JINKO MONDAI KENKYU, 2000, Vol. 56, No. 2
Special Issue: Fourth Welfare Policy Seminar
Families relationships in Australia: The Conservative-Liberal-Radical debate.
There have been considerable changes in the family in Australia in the past 30 years. These changes are examined within a political framework of a social debate between conservatives, liberals and radicals. It is argued that, in general, Australia has taken the liberal viewpoint through which greater autonomy is provided to individuals to determine their own individual and intimate lives. In some instances, the state has provided financial and legislative support for this process. There has been growth in cohabiting unions, divorce, delayed marriage and childbearing, lone parent families, increased childlessness, and higher percentages of children born outside of marriage. These can all be seen as social experiments that the society has been prepared to tolerate as people seek their own solutions between their conflicting needs for autonomy, intimacy and social and economic participation.
(AUSTRALIA, FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS, CONSERVATISM, LIBERALISM, ATTITUDE, TYPES OF MARRIAGE, MARRIAGE POSTPONEMENT, ONE-PARENT FAMILY, CHILDLESS COUPLES, CONSENSUAL UNION, DIVORCE).
Japanese - pp. 4-24.
P. McDonald, Demography & Sociology Program, Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra ACT 0200, Australia.
Peter.McDonald@anu.edu.au.
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Gender differences in employment and housework: A comparative analysis of Japan, South Korea, and the United States.
This study examines employment and housework in Japan, South Korea and the United States, using data from three sets of recent national surveys on the family. For all three countries, the study found as follows. First, family factors such as the presence and age of children and co-residence with or nearness to parents strongly affect wives' employment status and hours but have little effect on husbands' employment patterns. Second, although wives shoulder a large part of housework, total workload of both spouses becomes almost equal when housework and employment are considered jointly. However, wives' total workload increases dramatically as their own employment hours increases, indicating the "double burden" of unpaid housework for employed wives. Third, the gender division of labor at home is influenced by time availability of each spouse for housework as well as family situations such as presence of non-adult children and co-residence with parents. Moreover, in the United States, the gender division of household labor is also influenced by such socio-demographic factors as education of both spouses and husbands' age.
(JAPAN, KOREA (REPUBLIC OF), UNITED STATES, COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS, EMPLOYMENT, DOMESTIC WORK, DIVISION OF LABOUR, SEXUAL DIVISION OF LABOUR, SEX ROLES, EDUCATION).
Japanese - pp. 25-48.
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JINKO MONDAI KENKYU, 2000, Vol. 56, No. 3
Special Issue: Fourth Welfare Policy Seminar (Part 2)
Recent trends in fertility and household formation in the industrialized world.
This article analyses the recent period changes in industrialized countries from the point of view of the varying degrees of fertility postponement at younger ages and subsequent partial recuperation at later ages. It does so through both period and cohort indicators.
The outcome is that current period total fertility rates (PTFRs) are largely diverging because of differential recuperation in the various western countries and Japan, and because of the strong reaction to the economic and social overhaul since 1989 in Eastern Europe. A simple end of postponement would not bring the PTFRs back to replacement level fertility in the vast majority of countries, unless this is being accompanied by much larger rises in fertility past age 30 than witnessed so far.
The article concludes with a pattern description and updating of trends concerning the destandardization of household formation. The data from the 1990s round of Fertility and Family Surveys provide the update. Common and more ideosyncratic causes of the shifting forms of household formation are being discussed. Also here the conclusion is that this destandardization is likely to progress further, particularly in Eastern Europe and Japan.
(DEVELOPED COUNTRIES, FERTILITY TRENDS, FERTILITY MEASUREMENTS, HOUSEHOLD COMPOSITION, METHODOLOGY, METHODS OF ANALYSIS, PERIOD ANALYSIS, COHORT ANALYSIS).
Japanese - pp. 1-33.
