Daycare shortage undermines women
Print Edition
MIKA Kiyokawa would love to have a third child but has abandoned the idea — because finding daycare for the two boys she already has was so much trouble she doesn’t want to go through it again.
The 34-year-old Japanese office worker is one of the women Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has pledged to mobilize in the workforce through his “Womenomics” policy to boost the economy, but a severe shortage of daycare is hampering the drive — and igniting criticism of Abe just months before an election.
The daycare shortage is also frustrating efforts to boost Japan’s rock-bottom birthrate, another plank of Abe’s platform.
The long-festering issue burst into public consciousness last month after an anonymous blog post by a woman went viral, setting off protests and petition drives calling for change.
“My child didn’t get into daycare,” she wrote. “Die, Japan!”
Abe initially dismissed the blog, but public anger and media coverage prompted him to promise to address the problem with greater urgency ahead of a July upper house election.
Kiyokawa visited 24 daycare centers before landing a place for her first child more than 30 minutes from home.
“I want another child but finding daycare was so tough that I won’t,” Kiyokawa said at a meeting between lawmakers and desperate parents demanding more daycare.
“And with women having so much trouble with childcare, a company choosing between a woman and a man will of course hire a man from the start, perpetuating inequality.”
Opposition from neighbours fearing noise makes building new centers difficult, while salaries languish, making it hard to attract enough staff.
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