Opinion

Women and Babies, An International Dilemma

By JULIET HINDELL

Japanese women, it seems, just don't want to have babies. But they are not alone, and their reasons for not reproducing are the same for women the world over.

The Japanese Prime Minister's Office recently published a survey that found that 20 percent of women of childbearing age do not want to have children. The survey asked 5,000 men and women about their attitudes to the declining birthrate. Interestingly 90 percent of people over 60 thought that married couples should have babies.

At the same time, JR East announced that it was considering opening more creches at stations for working parents. It already has one with 60 places, which are always full. This perhaps is the main reason modern women around the world don't want to have children. How will they take care of them and continue to work?

My friend Sarah in London told me recently that she and her husband had been discussing having kids. "But then we worked out that I couldn't stop work and afford the cost of raising a child. So until I or my husband gets a pay raise, the baby idea is on hold," she said. Some people would say that she should stop work and devote herself to her family, but modern economics in a big city like London or Tokyo often mean that is impossible.

Other women say that they don't want children because their husbands wouldn't share the burden of looking after them. In Japan, that is apparently very true.

Most fathers spend little more than 17 minutes with their offspring every day, leaving Mum, who is often working too, to do what amounts to two full-time jobs — earning a living and looking after the kids. In the past granny or aunty might have looked after the children during the day, but that is very unusual these days.

Another often-cited reason for avoiding motherhood is the loss of freedom it implies. My friends with children say that it can cramp their activities, although other mothers travel the world with their babies in tow. I don't think this is a compelling reason not to have children. But if this is what women really feel, it is better that they don't reproduce, rather than have kids they would resent for taking away their free time.

In Japan, women sometimes say they don't want babies because they have no space at home for them. Don't think this is a uniquely Japanese problem. Soaring housing prices in London mean many families live in homes that are far too small for them all to fit comfortably.

Cost, care, unequal burden, the end of freedom and lack of space can all add up to a rapidly declining birthrate. Japan has one of the fastest shrinking populations in the world, as does Italy. And guess what the reasons that Italian women don't want to have bambini are — cost, care, burden, freedom and space. Japanese women are facing the same difficult decisions as women around the world.

Their reasons for not having babies are all valid , no wonder women in the developed world are choosing to have fewer children.

Shukan ST: July 30, 1999

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