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A poll of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's member countries last year found that Norwegian men pitched in the most - 180 minutes a day - with housework and related chores while Japanese men did the least - only 62 minutes a day.
去年,一项针对经济合作与发展组织的成员国的民意调查显示,挪威男性在家务活中投入时间最长,一天达180分钟,而日本男性投入时间则最少,一天仅有62分钟。
There is a reason for Japanese men's unhelpfulness at home.
In Japan's corporate1 culture, many employees - almost all men - are more devoted2 to their company than to their family. They routinely work long hours. They accept reassignment to remote locations without question. They carouse3 with colleagues and corporate clients till late at night.
Many young Japanese fathers today say they would like to be more involved in raising their children, but very few feel at liberty to take the child-care leave to which they are entitled by law.
Such a work style is possible for a man married to a stay-at-home woman who excuses him duties at home, but it is a different story for a woman with children.
About 70 percent of Japanese women leave the labor4 force after giving birth to their first child. Only about one-third of Japanese mothers with young children work, compared with 50 to 60 percent in the United States, Britain and Germany, and 75 percent in Sweden.
It is not fair to just blame Japan's corporations for Japanese women's retreat from workplaces. There are not enough child-care centers in Japan. Women are often caught in a Catch 22 situation: they cannot secure a job until a child-care slot is available, and they are not eligible5 for such a slot until they have a job.
Many women, as a result, choose to stay at work rather than have children.
Shinwa Agency Co, Ltd, a subsidiary of Japan's Daiwa House Group, offers its employees a bonus of 1 million yen6 ($8,410) for a child they give birth to. But very few female employees at Shinwa have taken the bonus.
It is commendable7 that Japanese companies are changing. Some companies including Itochu, a general trading house, and Ricoh, a printer maker8, are initiating9 flexible working hours so as to reduce or put an end to overtime10.
This move allows men to engage in raising their children and working mothers to balance work and family responsibilities.
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