Toward a Society Where Both Male and Female Involvement in Parenting Is the Norm

Japan

In Japan, as of 2020, both wife and husband worked outside the home in 70% of households (survey quoted in 2021 Whitepaper on Gender Equality). With the nuclearization of the family and more women in paid employment, working and parenting styles are diversifying even further—which is precisely what makes it so desirable to create a society in which both women and men can and do take on parenting duties as a matter of course. What is needed to achieve this is not just greater effort from mothers and fathers, but also better official support for parents from the companies and workplaces that employ them. With the revisions to Japan’s Child Care and Family Leave Act in 2022, social expectations are also high for changes in attitude in the corporate sphere.

Pigeon strives to be a company where both men and women can discuss parenting, and was an early adopter of generous maternity and parental leave policies. Employees can make use of a wide range of policies covering pregnancy, birth, and returning to work afterward. Our “One Month Together” course, which allows employees to take one month of parental leave during the first 18 months of their child’s life, is particularly easy for male employees to make use of, and since January 2016 every employee eligible for the leave has taken it.

We made it easy for male employees to take leave for a variety of reasons. One was to eliminate financial uncertainty around taking leave. Another was to create a corporate culture where superiors and coworkers cheerfully send colleagues off to enjoy their parental leave without any sense of guilt or unease.

It has become desirable to create a society in which both women and men can and do take on parenting duties as a matter of course. On the other hand, Pigeon recognizes that some companies and workplaces may not have the necessary internal systems and support structures in place to support parents, and so we share our knowledge as pioneers in this area, including the valuable lessons we learned through trial and error as we took the lead in designing parental leave systems that allow both mothers and fathers to take an active role in parenting.

2023.11

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