The Institute of Population Problems held, for the first time in July 1993, the survey on family in Japan, on the basis of the nationally representative sample of household 10,691. This report is based on an analysis of responses given by 6,083 housewives. Major findings from this survey are as follows.
1. In household relations with parents from whom wives can expect the most childcare assistance besides their husbands. 30% of them under 49 years of age are living with parents on either the wives' or the husbands' side. But there are regional differences: in rural area, nearly half (47916) live together, whereas in city area, only 22% live with their parents and about 80% live separately.
Furthermore, looking into the situation where young couples live within half an hour from the parents' homes, 81% belong to this category in the rural area and half (52%) in the urban area. This confirms the fact that direct assistance from the parents is difficult to receive on a continuing basis in the urban area compared to the rural area.
The problem of childbirth and childcare environment is, in other words, a problem, which should be dealt with chiefly in relation to the nuclear family in the urban area.
2. In regard to support from the potential resources such as from brothers and sisters, neighbors, or friends other than parents, the result showed, both in the number of persons and the character of network, the result was low for persons in their twenties in great need of assistance and for the elderly, and low in the urban areas.
3. As for the husband's sharing of house chores, each house chore item showed less than 50% participation even when they managed to help a few times a week. For traditional house chore items such as 'cooking', 'laundry' and 'cleaning', each age group showed less than 30% performance. Husbands whose wives are in their thirties and forties showed especially low figures, resulting in a U-shaped graph. Also, when the husband's commuting time exceeds an hour and half, his participation in housework becomes low.
4. On the husband's childcare, the column of frequency shows less than 5096 for the items which require time and effort such as 'putting a child to sleep', 'feeding' and 'changing diapers'. On the whole, the result shows that the husband is not performing enough house chores and childcare at home.
5-. In spite of this low performance of roles in house chores and childcare, the wife's consciousness toward it shows that 6096 of them take it for granted. This suggests that the wife's expectation level toward her husband is originally low and that affirmative consciousness toward gender roles is still strongly rooted on the wife's side.
6. On the gender role norm 'A husband works outside and a wife should concentrate on the home', it was half and half for those in their forties, and was believed in by a majority of those in their fifties; even the younger generation in their twenties support it. Other affirmative consciousness of traditional ideas was observed as well.
7. On the economic burden for the higher-aged, expectation from public organizations is higher among the younger generation, and expectation from the family tends to be greater among the higher generation.
8. The recognition range of 'family unity regardless of whether living together or not' is wider among the younger generation, and as the generation becomes higher, it is observed that the traditional of the patrimonial family norm where 'the eldest son and his family' and 'the husband's parents' are esteemed as important strongly remains.
9. On the desired closing time of nurseries, after six occupies half (53%), and this has made clear the gap between these hopes and the actualities (research showed the actual closing time met only 17% of expectations)