R. Lesthaeghe, G. Moors, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium.
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Parent-adult child relationship in Japan. Determinants of parent-adult child coresidence.
Japan is going to be a "Hyper aged society" in the 21st century. One of the biggest questions facing Japan is how a family can support its elderly members and to what extent should the family be responsible for the care of them. The purpose of this report, which represents part of the effort to respond to and address the needs of an aged society, is to examine the current trends in mutual support and assistance between parents and their adult children. The study uses recent research data and compares it with the trends in other countries. Special focus has been given to care and assistance provided by adult children to their parents.
In Japanese society, the physical space and substance of the care given between the generations has traditionally been more intimate than in many other western societies. In other words, care for parents has, in most cases, meant physical care by living with them in the same house (co-residence). In this context, the report tries to define the living arrangements (living together with, or separately from, elderly parents) of adult children, although an examination from the viewpoint of the service provided by parents to their children into adulthood or have left their home is possible. This report analyzes the determinants of living arrangements that form the foundation of the care and assistance given by the child generation to the parent generation.
The study found that the determinants of parent-adult children co-residence are not personal characteristics such as education and profession, but normative factors such the position in the family (the first child or not). In fact, low-income families show higher rates of co-residence with their parents than high-income families. This suggests that greater choice is available with greater economic means.
The socialization of care provision is being promoted with the introduction of the Long-Term Care Insurance System in April 2000. If co-residence with parents is determined by economic factors as well as normative factors, and co-residence is indispensable in providing care to old parents, the issue must be handled very carefully, paying special attention to the status of traditional family care provision.
(JAPAN, FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS, PARENTS, COHABITATION, AGED, DEMOGRAPHIC AGEING, SOCIAL NORMS, CULTURE, TRADITIONAL SOCIETY, HOUSEHOLD INCOME, ECONOMIC CONDITIONS).
Japanese - pp. 34-55.
H. Nishioka, Department of Population Structure Research, National Institute of Population and Social Security Research, 2-2-3 Uchisaiwai-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-0011, Japan.
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JINKO MONDAI KENKYU, 2000, Vol. 56, No. 4
Takayama, Noriyuki; Ogawa, Hiroshi; Yoshida, Hiroshi; Fumiko, Arita; Kaneko, Yoshihiro; Kojima, Katsuhisa.
The cost of marriage and child care and its effect on fertility: A note on the economic factors of below-replacement fertility in Japan.
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the economic factors of fertility rate by making empirical studies on the costs of marriage that are considered in general as the reasons for delaying marriage and declining number of children. For these empirical studies, we took into account the change in household structures before and after marriage and used "Comprehensive Survey of the Living Conditions of People on Health and Welfare". The empirical analyses lead us to the following results:
(1) Since the birth rate of unmarried couples is very low in Japan, we focused on the relation between the marriage and the birth rate. Although the Becker model which is a standard model of economics of family has a presumption that a pair of male and female determine the timing of marriage and the choice of birth being independent of their parents, the emprirical analysis based on "Comprehensive Survey" suggested that female's decision of marriage is influenced by the difference in income between their parents and her male patner (her husband after marriage). (2) The regression analysis of the fertility rate showed the following results: male wage rate has a positive effect, female wage rate and cost of housing have negative effects, and child care allowance and the age of first marriage have also negative effects.
The negative correlation between fertility rate and female wage rate implies that the wage subsidy during childcare leave would decrease the opportunity cost of the female and that this subsidy could have some effect of increase in fertility rate. On the other hand, according to the result (1), since the female can expect that her male partner's income could be increased by child care allowance on her birth behavior, it is expected that this subsidy have positive effect on the rate of marriage and consequently on the fertility rate.
(JAPAN, BELOW REPLACEMENT FERTILITY, ECONOMIC MODELS, FERTILITY DETERMINANTS, MARRIAGE, BIRTH RATE, CHILD CARE, COST OF CHILDREN, INCOME, WAGES, AGE AT MARRIAGE, SEX DIFFERENTIALS, SEX ROLES, METHODOLOGY).
