On October 9, the 2023 Nobel prize in Economic Sciences was awarded to Harvard professor Claudia Goldin (the U.S.) for her long-time research on women’s labor force participation rate and the gender pay gap. At a press conference following the Nobel prize announcement, Professor Goldin touched on the employment situation in Japan, saying, “Although the number of working women has increased remarkably, the majority of women at work are engaged in part-time or hourly jobs, and a gender gap in employment remains significantly large,” and she emphasized the point by saying, “Japan can't solve gender inequality just by having women in the labor force. As a matter of fact, Japan has yet to achieve much progress in women's social participation.”

Meanwhile, on the day after the Nobel Economic Prize announcement, a group of Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) members in the Saitama Prefectural Assembly released a statement that they would withdraw a proposed bill to revise the “Saitama Prefecture Abuse Prohibition Ordinance,” despite the fact that the bill was approved by the prefecture's health, welfare and medical committee on Oct. 6. The formerly proposed amendment bill would frame it as a form of child abuse to leave children unattended. Specifically, what attracted controversy was the scope of the act of neglect. The following acts by guardians would be considered as abuse or violation of the ordinance: leaving children under the third grade unattended at home; leaving them in the care of their high school siblings; letting them play alone in a neighborhood park; going out to a garbage collection site while leaving children alone at home; or letting them go to school and come home by themselves, etc.

Besides, what is more problematic is a provision that “requires citizens to report a suspected case of child abuse” to local authorities. While slow in taking administrative actions to support child-rearing such as an enhancement of after-school childcare programs, the LDP prefectural assembly members insisted that “requiring prefectural residents to monitor violations of the ordinance would lead whole society to safeguard children.”

Just as expected, it provoked a storm of criticism not only from residents in the prefecture but from all over the country, as the proposed bill was “too unrealistic, easy to invite restrictions on mothers’ daily life activities, and seriously disconnected from the realities of child-rearing.” As a result, the amendment bill was forced to be withdrawn. And yet, the LDP assembly members adhere to their consistent standpoint because they believe the withdrawal was solely attributable to “insufficient explanation” and there were no flaws in the content of the bill.

Japan ratified “The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child” in 1994, which means Japan is the 158th country in the world to ratify the UN convention. Besides, it took 28 years to legislate the “Basic Act on Children” in accordance with the spirit of the international agreement on childhood. There is a deep-rooted sense of crisis among the conservative politicians associated with their belief that “an excessive focus on individualism could lead to a collapse of the traditional family structure based on the separation of roles by gender.” Considering the fact that the word “families” was added to the title of a newly established government agency (the Children and Families Agency) that places emphasis on “Child-centered,” (which means to put the best interest of children first,) we can say the title is intended to involve their desire of “what the family ought to be.” Similarly, clumsy procedures of the amendment bill presentation and withdrawal can be summarized as an attempt in vain to promote their philosophy. Incidentally, Professor Goldin described the current status of Japanese society as “unable to adapt to changes in the women’s work style,” and she said with absolute certainty, “It is difficult to improve the declining birth rate. More urgently needed is the education of the elderly.” Indeed, what she said is quite persuasive and that is the right comment we would expect from the Nobel Prize winner.

This Week’s Focus, October 13

Takashi Mizukoshi, the President