世論 What Japan Thinks

The new government in Japan seems to have been conducting an awful lot of surveys recently, with the latest one from the Cabinet Office Japan being on a gender-equal society. This survey was last conducted five years ago and translated three years ago.

Demographics

5,000 adults over the age of twenty were selected at random from all over the country, and an attempt was made to conduct face-to-face interviews with them over the period of the 1st to 18th of October 2009. 3,240 people, or 64,8%, were available and agreed to take part. 53.4% of the sample were female, 9.8% in their twenties, 14.6% in their thirties, 16.2% in their forties, 19.0% in their fifties, 22.2% in their sixties and 18.1% aged seventy or older. 48.5% were emploted, 9.9% self-employed, 3.7% in the family business, and 37.9% homemakers, studens, or retired. 74.6% were married, 0.7% were unmarried but living with their partner, 4.3% divorced, 5.7% widowed, and 14.8% unmarried. Finally, 77.6% had children.

Q1 is pretty depressing, but also pretty accurate, with school education being about the only thing that seems to be relatively balanced.

Research results

Q1: In the following areas, do you think that men and women have equal status? (Sample size=3,240, multiple answer)

	Men have extremely favourable treatment	Men have favourable treatment to some extent	There is equality	Women have favourable treatment to some extent	Women have extremely favourable treatment	Don’t know
Home life	7.8%	38.7%	43.1%	6.7%	1.7%	1.9%
Workplace	15.6%	46.5%	24.4%	4.4%	0.9%	8.1%
School education	1.9%	12.0%	68.1%	3.9%	0.9%	13.1%
Politics	23.7%	48.1%	21.0%	1.9%	0.3%	5.1%
In law and other institutions	7.8%	33.5%	44.4%	6.5%	0.9%	6.9%
Everyday perception, customs, etc	18.7%	53.2%	20.6%	3.4%	0.5%	3.6%
Neighbourhood councils, NPOs, other local activities	6.5%	28.2%	51.0%	6.4%	0.6%	7.3%

Q2: So, looking at society as a whole, do you think men and women have equal status? (Sample size=3,240)

Men have extremely favourable treatment	9.7%
Men have favourable treatment to some extent	61.9%
There is equality	23.2%
Women have favourable treatment to some extent	3.4%
Women have extremely favourable treatment	0.3%
Don’t know	1.6%

Q3: In which of the following professions or posts do you think the number of women should be increased? (Sample size=3,240, multiple answer)

Local or national politicians	51.6%
Judges, public prosecutors, lawyers	42.8%
Private industry management	42.3%
Heads of prefectures, cities, towns, villages	40.3%
Local or national civil service mangement	38.1%
Entrepreneurs, proprietors	31.8%
Neighbourhood council, association chairs	29.1%
United Nations, other interational-related management	28.9%
University professors	27.0%
Union leadership	26.4%
Newspaper, broadcast reporters	25.6%
Farm cooperative executives	18.5%
Nothing in particular	16.0%
Other	0.6%
Don’t know	3.1%

Q4: How do you think regarding working women? (Sample size=3,240)

They shouldn’t work at all	3.5%
They should work up until they marry	5.5%
They should work up until they have children	10.7%
Even when they have children, they should continue to work	45.9%
They should quit once they have children, then return to work once they are grown up	31.3%
Other	1.4%
Don’t know	1.8%

Q5: Which of the following words have you heard or seen? (Sample size=3,240, multiple answer)

Word (日本語)	Reading	English	Heard the term
男女雇用機会均等法	だんじょこようきかいきんとうほう	Gender Equality In Employment Act	79.3%
ＤＶ（配偶者からの暴力）	はいぐうしゃからのぼうりょく	Domestic violence	78.7%
男女共同参画社会	だんじょきょうどうさんかくかい	Gender-equal Society	64.6%
仕事と生活の調和（ワーク・ライフ・バランス）	しごととせいかつのちょうわ	Work-life Balance	37.0%
女子差別撤廃条約	じょせいさべつてっぱいじょうやく	Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women	35.1%
ポジェンダー		Gender (English word adopted into Japanese)	31.9%
ジティブ・アクション		Positive action (English word adopted into Japanese)	19.0%
Never heard or seen any of them			5.4%
Don’t know			1.4%

Q6: Please tell me your opinion regarding the following questions on marriage, family etc. (Sample size=3,240, multiple answer)

	Agree	Somewhat agree	Somewhat disagree	Disagree	Don’t know
Because marriage is a personal choice, either being married or not married is OK	48.0%	22.0%	16.9%	11.1%	2.0%
The husband should go out and work, the wife should tend to the home	10.6%	30.7%	31.3%	23.8%	3.6%
If you marry, it is not necessary to have kids	22.5%	20.3%	30.1%	22.8%	4.3%
If you are dissatisfied with your marriage partner, it is OK to divorce	21.9%	28.2%	29.3%	15.5%	5.1%