[Feature: Changing Families and Child-rearing] Shingo Ikeda: Earning Roles and Housework/Childcare Roles of Modern Child-rearing Couples—Aiming to Resolve the Double Burden

2024/03/05

Without being bound by the traditional gender-based division of labor where "men work and women do housework and childcare," a new model of family life in Japan is emerging where women also work and men also participate in housework and childcare.

Particularly in relation to child-rearing, government policies have promoted employment support for women and childcare support for men from the perspectives of both measures against the declining birthrate and equal employment opportunity policies. Perhaps as a result, the continuous employment rate for women has risen, and the time men spend on housework and childcare is increasing, albeit gradually.

However, as a result, we may be heading toward a society where both men and women suffer from the double burden of work and housework/childcare (Nagai 2020). Demanding new roles such as "men doing housework/childcare" and "women working" does not necessarily mean liberation from old gender roles. Does it mean men don't have to work if they do housework/childcare? Does it mean women don't have to do housework/childcare if they work? The government has implemented few policies to liberate men and women from old gender roles. If neither men nor women can handle both the old and new roles, they may either settle into traditional gender roles or choose not to marry at all. Thinking this way, it is understandable that even if the government focuses on supporting the balance between work and child-rearing, the results are not as expected, and conversely, the trend of remaining single progresses.

To realize a society where both men and women can balance work and housework/childcare without being bound by gender roles, it is necessary to address not only involvement in new roles but also liberation from old roles for both genders. With this awareness, this article aims to present the challenges toward resolving the double burden of "both men and women doing both work and housework."

The double burden of "both work and housework/childcare" is now a classic issue for women (Nishimura 2009). There is a historical context where men have been expected to take on housework and childcare to alleviate the double burden on women. However, in reality, men's participation in housework and childcare may not be leading to a reduction in the burden on women.

Nagai (2020), through a time-series comparison of the "Survey on Time Use and Leisure Activities" (Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications), points out the increasing trend in men's housework and childcare time, while also noting that women's housework and childcare time is increasing even more. The reason given is that "much of childcare is performed jointly, requiring the energy and time of both husband and wife," and "unless work hours are significantly reduced, it is difficult to resolve the burden on both genders regarding the double burden" (Nagai 2020; 44).

As a matter of daily time allocation, longer work hours mean less time available for housework and childcare. From this perspective, working hours have frequently been identified as a factor hindering men's participation in housework and childcare (Inaba 1998, Matsuda 2002). However, work hours are in a trade-off relationship with income. Hazama (1996) clarified that the diligence of male workers who work long hours without regard for their families actually stems from a sense of the earning role—providing a financially wealthy life for the family.

If the earning role is reduced by the amount work hours are decreased, men can avoid the double burden. If the husband's earning role is reduced by the wife's employment, the husband can spend time on housework and childcare without worrying about income. From the woman's perspective, if the husband takes on housework and childcare to the extent that the wife takes on the earning role, the woman would also avoid the double burden.

Below, I would like to look at data I have independently compiled regarding housework and childcare, focusing on both the work hours of men and women and the division of household finances between couples.

When considering the relationship between housework/childcare performed as a daily routine and work hours, as Nagai (2020) has organized, there are things unrelated to the length of work hours and things that cannot be done if work hours are long.

Preparing dinner is a typical example of the latter. Especially in Japanese society, where evening and nighttime overtime is normalized, preparing dinner is one of the household chores that requires adjustment of work hours. To maintain the "early to bed, early to rise" lifestyle norm for children, it is better to have dinner early. From that perspective, I want to focus on the absence of overtime—that is, leaving work on time—rather than the length of overtime hours.

Also, interacting with children is one of the things that cannot be done if work hours are long. In previous research, Matsuda (2002) demonstrated that late return times hinder men's childcare. Not only routine work like meals, bathing, and putting children to bed, but also being a playmate for children is an important part of childcare for a child's development.

However, are making dinner and being a child's playmate equivalent? A life where a husband who returns home early in the evening plays with the children without making dinner cannot be said to be desirable. For the aforementioned "early to bed, early to rise," preparing dinner would have a higher priority than playing with children. If the husband plays with the children without making dinner, the question remains as to who will make dinner.

Let's look at Figure 1 from that perspective. This figure shows the number of times per week men and women (employees with a youngest child under 12) prepare dinner and play with their youngest child, categorized by the number of overtime days per week. For men, even if the number of overtime days is low—meaning there are many days they leave on time—the frequency of preparing dinner does not increase. However, the frequency of playing with the youngest child is higher when there are fewer overtime days. On the other hand, for women, as the number of overtime days increases, the frequency of preparing dinner decreases. However, the frequency of playing with the youngest child does not increase even if overtime days decrease.

Figure 2 uses the same data to show the frequency of preparing dinner and playing with the youngest child by the division of household finances between the couple. "Husband's income is primary" refers to cases where the household is supported only by the husband's income, or where there is also the wife's income but the husband's is primary. These can be called male-breadwinner model couples. Focusing on the frequency of preparing dinner, in cases where "the couple is equal or the wife is primary," the frequency of men preparing dinner increases, and the frequency for women decreases. On the other hand, no correlation is seen between playing with the youngest child and the division of household finances.

In the context of work-life balance, there is a strong belief stemming from an interest in time allocation that giving work time to housework and childcare will lead to men's participation in housework and childcare.

However, for men to take on routine work like preparing dinner, it is important to look at the division of household finances and increase women's economic power. In other words, it can be said that liberation from the old role of "men work" leads to increased involvement in the new role of "men also do housework and childcare."

On the other hand, women's involvement in the new role of work is accompanied by liberation from the old role of housework. For women, as the number of days they work overtime increases, the frequency of preparing dinner decreases. Interpreting this alongside the results for men, the data suggests that if a woman's income increases by increasing overtime and the household financial division becomes equal, the husband may start preparing dinner on days the wife does not. Therefore, it is better not to reduce the work hours of women during their child-rearing years.

However, even when women take on an earning role equal to or greater than their husbands, the frequency with which they prepare dinner is overwhelmingly higher than that of men. The division of housework does not match the division of household finances. Even when working overtime five or more days a week, half of the women prepare dinner five or more times a week. This shows how strongly women are bound by traditional gender roles. To resolve the double burden of work and housework for women, it is an important task to consider a society where women do not have to do as much housework.

・Akihide Inaba (1998) "What Kind of Men Do Housework and Childcare? Social Stratification and Men's Participation in Housework and Childcare," edited by Hideki Watanabe and Kiyoshi Shida, Stratification and Marriage/Family, 1995 SSM Research Group (Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research, Specially Promoted Research (1) "National Survey on Social Stratification in Contemporary Japan" Result Report), pp.1-42

・Akiko Nagai (2020) "Spousal Relationships Regarding Housework and Work," Japanese Journal of Labour Studies No.719, pp.38-45

・Junko Nishimura (2009) Women and Work Styles in the Post-Childcare Period: Work-Family Balance and Stress, Keio University Press

・Hiroshi Hazama (1996) The Ideology that Built an Economic Superpower: Labor Ethos during the High Economic Growth Period, Bunshindo

・Shigeki Matsuda (2002) "Direction of Policies to Promote Father's Participation in Childcare," edited by National Institute of Population and Social Security Research, Child-rearing Support in a Low-Birthrate Society, University of Tokyo Press, pp.313-330