'Gender equality is still a hard goal for Japan to achieve '(２００７年７月２１日版 P18)

Teacher's Review

 

Gender equality gets a lot of bad press in Japan, so the statistics in this article didn't come as much of a surprise. In fact, some things were better than I expected. 9.4% women in parliament is more than I thought but still not great. I was disappointed to find out that Canada is only 20.8% (from another survey). Also, the number of woman in managerial positions (10.4%) is more than I imagined. The statistics might be misleading because I've heard that companies sometimes give women managerial positions with no real power, the promotions are just for good PR. I hope it's not true. I was also impressed to hear that Japanese men contribute to 12.5% of the housework. I think it's wonderful, but I haven't met many of them. I thing I can't swallow about this article is the conclusion.
I don't think the inequality is because of long working hours. I think it's because men and women in Japan have a very clear idea of their individual roles in society or in a marriage. Only men do this. Only women do that. I believe things are changing, but not as fast as they should.

Marcel Morin

 

※ bad press　　　 一般やメディアの中でのマイナス要素の意見

※ misleading 　　誤解を招く

※ can't swallow 信じられない

 

 

記事に登場する単語解説　

 

empowerment 　権限付与・権限委譲

child-rearing　　子育て・育児の