Population replenishment: Elderly politicians stifle Japan's baby boom plan
By Mariko Sanchanta and Bayan Rahman
Published: September 9 2003 9:27 | Last Updated: September 9 2003 9:27
<<Japan should import people instead of grow he locals!!>>
The decline in Japan's birth rate has so unnerved the country's aging politicians that encouraging couples to have more children has become a national priority. The only problem is the government's ideas may be causing more problems than they solve.
Last year, the number of births and the fertility rate in Japan fell to record lows, raising concern that Japan's population may start declining sooner than the currently projected 2006. The country's 127m-strong population will shrink to 81m in 100 years if current trends do not change, according to Japan's Journal of Population and Social Security.
The economic effect of a smaller workforce, a shrinking domestic market and fewer workers making pension contributions to support the elderly are fuelling the search for a solution.
The government recently passed two laws designed to improve childcare facilities, parental leave for working people, and the medical insurance system for mothers and children. But verbal blunders by senior ruling Liberal Democratic party politicians and the tone of the bills have alienated the very women the laws aim to encourage.
Yasuo Fukuda, Japan's chief cabinet secretary and minister for gender equality, was quoted as saying many women who've been the victims of rape were "asking for it". Mr Fukuda denies making such remarks.
The furore over Mr Fukuda's alleged comments were intensified by remarks of Yoshiro Mori, the gaffe-prone former prime minister, who implied that childless women did not deserve pensions, bringing into question his leadership of an LDP panel on Japan's falling birth rate.
Critics of the government's population strategy say it amounts to interference in private lives. Others say the government's policies hark back to an era when a woman's role was to be a child bearer.
One of the recent laws states that every Japanese citizen has a "duty" to help realise a society conducive to childbearing and this, together with Mr Mori's remark, has made many men and women fear a return to pre-war values.
"This is a worrying echo of pre-war propaganda that told Japanese women their role was just to be mothers and to have as many children as possible," says Hideko Fujimoto, an expert on traditional Japanese dress. "We have moved on from that era. Women have much more to offer society. It shows how clumsy the politicians are in dealing with what is a serious issue for Japan."
In an attempt to encourage working women to have children, the government is urging large companies to introduce better childcare leave. But there is little confidence these policies will be implemented.
"There are gender equality laws but there are no penalties for firms that don't abide by them," says Hideko Kunii, senior vice-president at Ricoh, the copier company.
The stark choice between a career and motherhood is cited as one of the reasons Japanese women are putting off marriage. Noeleen Heyzer, executive director of the United Nations Development Fund for Women, says: "The Japanese culture of the workplace does not support the participation of women. There is a wage gap; women earn 66 per cent of what males earn."
Japan slipped from 12th to 44th this year in a UN index measuring women's influence in politics and society, falling behind countries such as Namibia and Botswana.
Hiroko Nomura, editor of Nikkei Woman business magazine, says politicians are out of touch with the younger generation's aspirations.
"Mori's comment about pensions was based on the traditional Japanese couple where the man works and the woman stays at home with the children. But nowadays more women are working and fewer of them are willing to give up their jobs once they have children," she said. "People aren't looking for traditional husbands and wives. They're looking for equal partners to share their lives with...The problem is the politicians haven't yet realised that."
Instead of encouraging young women to have children, some say the government should make the younger generation aware of the burden a declining birth rate will bring them.
"The government needs to broadcast clearly the message concerning the future economic impact of the declining birth rate, particularly to today's younger generation, which will bear the brunt of the problem in the future," said Masatoshi Kikuchi, strategist at Merrill Lynch in Tokyo. |
