ABSTRACT

Housework and the care of children has undoubtedly always been a part of the working life of Japanese women, as it is part of the lives of most women, but in few parts of the world have these roles been granted the importance and status they have acquired in Japan. Although more than half of Japan’s married women are to be found in the labour force, there is a very noticeable M-curve when participation is plotted against age,1 and many women try to give all their attention to the home during at least the early years of the lives of their children. A substantial number of women2 continue to devote their energies, full time, to the home, and these have succeeded in carving out, or perhaps having carved out for them, a role which is widely regarded as a professional occupation.