Minja Kim Choe

Social networks and family change in Japan

Japan, unlike most Western countries, has not experienced several components of the second demographic transition, including cohabitation, widespread use of childcare centers, unmarried childbearing, and nonmarriage. Yet there is evidence that Japan is ripe for change in such family behaviors. This article examines a set of innovative questions related to knowing individuals who have engaged in these behaviors by type of relationship (sibling, other relative, friend, and coworker) respondent has to such individuals. We find that a large proportion of the Japanese population knows someone who has cohabited, used childcare, had a nonmarital birth, or plans to remain unmarried. This knowledge is patterned by both relationship domain and social structural variables. There is a strong positive association between knowing someone who has engaged in one of these behaviors and attitudes toward nontraditional family behavior, suggesting pathways by which micro-level interpersonal interactions may be linked to macro-level social change.

THE INSTITUTIONAL CONTEXT OF LOW FERTILITY

Japans very low fertility is set in the context of the ‘marriage package’ faced by never-married young people. The competition between the unmarried lifestyle and the traditional package of marital roles has led to delays in marriage and childbearing. The marriage package is discussed in terms of levels of and preferences for wifes education and employment, the division of household labor, the changing nature of marriage, and the rising risk of divorce. The extended portion of adult life spent unmarried and childless is also creating feedback loops at both the individual and societal level by providing new opportunities for innovative behaviors such as cohabitation.

IS THE GENDER DIVISION OF LABOUR CHANGING IN JAPAN

The paper examines potential changes in housework and employment among married couples in Japan. The data are from national surveys in 1994 and 2000 of persons aged 20–49. Wives’ housework hours decreased and the proportion of husbands doing any housework increased. A majority of wives are employed, many work full-time and husbands work long hours and many return home late in the evening. While wives do less housework if they are employed, husbands’ housework does not respond to their wives’ employment. Large gender differences persist, with wives’ employment associated with family constraints. In general, changes were the same across categories of the population, though three of five significant interactions with time involved wives’ education. A positive relationship between wives’ education and any housework by husbands becomes stronger over time. The results suggest gender inequality in housework may decrease in the future, with potential relevance to future marriage and fertility.

Why do Chinese women practice contraception? : the case of rural Jilin province

This study focuses on the relationship between contraceptive behavior, family size preferences, and perceptions of the one-child policy among young Chinese women in rural areas of Jilin Province. In 1985, about 85 percent of rural married women with one surviving child were practicing contraception, although most of them reported two as their ideal number of children. Most women with one surviving child, including those with one-child certificates, were practicing contraception in response to the government campaign, while more than half of women with two or more children were doing so voluntarily. Most of the women with one child were using the IUD, whereas more than half of women with two or more children were sterilized. Through multivariate analysis of contraceptive behavior and method choice, additional factors were found to be associated with the contraceptive behavior of rural Jilin women; achievement of their ideal family size was a significant factor in the voluntary practice of contraception as well as in contraceptive method choice. Implications of the results are discussed.

Achievement of one-child fertility in rural areas of Jilin Province, China

The total fertility rate for the rural areas of Jilin Province, China, fell from two children per woman to the unprecedentedly low level of one between 1982 and 1985. This rapid decline was mainly due to the curtailment of childbearing after first births among young married women in response to the governments one-child family policy. Logistic regression analyses show that women whose only child is a boy, whose -ideal number of children is one or whose husbands have some formal education, as well as women who belong to the Han majority, are more likely than others to accept a one-child certificate. Among women in their 20s, those with a formal education are less likely than those with no formal education to accept a certificate, but among older women, the relationship between education and certificate acceptance is positive.

The Emergence of Two Distinct Fertility Regimes in Economically Advanced Countries

Beginning in 2000, in economically advanced countries, a remarkable bifurcation in fertility levels has emerged, with one group in the moderate range of period total fertility rates, about 1.9, and the other at 1.3. The upper branch consists of countries in Northern and Western Europe, Oceania and the United States; the lower branch includes Central, Southern, and Eastern Europe, and East and Southeast Asia. A review of the major theories for low-fertility countries reveals that none of them would have predicted this specific bifurcation. We argue that those countries with fertility levels close to replacement level have institutional arrangements, and related policies, that make it easier, not easy, for women to combine the worker and mother roles. The institutional details are quite different across countries, suggesting that multiple combinations of institutional arrangements and policies can lead to the same country-level fertility outcome. Canada, the only exception to this bifurcation, illustrates the importance of the different institutional structures in Québec compared to the rest of Canada.

Diversity across Low-Fertility Countries: An Overview

Economically advanced countries show considerable variability in fertility levels. Those with the very lowest fertility have populations that are rapidly aging, and in some the population is shrinking overall. This introduction previews chapters that describe the situation in eight countries that have experienced varying degrees of fertility decline in recent years: China, Hong Kong (actually a territory, not a country), Japan, Singapore, and South Korea, all with a total fertility rate (TFR) of less than 1.5 children per woman, and Australia, the Netherlands, and the United States, where fertility is now close to the replacement level of 2.1. The discussion focuses on common features across the countries as well as distinctive cultural, institutional, and policy features of each country that might affect fertility levels, either deliberately or inadvertently. Such features include flexibility of the labor markets, the link between marriage and childbearing, factors that help or hinder parents in balancing work and family obligations, gender equity, education systems, the housing markets, and governmental subsidies for the cost of childrearing.

Diverse Paths to Low and Lower Fertility: An Overview

All the countries represented in this volume have fertility below the replacement level, with some well below. Low fertility leads to population aging and issues of labor-force size and the provision of welfare benefits to the elderly. This introduction previews chapters that describe the situation in Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Spain, and Taiwan, all with a total fertility rate (TFR) below 1.5 children per woman, and France, Norway, and the United Kingdom, where fertility is close to the replacement level of 2.1. The final country is Canada, which has a TFR between these two country groups, reflecting generous childcare and maternity-leave policies in Quebec and considerably less generous policies in the rest of Canada. The discussion focuses on common features across the countries as well as distinctive cultural, institutional, and policy features of each country that might affect fertility levels, either deliberately or inadvertently. Such features include flexibility of the labor market, the link between marriage and childbearing, factors that help or hinder parents in balancing work and family obligations, gender equity, education systems, the housing market, and government subsidies for the cost of childrearing.

The Changing Family in Comparative Perspective: Asia and the United States

This volume compares recent family patterns in Japan South Korea Taiwan and other Asian countries with those found in the United States. Written by distinguished social scientists from Asia and the U.S. the essays in this volume use new surveys and censuses to compare Asian and American patterns of marriage divorce womens roles mens contributions to housework well-being in marriage and patterns of contact and exchange between adults and their parents. The volumes results suggest that patterns of family formation and dissolution in Asia are converging with those in the United States in many respects but that intergenerational relationships remain distinct. (EXCERPT)