Major gender gap in Japan's perceptions of childcare duties: survey

Dec 11, 2023 | News On Japan

TOKYO - A survey by Sumitomo Life on household chores and childcare revealed a significant discrepancy between men's and women's perceptions of their respective burdens. While men believe they are reasonably sharing the load, women feel a substantially heavier burden in comparison to men.

The survey, conducted among 1,000 married men and women aged between 20 to 60 with children under 18, found that while men's perception of the division of household and childcare duties was nearly the same between their 'ideal' (husband 4.5 : wife 5.5) and 'reality' (husband 4.0 : wife 6.0), there was a significant gap in women's perception between their 'ideal' (husband 4.4 : wife 5.6) and 'reality' (husband 2.6 : wife 7.4).

Men feel they are contributing significantly, but women's assessments starkly differ from this.

Regarding the desired number of children, the survey revealed that while the 'ideal' average was 2.4 children, the 'reality' was only 1.8 children.

The main reason for having fewer children than desired was "current income is insufficient to raise the 'ideal' number of children" (37.8%), followed by "concerns about high living costs" (17.7%), and "heavy burden due to high share in household and childcare duties" (14.4%).

Source: ANNnewsCH

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