By Mana Kawabe
Recently, discrimination between men and women both heterosexual LGBTQ people is a problem. It is gender inequality. There are two main issues for gender inequality in Japan: women’s social roles and acceptance of LGBTQ people but reasonable solutions are possible.
First, nowadays, there are a lot of households in which partner work all over the world. Currently, “women’s success” is also the core of Japan’s growth strategy, but the number of double income couples is increasing due to the success of women, and men’s participation in household chores is also attracting attention. In Japan, usually women do housework and childcare. A lot of men think housework and childcare are women’s work. As a result, women’s burden is heavy. As a result, some people don’t want to get married because the participation rate of housework and childcare is low it puts a burden on them. In addition, since the number of double-income households increasing and the participation rate of households in housework and childcare is low, priority is given to work and there is no time to spend on childcare, so the birthrate is declining. Especially in Japan, it is not possible to balance work and housework. Linnai Company, Limited is trying to find out the domestic affairs of double income couples in the world, Japan, South Korea, the United States, Germany. As a result, it turns out that Japan tends to have less time for housework and couples than other countries, and it is not possible to balance work and housework well. In terms of work, Japan has the longest time, 9.19 hours a day. It turns out that Japan has the shortest time for couples, 1.31 hours, compared to other countries. It was also revealed that the country with the largest number of people who do not share housework
Second, people in the LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning) community face discrimination. Recently, such people are increasing all over the world. And it is changing to the idea that it is natural. But, after all, there are many people who cannot easily accept it. For example, there are many people in the world who are men but want to wear women’s clothes, women who are in love with women of the same sex, and people whose gender does not apply to either, but these people are not accepted in many societies, including in Japan. And Japan is behind in the system to accept LGBTQ. In Japan, there was an incident in which a male student killed himself when he was outed to be gay. Same-sex marriage is now possible in 31 countries and regions, including Europe, the Americas and Oceania and so on. There is a partnership system in Japan, but it is completely different from marriage.
These issues of inequality for women and LGBTQ individuals should be resolved.
The first issue insider double-income household and childcare. It should change work style. For example, the company’s boss should give guidance so that husband can get home on time without overtime and understanding of the workplace for men’s housework and childcare. Then, if they go home early, they will have more time to do homework and childcare. In addition, it is necessary to change men’s war of thinking. Also, it is important not to do or ask for perfect housework. Not everyone is talented at housework, and they may be fired after work. It is important to create an environment that makes it easy to do housework.
The second issue is the discrimination against LGBTQ. Japanese students should be educated about LGBTQ among elementary and junior high school students. I think it will be easier to accept if students acquire knowledge early. According to the Marriage For All Japan, the result of the questionnaires was that more than 70% of people agreed with same-sex marriage. Most importantly, recognizing same-sex marriages will allow same-sex couples to attain equality under the law and be officially acknowledged. These actions will help eliminate prejudice and discrimination in society towards sexual minorities, which comprise over five percent of the world’s population. Finally, sexual minorities will be able to maintain their personal dignity and live in a society where they feel protected.
From these things, we should stop distinguishing by gender. And Japan should have more flexible ideas and be able to assert each person’s opinions and, both in housework and in relationship pairing ideas without hesitation. Possible solutions are incorrect for others to decide what they must do and what they must do with the gender they were born from.
