[English] [田中のホーム] [研究成果一覧] [少子高齢化社会の家族変動]

Family Creating Inequality

- a quantitative analysis of gender gap in post-divorce life

田中重人 <http://www.sal.tohoku.ac.jp/~tsigeto/>
(東北大学大学院文学研究科)

東北大学法学研究科GCOE国際セミナー「多文化共生社会のジェンダー平等: グローバリゼーション下のジェンダー・多様性・共生」 (2010-08-04)

Date: 2009-08-04
Location: Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan
ReMCat: {2009:qfam:090804}

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Abstract

This presentation focuses on the gender difference in post-divorce life in contemporary Japan. The data are drawn from the National Family Research of Japan (NFRJ) project, which is a series of surveys using probability samples across Japan conducted by the Japan Society of Family Sociology. The main focus is on the gender effect on equivalent household income among divorced people. Results indicate strong negative effect of two variables: (1) presence of young children and (2) discontinuous occupational career due to childbirth or childrearing. These are the two main factors in the low standard of living for divorced women. The results thus show that the family process has created gender inequality and the family law/policy has failed to remove the inequality. Further discussion arises as to two topics: (1) formulation of the law/policy aiming at gender equality from the viewpoint of distributive justice; and (2) implications of our findings for sociological research on the power structure within family.

Keywords

equality of opportunity, remarriage, full-time regular employee, financial provision on divorce

Gender and Distributive Justice
- 1.1. "Equality of opportunity" principle
- 1.2. Gender equality law in Japan
- 1.3. Family as a distribution system
- 1.4. Measurement of economic benefits
Data
Marital Experience and Equivalent Household Income
Factors of the Economic Gender Gap in Post-Divorce Life
Discussion
- 5.1. Findings from our analysis
- 5.2. Law/policy implications
- 5.3. Perspectives for intra-family distribution

List of Tables

Table 1. Synopsis of NFRJ03
Table 2. Log equivalent household income by household size
Table 3. Log equivalent household income by sex and marital experience
Table 4. Contribution to household income (among those who experienced divorce)
Table 5. Remarriage or co-residence with parents (among those who experienced divorce)
Table 6. Presence of children under 13 (among those who experienced divorce)
Table 7. Percentage of full-time regular employees (among those who experienced divorce)
Table 8. Descriptive statistics for regression analysis (for those who experienced divorce)
Table 9. Regression analysis of log equivalent household income (for those who experienced divorce)

References

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Reference list includes kanji titles and names that would otherwise be difficult to identify. In triangle brackets < > are ISBN, ISSN, URL, or NCID (see http://webcat.nii.ac.jp). [J] is for Japanese literature.

Acknowledgement

The data for this secondary analysis, National Family Research of Japan 2003 (NFRJ03) by the NFRJ Committee, Japan Society of Family Sociology, was provided by the Social Science Japan Data Archive, Information Center for Social Science Research on Japan, Institute of Social Science, The University of Tokyo.