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Women bear brunt of recession as pandemic unravels Abe's 'Womenomics'

34 Comments
By Eimi Yamamitsu and Linda Sieg

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This is all part and parcel of a "flexible workforce," as called for by the neo-libs who demanded that Japan institute market reforms. Live with it, or go back to the bad old days of job security, regular pay raises and high growth economy.

6 ( +15 / -9 )

Women bear brunt of recession as pandemic unravels Abe's 'Womenomics'

What a joke! Abe's idea of women in the work force is having them work in positions that are under paid, unsecured, and off the radar!

This along with Abenomics have been an abject failure, and the sooner he is shown the door, along with his buddies, particularly the sexist Aso, the better we all will be!

26 ( +29 / -3 )

Asami, 32, a single mother in central Japan, lost her job doing piecework for a plastics company in April after asking for time off to care for her sons, aged 4 and 1.

I wonder where the father(s) of these children is(are)One kid is 4 and the other is only 1 year but she's already a single mother.

-11 ( +9 / -20 )

You make it sound like Abe has some mind control machine and he's able to direct women to select which jobs they apply for.

And you make it sound like you have no idea of the reality of the situation here! It is NOT easy for women to get hired into positions that are actually secure, get paid for the same work that men do, and have the same career opportunities.

Abe KNOWS this, and his policies regarding getting women into the work place, have been abject failures!

He tried pushing an agenda a few years back about "breaking the glass barrier" for women in corporate Japan, and guess what...he gave up on that one too!

People who think, like you do here, are a huge part of the problem as well.

20 ( +24 / -4 )

I wonder where the father(s) of these children is(are)One kid is 4 and the other is only 1 year but she's already a single mother.

So what? Just because she is divorced, separated, or not living with the father of her children should not have anything to do with the conversation at all!

The world is not the same today!

16 ( +22 / -6 )

I wonder where the father(s) of these children is(are) One kid is 4 and the other is only 1 year but she's already a single mother.

Not only do women bear the brunt of recession, they also bear this sort of condescending judgment from a highly misogynist society. Without any knowledge of the facts, you'll notice that the comment not only implies that it's her fault, but also suggests multiple fathers which further denigrate and shame the mother.

You'll notice the comment isn't asking why free daycare isn't provided. Or why the absent parent's child support for the young children in question isn't enough to see her through the years until the children come of age. Or why she is having to take on piecework to provide for her children. Highly civilized societies (such as Iceland which is also an island nation) manage such social issues much better.

23 ( +25 / -2 )

philly1 Today 08:39 am JST

Not only do women bear the brunt of recession, they also bear this sort of condescending judgment from a highly misogynist society. Without any knowledge of the facts, you'll notice that the comment not only implies that it's her fault, but also suggests multiple fathers which further denigrate and shame the mother.

You'll notice the comment isn't asking why free daycare isn't provided. Or why the absent parent's child support for the young children in question isn't enough to see her through the years until the children come of age. Or why she is having to take on piecework to provide for her children. Highly civilized societies (such as Iceland which is also an island nation) manage such social issues much better.

This gets a standing ovation from me - perfectly said.

There's no shared custody in Japan, and no real penalty for not paying child support. What needs to be asked is where are the deadbeat, absent, unhelpful fathers of these children? Why is only the mother critisized?

And why didn't the government provide more than a measly one-off payment of 100,000 to single-parent families? Single parents need help with childcare so that they can work.

No one wants to be jobless with children. People are desperate to work, yet the only thing they can find is minimum wage work on temp contracts that can be ended any time.

You asked women to stay home and take care of their children. You continually point out that children need their mother. Yet when something happens and the mother suddenly doesn't have the support she needs to be a stay at home parent, you abandon them, critisize them, and blame them for not having job skills.

Which do you want? Educated women with job skills who can pull their own weight, or women who stay at home and are totally dependent on the paycheck of a man? Because you can't have BOTH.

17 ( +21 / -4 )

@Yubaru

It's not really Abe's fault, as he pushed for "womenomics" in the first place, including quotas in the boardrooms. Obviously, it's the fault of employers, who are the ones who decide working conditions, salary, hiring and clearly dragging their feet on such measures as quotas.

Why are people so reluctant to criticize corporations in Japan? Are they afraid of them? Or because govt is a much easier, knee-jerk target?

8 ( +13 / -5 )

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has long made creating jobs for women central to his economic policy, but now women are suffering a bigger share of the pain as the country heads for its worst economic slump since World War Two

At least he made that, one out of many pledges, right. Of course he will make others too.

-3 ( +2 / -5 )

What needs to be asked is where are the deadbeat, absent, unhelpful fathers of these children? 

Let's not jump to conclusions. The father could be dead, or he might have unfairly lost custody of his kids. What we do know is the employer fired her when she had no choice but to stay home with her kids.

13 ( +14 / -1 )

I find it funny that while one commenter jumps to the conclusion of a self inflicted misery of a single mother, the others jump to the conclusion of a deadbeat father. Life is not black and white you know? These comments are equally denigrating and bad for men, especially in a country where the chances of winning custody over your children as a man is close to zero. Even if it's all the mothers fault and the kids would do much better emotionally and financially with their father.

But yes, the reality is that women in this country, especially part time workers are treated as dirt in a lot of cases. I always find sickening the Japanese labor regulations and work culture here. And this is all on the politicians and the Japanese corporate world.

13 ( +15 / -2 )

I wonder where the father(s) of these children is(are). One kid is 4 and the other is only 1 year but she's already a single mother.

Since we're making assumptions based on absolutely no facts, let's assume the fathers were told by the divorce court never to see their children again (no shared custody or even visitation rights) and, if they happen to have any extra money, maybe they can slip the ex-wife a few yen? If not, no problem. (no penalty for not paying child support).

