Motherhood can be one of the best times for women, it is a time when the family welcomes the addition of children into the family. Children can add a great deal of joy and happiness. Motherhood is thus marked by a period of change where women have to deal with the joys and love of having children as new additions to the family. While children can bring a great deal of joy, they require close attention, a huge amount of work and may take lots of time taking care of them. Women in Japan especially find motherhood difficult, challenging, and unbearable. Motherhood can be considered an exercise of sacrifice because women would have to prioritize their children, domestic work at the expense of their work careers.
Domestic Work
Women that choose to go through motherhood are bound to experience a significant amount of domestic work. Japanese women especially experience a significant burden with domestic work to the extent that they may have to sacrifice their jobs. According to the New York Times, while Japanese women have entered the workforce at historic high levels, there is an avalanche of domestic responsibilities which is not shrinking. Women have to undertake several activities such as cooking, cleaning, and laundry which usually exceeds the activities undertaken by most Westerners (Rich, 2019). The significant amount of domestic work means that women may face a choice to sacrifice the time spent on their jobs for adequate time on domestic chores.
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Another aspect where women may have to sacrifice their workplace responsibilities comes about with the bearing and rearing of children. Women are the primary caretakers of children. Children require close attention and one of the parents should monitor their schoolwork activities and education closely. According to the New York Times, Japanese women may have to check out school logs, check and approve the children’s schoolwork with a personalized time, and keep a daily record of conversations, activities, and meals (Rich, 2019). All these activities should be undertaken at the expense of the mother’s employment. This means that women have to sacrifice either fully or part of their work time in order to take care of their children adequately.
Poor Work Policies
The poor work policies adopted among the Japanese workforce has made women sacrifice top paying managerial positions. Most of the Japanese women are usually stuck in limited roles at the workplace. One of the reasons for getting stuck is the disproportionate burden on the shoulders of women at home. Approximately half of the working women are employed on a part-time basis while more than half are on temporary contracts. Holding such small positions reinforces the pay gap between men and women. Additionally, less than 1 percent of all employed women in Japan are in managerial positions, this is compared to the average percentage of 4.6 in the world’s most developed nations ("The Pursuit of Gender Equality- An Uphill Battle", 2018). The reason for the difference is that women dedicate most of their time to domestic responsibilities and not to their work.
Motherhood can be labeled as an exercise of sacrifice since women that choose to work full-time endanger their health through overwork. The story given in the article by the New York Times explains the turmoil that an average mother can go through. Ms. Nishimasa once decided to work full-time event though she was pregnant. She, unfortunately, experienced a miscarriage early in her pregnancy. Another instance where she put her life at risk was when she was running down the stairs carrying two big bags of clothes, towels, washcloths, and water bottles. She was in a hurry, slipped and fell, and broke her leg (Rich, 2019). The cultural work policies in Japan make it impossible for women to work on full-time. Doing so would mean that they are sacrificing their health and could experience adverse effects and dangers.
Gender Inequality
The experience of gender inequality among women means that they are forced to sacrifice their work for the sake of their husbands. In Japan, women are naturally expected to work fewer husbands while their husbands devote most of their time to work. This is because husbands are expected to meet rigorous targets for promotions and raises. Study also shows that women that work more than 49 hours a week usually work close 25 hours of work a week while their husbands do less than 5 hours (Tsuya et al., 2012). Women have to participate actively in both domestic and work activities while men are not expected to stay at the office or go out drinking with clients in the evening. Women are thus expected to sacrifice their work with the benefits that come about as a result of work for the sake of their husbands.
In conclusion, motherhood can be considered an exercise of sacrifice because women would have to prioritize their children, domestic work at the expense of their work careers. Women also experience poor work policies which means that they have to sacrifice top paying managerial positions. Engaging in full-time work and domestic responsibilities also mean that women would have to risk and sacrifice their health in the name of work. The experience of gender inequality among women also means that they are forced to sacrifice their work for the sake of their husbands. There should be a creation of better work policies and the promotion of gender equality to ensure that motherhood is no longer a sacrifice.
References
Rich, M. (2019). Japan’s Working Mothers: Record Responsibilities, Little Help from Dads. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/02/world/asia/japan-working-mothers.html
The Pursuit of Gender Equality- An Uphill Battle. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.oecd.org/japan/Gender2017-JPN-en.pdfhttps://www.oecd.org/japan/Gender2017-JPN-en.pdf
Tsuya, N. O., Bumpass, L. L., Choe, M. K., & Rindfuss, R. R. (2012). Employment and household tasks of Japanese couples, 1994–2009. Demographic Research , 27 , 705.