Japanese - pp. 1-18.
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SENDA, Yukiko; HIGUCHI, Yoshio.
The opportunity cost of having children: Its difference among wives' occupations.
This paper examines how the opportunity cost of having children differs according to wives' occupations. The analysis of the data of the 10th National Fertility Survey (Couples) yields the following results: (1) although professional/managerial occupation provides higher compatibility of work and family matter, the rate of having children of them stays the same level as those of the rest; (2) as for clerical/sales/service and manual, the compatibility is lower with clericals more so. Based on these results, the authors argue that the desirable measure to develop the compatibility differs from one occupation to another.
(JAPAN, COST OF CHILDREN, MARRIED WOMEN, REPRODUCTIVE BEHAVIOUR, CHOICE, OCCUPATIONS).
Japanese - pp. 19-37.
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MEGURO, Yoriko; NISHIOKA, Hachiro.
Gender analysis on fertility decline in Japan.
This paper aims to analyze the phenomenon of a fertility decline from the perspectives of women's social role and gender relationships within the family, to elicit their implications and provide direction for policy-making.
In this paper, the phenomenon of a deline in the number of children is regarded as the result of avoidance of marriage and childbering. The following three factors contributing to this avoidance are discussed herein: (1) Social system, (2) Sense of values and awareness, and (3) The belief that marriage and childbearing is costly. The relationships between these factors are analyzed based on various data, and the following results have been obtained.
(1) Social system: Since World War II, a corporation-centered lifestyle has become popular and a stereotypical modern family in which the husband serves as breadwinner while the wife is a full-time homemaker has become common. As a gender policy, a system in which preferential treatment is given to full-time homemakers has been established. however, this paper has revealed that factors inconsistent with the conventional framework are emerging, such as diversification in women's lifetime events, social orientation toward women's independence and accountability, and a global concept of reproductive rights.
(2) Sense of values and awareness: Gender awareness changed in the 1980s. However, men's awareness hardly changed, leading to a significant gender gap and generation gap. The results of an interview survey are summarized as follows:
(i) Advantages of marriage are decreasing to both men and women, but women in particular feel disadvantages of marriage.
(ii) As a marriage partner, women are searching for a man who does not make them sacrifice themselves. In other words, women consider marriage as an equal partnership. On the other hand, men do not have a specific image of a marriage partner.
(iii) In regard to childbearing, women are greatly concerned about the effect of childbearing on their job, while men are indifferent.
(3) Feeling that marriage, childbearing and childcare are costly: Analysis of various survey data shows that women are more discouraged about childbearing because household chores become more burdensome on women. Moreover, the less a husband shares the load of household chores and childcare, the more discouraged women become.
Based on the analysis of factors in the phenomenon of a fertility decline, the following suggestions for policymaking are indicated.
The analysis of gender relationships and fertility indicate that it is essential to mitigate the belief that "marriage, childbearing and childcare are costly". To achieve this goal, it is suggested that the following three measures should be promoted:
(i) To incorporate the concept of reproductive rights/health into the childbearing/medical systems, in order to reorganize the system from the perspective of women's lifetime health, and to establish a childcare support system corresponding to the actual situation in each region.
(ii) To transform the gender system, which has been based on the stereotypical gender roles, that is, the husband serves as breadwinner and the wife as homemaker.
(ii) To propagate the new gender awareness and the concept of reproductive rights/health through the school system and civic education.
(JAPAN, FERTILITY DECLINE, FERTILITY DETERMINANTS, SEX ROLES, MARITAL ROLES, WOMEN?S ROLE, WOMEN?S STATUS, SOCIAL NORMS, VALUE SYSTEMS, COST OF CHILDREN, LIFE CYCLE, MARRIAGE POSTPONEMENT, CONCEPTION DELAY).
Japanese - pp. 38-69.
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