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by mariodiana 3564 days ago
> There was one clearly positive indicator in the survey: For the first time, the proportion of women returning to work after having their first child in Japan's once notoriously patriarchal society exceeded 50 percent.

In all seriousness, if the concern is low birthrates, how is the above a "clearly positive indicator"?
3 comments
unsignedint 3564 days ago
Because women can be discouraged of having a children in fear of not being return to work afterward.

Implementations of maternity leaves are not very high in Japan -- this is coming from the work that histrically, they were expected to leave the work force when women are married.

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hasenj 3564 days ago
Who is going to take care of the baby?

Also, returning to work probably means no intention of having another baby any time soon.

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mcphage 3564 days ago
If only there was an industry of trained professionals whose only job was taking care of children...
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unsignedint 3564 days ago
There is a serious shortage there, too. And even if working parents do have access to it, it won't go beyond usual hours (e.g. like 6PM) and it won't help them much if they are expected a lot longer than that.
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hasenj 3563 days ago
Children need to be taken care of by their biological mothers, specially during the first two years of their lives.
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DasIch 3564 days ago
Women, just like men, don't want to all be stay at home parents or pursue a career while being childless.

Quite a lot of people may be even most want both, so as a government you should make that possible. This indicates that the government might be succeeding at that.

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sambe 3564 days ago
The concern expressed in this sentence is that of a patriarchal society.
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hasenj 3564 days ago
The sentiment expressed in _your_ sentence is that of a radical feminist.
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sambe 3563 days ago
I'm not following at all - why the downvotes and political accusations?

The semantics of the quoted sentence clearly indicate that women going back to work is seen as a good thing (by the author; not necessarily my personal view) in the context of a "notoriously patriarchal society". It is clear that the author makes this point separately from the main concern of the article.

I don't even know how to interpret it differently, regardless of whether I agree.

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