Research
Research theme:
- Gender Inequality in Household Chores -
research motives :
In today’s Japanese society, there have been ongoing debates on gender inequality issues. In particular, it is argued that women in Japan are not always treated equally. A clear example can be seen in the dishonest practices of a medical school in Japan. The medical school unfairly manipulated the scores of female students in their entrance exams, because they believe that women are more likely to drop out of medical professions after getting married (Ramzy & Ueno, 2018). As can be seen from this example, we often encounter such unfairness. Given the fact that Japan is ranked 110th based on Global Gender Gap Index among 149 countries, at the World Economic Forum, Japan lags behind in terms of gender equality (The Japan Times, 2018). Since to achieve gender equality is one of the Sustainable Development Goals, it is imperative to investigate gender inequality issues in Japan. Based on those backgrounds, we decided to narrow our focus to the gender inequality in household chores, because the problem is prevalent in Japanese households.
research objectives:
Although a large number of Japanese people assume that most of housework in a Japanese family is done by housewives, it is necessary to investigate whether our assumption is true. If it is true, we should take action to solve this issue. Therefore, our research purposes are as follows:
1. To reveal the amount of housework shared by husbands and wives
2. To solve issues related to the gender inequality in sharing housework
Methods:
In order to investigate how much housework is shared between a husband and a wife in a common Japanese family, we conducted a questionnaire, targeting parents in our school. 293 participants answered the following two questions:
1. Do your partner and you both work (dual / non-dual income household)?
2. How much housework is shared between your partner and you in your
family?
We also had discussions at Kolbe Catholic College in Australia so that the results of our study, targeting Japanese families, can be compared to the case of Australians.
Results:
The results showed that 80.3% of the households were dual-income households.
Moreover, it was revealed that 76.2% of the housework was done by wives.
Discussion:
Based on the results, it can be said that most husbands do much smaller amount of housework compared to wives; thus, the results were consistent with our hypothesis. Interestingly, there were some Australian high school students who mentioned that the same holds for some Australian families. To solve the inequality in terms of housework sharing, we provide the following three solutions:
1. Talk-over Sheet:
We created a material that makes it possible to visualise the amount of housework shared by a husband and a wife. This material allows them to talk over and think over about their housework sharing. Please find more detailed information from the page "DL Talk-over Sheet".
2. Workshop:
To raise awareness of the issue, we held a series of workshops, inviting our classmates’ parents. With the help of “gender=”, a Non-Profit Organisation working on gender inequality issues in Japanese families, the participants better understood problems in sharing housework with their family members and learned how to use Talk-over Sheet effectively.
3. Original Website:
We believe that this website can provide valuable information, including our research findings and current activities. Please find out more from the page for "Activities".
Future research:
To spread our ideas and solutions in the society, we will present our studies in “Learn X Creation” on August 4th, where educational practitioners discuss innovative education. In addition, we are preparing for further workshops which are designed for students in coeducational schools and boys’ schools. In the near future, our program will be extended even further, including research and presentations in other countries.
References:
Ramzy, A. & Ueno, H. (2018). Japanese medical school accused of rigging
admissions to keep women out, Retrieved May 31, 2019 from
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/03/world/asia/japan-medical-school-test-
scores-women.html
The Japan Times. (2018). Japan rises four places to lowly 110th in WEF's
global gender equality rankings, Retrieved May 31, 2019 from
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/12/18/national/japan-rises-four-
places-110th-wefs-global-gender-equality-rankings/