Study On Paternity Participation In Japan

In Japan,as popular words such as "daddy" advocate,there are endless discussions about "men should participate in parenting".This article sorts out the changes in the way and content of Japanese fathers participating in childcare during the early Showa period(1925-1945),the late Showa period(1945-1989),and the Heisei period(1989-2019).On this basis,using the buzzword "daddy" as an entry point,clarified the actual state of Japanese men’s participation in childcare after the implementation of many relevant encouragement policies.Taking modern family theory and population transformation as the theoretical framework of the thesis,why the Japanese government began to actively encourage men to participate in childcare? And even if the government encourages participation in childcare,the rate of male participation in childcare is still low.The study draws the following three conclusions.First of all,fathers participated in childcare in the three periods showed different characteristics.(1)The Japanese family in the early Showa period was still in the pre-modern family stage,so the characteristic of fathers’ participation in childcare was mainly manifested in the social discipline of the children;(2)In the late Showa period,the modern family model became popular among ordinary Japanese people.The gender division of labor between "men dominate the outside and women dominate the inside" continues to solidify,and men have begun to become fathers who are absent from parenting.(3)During the Heisei period,the fixed gender division of labor gradually loosened.At this time,the role of male breadwinners also changed,and they began to participate in the social discipline and daily care of children.Secondly,the popularity of dads is closely related to the Japanese government’s active encouragement of men to participate in childcare.After the Heisei era of the Japanese economy,Japan gradually began to enter a society with an ultra-low birth rate and an aging society,and the lack of total labor force in the society also allowed the government to actively promote women’s participation in society and co-parenting by men and women.However,the rate of male childcare in Japan is still low compared to developed countries.However,it is worth noting that compared with Showa men,Heisei men’s awareness of participating in childcare is on the rise,and it tends to increase both men and women’s participation in childcare.