During this time of year when children are on summer vacation, the burden of housework and childcare at home increases sharply. Kayoko Ishii, an associate professor at Keio University, said, “The concept of ’time poverty’ was born out of an attempt to measure the degree of poverty in non-monetary terms. In Japan, over 80% of women who work full-time are in time poverty. ■Preparing three meals a day while working The children’s summer vacation has begun. This is a worrying season for working mothers with kindergarten or elementary school-aged children. During the summer vacation when there are no school lunches, mothers have to prepare three meals a day, and many mothers have to adjust their work hours to accommodate changes in their children’s daily rhythms. Measures to support the balance between work and child-rearing have been put in place, the percentage of women who quit their jobs after giving birth has decreased, and the employment rate of women raising children of elementary school age or older is now over 80%. Yet much of the burden of housework and childcare still falls on mothers. Let’s look at the current situation of working mothers from the perspective of “time poverty.” ■ “Time poverty” is a topic of ongoing research around the world The concept of “time poverty” is an indication of a lack of spare time. This concept was proposed by American economist Clair Vickery in a paper published in 1977, and is an attempt to measure the degree of poverty not only in terms of monetary aspects such as income, but also in terms of non-monetary aspects such as lack of time. In recent years, as issues such as work-life balance and improving well-being (mental and physical health) have come to be seen as important, “time poverty” has once again come under the spotlight, with several studies on the topic having been published in other countries since 2000. Why is the level of poverty measured in terms of a non-monetary aspect such as lack of free time? In order to maintain a living, in addition to working and earning the money needed to live, people need to get enough sleep and food to prepare for the next day’s activities, and also do housework and childcare to maintain family life. Furthermore, when you consider that family time and leisure time for hobbies are also necessary for maintaining physical and mental health, a considerable amount of time is needed to maintain a lifestyle in addition to working and earning a living. The younger the children, the more time is required for housework and childcare, so couples raising young children and both working full-time are likely to be prone to time poverty. ■How can time poverty be measured? How can time poverty be measured? We will introduce a common method using a two-parent household as an example. Assuming that adults are responsible for supporting the family’s livelihood, we first subtract from the couple’s total of 48 hours per day the time each person spends on physiologically essential activities such as sleep and eating, and determine the couple’s “disposable time” that can be allocated to work, housework, child care, and leisure. If the husband and wife’s actual working and commuting time is subtracted from this “disposable time” and the remaining time is shorter than the average time spent on housework and childcare by household type, then the situation is defined as “time poverty.” In other words, if people spend too much time working, they will not be able to find time for general housework and childcare, and will end up in a situation where they do not have enough time. Incidentally, if we look at national statistics on typical housework and childcare time, as of 2021, the average daily time spent by couples on housework and childcare combined is about 8 hours for households with one child under the age of 6, and about 5 hours for households with children in elementary school or older, which is by no means excessively long. Based on this measurement method, Professor Urakawa Kunio of Kyushu University and the author conducted an analysis using the Japan Household Panel Survey, finding that the time poverty rate for households with children under the age of six in which both spouses work full-time was 31.5%, and 5.4% in cases where the wife has a part-time or other temporary job, indicating that there are many dual-income full-time households with young children that are tight on time. ■The time poverty rate for full-time wives is 80.9%, while that for husbands is 17.4% However, the actual situation may be more serious. The above method is the time poverty rate for each household, and does not take into account differences in working hours between husbands and wives, or differences in the time spent on housework and childcare. The authors therefore made estimates taking into account the working hours of husbands and wives in each household and the actual division of housework and childcare responsibilities, and found that in dual-income households with young children, wives are more likely to be in time poverty. In households with children under the age of six, in which both spouses work full-time, the time poverty rate for the wife was 80.9%, while the husband’s was 17.4%.Even in cases where the wife worked part-time or other temporary work, the time poverty rate for the wife was 30.3% and the husband’s was 7.2%, showing a disparity in the rate of time poverty between couples. Continue reading↓ 2024/8/10(Sat) 9:17 [president online].
>>1 Isn’t it okay to spend your life happily as a couple without having children? If you don’t like each other, you can get divorced without causing any trouble to your children if you don’t have children. Then you can marry the next person you fall in love with.
>>9 Isn’t that okay? You’ve been calling those who have devoted themselves to raising children unemployed and parasites and telling them to work, haven’t you? So then only the winners who can work full-time and raise children will have children and the rest will just work quietly.
There’s also the threat of earthquakes, so it’s better not to have children. Children will also become sick in this harsh world full of bullying and fighting.
You always say there are things that only women can do, but then when you’re put in a situation like that you start whining about how unfair it is. You irresponsible bastards should just die.
Full-time housewives have disappeared from all over the world like they used to be, so no one is having children anymore. We’re going back to the stupid days of the Industrial Revolution when not only women but children were made to work.
It’s impossible for either of them to work full time and raise children. Promoting women’s advancement in society is a foolish policy to prevent men from raising their salaries.
>>26 Prepared meals from the supermarket are fine. If you work full time, you should be more creative. The belief in homemade food is too strong in Japan.
>>34 The revival of the full-time housewife profession is impossible unless capitalism is abandoned. A full-time housewife who can’t earn money is nothing but a weakling in capitalism.
>>34 It’s impossible because the government is trying to eliminate full-time housewives. Full-time permanent employees look down on part-time workers and full-time housewives.
The government has no choice but to take on the responsibility of raising children on their behalf. It will also help the population, society, companies, and parents that the country needs.
>>41 The burden is enormous. National taxes have increased dramatically. Then there’s no need to force yourself to work. I’ll work after I finish raising my children. Also, get married after high school or in your early 20s and go to college while raising children.
>>44 Everyone loves it and doesn’t want to struggle, so marriages are decreasing Everyone loves it and doesn’t want to struggle, so they’re trying to increase immigration.
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