A rest facility offers temporary childcare services. (©Sankei)
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The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare's FY2024 Basic Survey on Equal Employment Opportunities shows that the rate of men taking childcare leave has risen to 40.5%.
The rate has risen sharply in recent years. From just 17.13% in 2022, it jumped to 30.1% in 2023. Finally, in 2024, it exceeded 40% for the first time.
This is certainly a welcome trend. However, there is still a huge gender gap, as 86.6% of women workers take childcare leave. For men, the government has set a 50% target in 2025, and an 85% target for 2030.
It is important to create an environment where both men and women can balance work and childcare. Therefore, we would welcome more Japanese men taking childcare leave.
"Single parenting," where the burden of child-rearing falls on women, is a likely contributing factor to maternal isolation and postpartum depression. It has also been identified as hindering women's advancement in society and efforts to grow their family income. One consequence is that fewer women desire to have children.
There is, therefore, great significance in men taking childcare leave.
Why Now?
There are several reasons why more men have been taking parental leave in recent years. First is the amended Act on Childcare Leave and Caregiver Leave. It requires employers to confirm the intention of employees who have applied for leave due to pregnancy or childbirth, whether for themselves or their spouses.
One of the main reasons why men hesitate to take leave is to avoid a decrease in income. However, the government has expanded childcare leave benefits from April 2025. Now, if both spouses take 14 or more days of childcare leave, the benefits will be increased to the same level as their take-home pay prior to the leave, up to a maximum of 28 days. Hopefully, couples will make effective use of this new system.
Nonetheless, it is not right if individuals take childcare leave without doing much actual childcare. Insufficient leave is another problem.
According to a survey conducted by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, 70% of men want to take parental leave of "more than one month." But, in FY2023, nearly 60% of men who actually took parental leave took it for less than one month.
Meanwhile, over 90% of women take more than six months of leave. The atmosphere in Japanese workplaces is probably still such that it is harder for men to take childcare leave than women.
Preparing Companies for the Challenge
There are other issues as well. The rate for men taking parental leave who work at small- and medium-sized businesses is low. By size of the firm, the rate for businesses with more than 500 employees was 53.8%, while it was only 25.1% at companies that had five to 29 employees. Smaller enterprises are likely facing labor shortages and finding it difficult to secure replacement staff.
We urge companies to improve the efficiency of their operations and constantly review how work tasks are allocated. For the sake of crisis management, it is also important to make sure that someone else can fill in for an employee who normally handles a specific task if the need arises.
RELATED:
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- Tokyo Dream: Young Women's Migration and Japan's Population Challenge
- Childcare in Japan: Winds of Change or More of the Same?
Author: Editorial Board, The Sankei Shimbun
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