Men's New Roles for a Gender Equal Society

As one of the efforts in achieving gender equality, the Sasakawa Peace Foundation established the “Research Committee on the New Role of Men” and explored the defining factors of men’s participation in household work and child rearing for 3 years since 2016. The result of the findings are described in the “Report for the Study on Creating New Roles for Men in Gender Equality - For Building Gender-Equal Society-“. This report is being published today.

The report compares and analyses trends of men between 20th to 60th in household work and child rearing in four cities in East Asia (Seoul, Taipei, Shanghai and Hong Kong) and five regions in Japan (Tokyo, Tohoku, Hokuriku, Kyushu, and Okinawa). One of the findings is that men in Tokyo are less likely to participate in neither household work nor child rearing compared with other East Asian cities even though they are the most liberal in mind. 

One of the most shattering findings is that, in all cities surveyed, having a discriminatory view on women at work are common factors that make men participate in housework more frequently. It shakes the general recognition that men who are more liberal would participate in housework more frequently. In the report, expert’s interpretation on these findings as well as points for policy recommendations towards new roles for men are described.