Saturday, 13 March 2010
Two weeks’ paternity leave may not seem like much, but for Hironobu Narisawa, the 44-year-old mayor of a Tokyo district, it is a leap into the future for Japanese society.
Next month he will become Japan’s first local government chief to take time off work to look after a child, a move he hopes will encourage other men to do the same in a nation struggling with a low birthrate.
Narisawa, the mayor of Tokyo’s Bunkyo Ward, will swap his desk and PC for the world of sterilized bottles, baby formula and nappy changes for his first child, who was born on February 5.
“I want to take time to raise my son and give him a lot of love,” he told a nationally-televised news conference.
“I wanted to experience both the importance and the difficulties of child raising. I want to set an example that other men will follow.”
Japanese law allows either parent to take leave of up to one year after childbirth, but almost all of those who do so are women, a reflection of traditional gender roles that remain entrenched.
No male employees of Bunkyo ward are currently on paternity leave, the news conference was told. Nationwide, only 1.2 percent of fathers take advantage of paternity leave.
Proud dad Narisawa is on a mission to change that and follow in the footsteps of male politicians elsewhere who have taken out time for their tots, among them former British premier Tony Blair.… Continue reading