Also, you might be surprised to learn that pregnancy can happen outside of marriage, be unplanned, and result from only one sexual encounter. You must be advocating for abortion?

As to the title: Women bear brunt of recession as pandemic unravels Abe's 'Womenomics'

Gosh, color me surprised! Who would've thought the most under-appreciated sector of society would be thrown under the bus first when the economy tanks?

12 ( +13 / -1 )

Asami, 32, a single mother in central Japan, lost her job doing piecework for a plastics company in April after asking for time off to care for her sons, aged 4 and 1.

This is a great example of why 'Womenomics' is nothing but a soundbite slogan.

It's really easy for Abe to say 'Let's get women into the workforce' with a guts pose, but when companies start terminating the employment of single mothers who ask for time off to care for 2 preschoolers in the middle of a worldwide health pandemic, then 'Womenomics' is clearly just fluff.

...Just like 'Abenomics' is fluff, and 'Abenomasks' were, in many reported cases, literally full of fluff.

9 ( +10 / -1 )

Abe's desire to get women into the work force was never about some high-minded gender-equality ideal. From the very beginning it was about making women add to household incomes so that the Japanese populace could pay more for their daily necessities and support the inflation he wanted (and still wants) to create, devaluing the debts his government has run up at the public's expense.

14 ( +14 / -0 )

It's not really Abe's fault, as he pushed for "womenomics" in the first place, including quotas in the boardrooms.

Right, brush the blame off of Abe, IF he was a leader, he would lead, by example!

So how many women in his cabinet have actual positions of power? Why isnt a woman in the Vice-PM position, instead of Aso, who also holds the chair or Finance Minister? Why isnt he pushing through legislation to make it easier for women to have careers and be "mothers" too?

He ONLY pays lip service to his "ideas" here.

Why are people so reluctant to criticize corporations in Japan? Are they afraid of them? Or because govt is a much easier, knee-jerk target?

Believe me people do just this,

10 ( +11 / -1 )

This is horrible! Hopefully this will reverse course now that the shut downs have been basically lifted. They better be, because I’m looking to move to Japan, and if this doesn’t reverse course or make me not like Japan nearly as much, no.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Japan is still a deeply sexist society, and companies don't want to offer full time permanent positions to women because they assume they are just working until they get married and or pregnant.

7 ( +9 / -2 )

Society or men don't tell women what jobs to take, commonsense tells a person to pick the most secure job offering the best rewards.

Asami, 32, a single mother in central Japan, lost her job doing piecework for a plastics company in April after asking for time off to care for her sons, aged 4 and 1.

Ken - I wonder where the father(s) of these children is(are)One kid is 4 and the other is only 1 year but she's already a single mother.

Its not uncommon in Japan where the mother doesn't want the father in the kids life, I don't know if its a cultural thing or they have the right under current laws.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

With a group of friends today, one of the elderly Japanese guys said why (Instead of us) are you going to have lunch with your son?

I’ve heard from Japanese guys that family life is a ‘grave’

Of course, there are good fathers out there but for a highly educated country( in general) there are some extreme views out there on parenting...

11 ( +11 / -0 )

'Womenomics' has never been in reality more than to promote a global change value associating J woman in business, as a “prestige”.

 A frankly misleading representation that change to cultural perception/intention is in full swing……

 "Women are viewed as working to supplement the income of male bread-winners, so even if they lose their jobs, men are viewed as their safety net.........reality is different."  

Debatable, however not straying far off the mark.

4 ( +6 / -2 )

erougouToday  09:48 am JST

What needs to be asked is where are the deadbeat, absent, unhelpful fathers of these children? 

Let's not jump to conclusions. The father could be dead, or he might have unfairly lost custody of his kids. What we do know is the employer fired her when she had no choice but to stay home with her kids.

Yes, the father may be ill, may have died, he may have lost his own job, he may be in dire financial straits and unable to do much ... there are too many possibilities to list.

I’m not jumping to any conclusions about this particular woman’s circumstances. The main aim of my post was to point out that criticising a single mother for being single and not being able to get a full time job is a load of nonsense.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

Japanese economic comfort women. Love this guy...

2 ( +2 / -0 )

I find it uncivilized not to help a single mother with 2 kids by firing her. No social net. It just shows Japanese don't have any sense of where priorities are for life, especially for a demograpically dying country.

Wishing that this single mother to find a job with an employer who sees the potential to help people who make the future.

Anyway, as said before me, many countries don't want to empower women, they just want them to pay taxes through salaries or exploit them.

6 ( +7 / -1 )

As in other societies, in Japan the most vulnerable are forced to suffer the brunt of the effects, social and economic, of the pandemic. Hoping for some social upheaval to force change here too like what has been started in the United States.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

@Burning Bush

You make it sound like Abe has some mind control machine and he's able to direct women to select which jobs they apply for.

Abe doesn't have mind control. However, he hasn't passed, created, or attempted to pass any meaningful bills that targeted women. In order to give them a proper chance at entering workforce.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Owners or businesses that is racists on gender iisues hould close their business. Ladies ,let start to boycott such business. Every business gets money in the corona period from the government, not employing ladies, that is call gender racist.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

What was there to unravel?

1 ( +2 / -1 )

JeffLeeJune 14  09:02 am JST

Why are people so reluctant to criticize corporations in Japan? Are they afraid of them?

Abe certainly seems to be. I don't see him or any other LDP politicians taking a tough line with them.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

It’s interesting that the same people defending the plight of the single, working mother were just a couple of days ago denying the existence of such people in the J.K. Rowlings thread.

These working women are in such dire straits because they are expected by society to give birth and do most of the child rearing as well as work. Now, apparently, they don’t even exist? Yeah, That makes sense...

1 ( +1 / -0 )

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