Average paternity leave taken less than 1 month at many firms: poll

A month ? Are you kidding ? I've never heard of a japanese man taking a month of leave for anything. What a joke, the poll should have ask for men that took more than a week of parental leave (would have got a similar result I think)

At my previous job, when my son was born 4 years ago I took a day off. At my current job, when my daughter was born I either had 1 day or 3 days off. That was the company policy. Not mine.

I’m confused.

Is this article saying paternity leave and child-care leave are the same thing? It looks like it. It says 82% of females took child-care leave but 6% of males took less than a week of paternity leave.

I think they should compare maternity and paternity leave. In that case I suspect 100% of females would insist on maternity leave (usually a year? I’m not sure) to give birth. Unless the company has on-site birthing facilities.

Why did this piece not mention that Shinjiro Koizumi is “widely believed to be a future prime minister” like all the other articles do?

Women bear an extremely heavy burden of child care in Japan. The declining birth rate won't be curbed unless this is solved.

Women have always borne an extremely heavy burden of child care in Japan even Before the birthrate plummeted.

Average is about 1 day I would assume. And if the baby happened to be born on the weekend, probably 0 days. What a retarded survey.

More paternity leave will magically raise birth rates? I think not. Look at all those countries in Europe with months of paternity leave. What's their birth rate again?

Ultimately, long paternity leave will likely drive down birth rates instead of raise them. The strong male instinct after having a child is to work harder to provide more resources and material support for the wife and child, ensuring their health and making possible more children. Fathers spending time with their children is vitally important, and there is much that Japanese workplaces could do to improve in this regard. Paternity leave, however, is actually working against nature. Women will not feel safer, better provided for, or usually even better supported because the man is at home for three months. Often, it works quite the opposite.

One thing that is clear from around the world is that governments cannot pay or bribe people into having kids.

There is no amount of time off the government can give to parents to increase the fertility rate.

I'm sure all those companies also tell the media that they give everyone 20 days off a year in keeping with the labour law. Unfortunately, anyone who takes it gets ostracized.

In theory, many companies "allow paternity leave". Just you try to take it though in practice! No bonus for you, or worse.

I'm glad I can afford to pay our employees and offer them such benefits before any government intervention. It's also not a wonder why so many line up every year to accept an offer if available. It's people who make a business successful both within and without. Customers bring the business but if you don't have the right people then you wont be as successful. Employees are people too and just like any successful business a happy fruit environment makes good business. The one thing I have never worried over the many years is profits over employees.