Japan PM stumbles on issue seen as key to women

By Todd Crowell

TOKYO

Japan's prime minister appears to have stumbled on an issue he supposedly wants to be a key element of his administration – “womenomics”.

During parliamentary debate, Shinzo Abe appeared clueless about the lengths of waiting lists for children in day care facilities.

The issue was seized upon by the opposition Democratic Party's two-term MP Shiori Yamao, who found herself under the parliamentary spotlight as she grilled the premier on the issue. The party is in bad need of a popular issue with elections to the upper house looming this summer.

The shortage of nursery places in Japan was initially thrust into public debate by a fiery, anonymous Internet post decrying the shortage of help for women who want to raise children while holding down a job.

Around 23,000 children are said to be on waiting lists for nurseries in Japan, and the figure could grow to 60,000 according to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.

In the past, Japanese women had suffered in silence or written polite complaints on their personal Internet pages.

Nobody in power paid much attention until one anonymous and thoroughly frustrated mother let loose with a highly charged and often crudely worded blog entry entitled: “I Didn’t Get a Slot in Day Care. Drop Dead Japan!!!"

“I don’t care about politicians’ extramarital affairs, public funding scandals or the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Just spare some change for day care,” she wrote bitterly.

The blog went viral and prompted a petition drive that gathered some 28,000 signatures and was handed to the health minister late last month, although some conservatives appeared more appalled by the rude language than the issue.

At a party conference in late March, DP leader Katsuya Okada appointed Yamao to an important party policy post despite her short tenure in parliament.

The main opposition party badly needs an issue if it is to make gains in the rapidly approaching summer election to the upper house of parliament, and Yamao helps fill the bill.

The attractive 42-year-old is a former prosecutor and -- as she is quick to explain -- a mother herself.

Although Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party is in good shape going into this mid-year election, there is a pronounced gender gap with women.

Abe’s policies such as reviving nuclear power and re-interpreting the constitution are generally unpopular with the populace, but they are even more unpopular with women.

The premier is especially vulnerable on the day care issue, as he has made women’s empowerment a main theme of his administration. That means at a minimum finding ways for women to return to the workforce while raising children.

The government wants to make it easier for women to rise as managers, but one survey indicated that about a million women in Japan would not take promotions or transfers if it meant losing a coveted space in day care.

Since the parliamentary debate, Abe has been fairly quick to promise that his government would do something about the long waiting lists.

“We will do our utmost to cut waiting lists to zero so that people can both work and raise children,” he said.