in the childrearing phase to women from higher educational backgrounds include the fact that the gender-specific role expectations placed on women (responsibility for housework and childcare) remain as high as ever, and that job interruption is influenced by male-centered Japanese-style employment practices.

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