世論 What Japan Thinks

Here is another very interesting survey from goo Research, a look at child-rearing and working. This is the second time the survey has been conducted, the first time being in December 2007, but I didn’t translate that one.

Demographics

Between the 24th and 29th of June 2010 exactly 1,000 members of the goo Research online monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. All of the sample were working mothers with a child under six years old. 44.6% of the sample were in regular full-time employment, 9.2% contract or dispatch workers, 38.6% part-time or casual, and 7.8% were on a child-rearing holiday.

You might want to look at another recent survey from goo Research on diverse working styles.

As far as I am aware, my employer has all the systems mentioned below in place for both mothers and fathers, although not surprisingly very few of the fathers avail themselves of any of the benefits; one day off for the baby popping out and another one for the mother being discharged from hospital seems about the size of it on average. Although Q6 shows that the wives want their husbands to make use of more benefits, Q7 and Q8 show a high degree of satisfaction with their husbands’ efforts. Are women setting the bar too low or are they just accepting that Japanese working styles on the whole result in father never seeing the kid on weekdays?

Research results

Q1: Why do you work? (Sample size=1,000, multiple answer)

To support the family budget for food, daily expenses, etc	81.0%
To get money to spend freely on myself	42.1%
To get away from child-rearing and back to my old self	33.4%
To advance my career, because I want to work	33.3%
To widen my human network, broaden my viewpoints	29.8%
Other	4.2%
No particular reason	1.5%

Not surprisingly, those on a low income wanted money to support the family budget, whilst the well-paid wanted more spending money.

Q2: For the following child-rearing-related systems, which are implemented at work, which do you use, and which would you want? (Sample size=1,000, multiple answer)

	Implemented	Using	Want
Shorter working hours	46.3%	21.2%	19.4%
Flexitime	17.1%	6.8%	31.5%
Work from home	8.1%	4.9%	32.3%
One year or more child-rearing sabbatical	35.7%	9.7%	22.3%
Financial support for child-rearing services	8.7%	2.9%	39.0%
Child-care holidays when children are sick	29.5%	14.6%	36.6%
Workplace creche	6.9%	3.2%	37.8%
Other	1.0%	0.7%	1.8%
None in particular	27.8%	54.4%	27.7%
Don’t know	7.0%	-	-

Not surprisingly, the larger the company the more systems they had in place. The only exception was working at home, where 14.9% of companies under 10 people had such systems versus 12.7% of companies of over 1,000.

Q3: Do people around you in the office understand your situation? (Sample size=1,000)

Completely	26.4%
To some degree	51.9%
Can’t say	12.9%
Not really	7.0%
Not at all	1.8%

Q4: How satisfied are you with the company systems and the understanding of the people around you? (Sample size=1,000)

Completely satisfied	17.2%
Satisfied to some degree	42.3%
Can’t say	21.3%
Not really satisfied	12.7%
Not satisfied at all	6.5%

The smaller the company the more satsified women were. In particular, complete satisfaction was over three times higher at the smallest companies versus those with between 500 and 1,000 employees. However, for companies of over 1,000 people the figures recovered somewhat.

Q5: About how much per month do you spend on childminding services? (Sample size=1,000)

Up to 9,999 yen	12.9%
10,000 to 19,999 yen	19.4%
20,000 to 29,999 yen	26.7%
30,000 to 49,999 yen	30.5%
50,000 to 69,999 yen	8.5%
70,000 to 99,999 yen	1.3%
100,000 to 149,999 yen	0.5%
150,000 yen or more	0.1%

Not surprisingly, the lower the income the less they spent on childminding.

Q6: For the following child-rearing-related systems, which does your husband use and which would you want him to use? (Sample size=1,000, multiple answer)

	Use	Want him to use
Child-care holidays when children are sick	9.5%	51.7%
Flexitime	4.5%	23.0%
Shorter working hours	2.3%	21.5%
Work from home	1.5%	11.9%
One year or more child-rearing sabbatical	1.4%	10.3%
Financial support for child-rearing services	1.0%	37.3%
Workplace creche	0.6%	15.0%
Other	1.2%	0.9%
None in particular	82.9%	20.7%

Q7: How cooperative is your husband regarding child-rearing? (Sample size=1,000)

Very cooperative	27.1%
Cooperative to some degree	45.6%
Can’t say	11.3%
Not really cooperative	11.0%
Not cooperative at all	5.0%

Q8: How satisfied are you with your husband’s support for child-rearing? (Sample size=1,000)

Completely satisfied	17.8%
Satisfied to some degree	44.9%
Can’t say	15.1%
Not really satisfied	13.9%
Not satisfied at all	8.3%

Q9: How would you want to receive your child support allowance? (Sample size=1,000)

As now, three times a year	57.9%
Every month	26.5%
Once every two months	10.1%
Once a year	5.5%