ABSTRACT
One of the most conspicuous features of the hyper-aged shrinking society with few children is the ongoing reconfiguration of gender relations. Gender is where the upper and lower ends of Japan’s demographic crisis come together. For the time being it is women who have to bear children, and it is women who have to bear the brunt of caring for the elderly. As mentioned in Chapter 3 they outlive men by about seven years, which quite apart from socially-conditioned task divisions makes it more likely women will care for elderly men than vice versa. For these reasons alone, women’s contributions to the wellbeing and reproduction of society are crucial, but this has, however, not gained them recognition as equal partners in society’s evolution. Moreover, driven both by economic necessity and lifestyle choices the female workforce participation rate has steadily grown ever since Japan’s industrialization. Women no longer accepted managing the household as their sole purpose in life, and at the same time had to take a job to supplement the family income. Nowadays double-income households are the norm. Japanese female labour force participation is comparable with other advanced industrial countries (Table 5.1), but the labour force structure differs. Equal opportunities is
a goal further removed and harder to achieve for Japanese women than for their European and North American counterparts.
