Japanese Ruling Party Pushes Women to be Wage-Earners

[ccharles000]

http://www.feministing.com/archives/017872.html

While Japan is under fire from the U.N. for paltry efforts toward gender equality, their massive tax change proposal promises to push more women into the workforce.

Japan's August 30 election saw the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) soundly defeat the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and Yukio Hatoyama was installed as the Prime Minister. By American standards, DPJ could be simplified as the more fiscally progressive party; their platforms include a freeze on sales tax, increases in minimum wage, free public education, and most notably, a $289-per-child monthly allowance for families.

How will DPJ possibly fund such a large monthly child allowance? The Japan Times reports that the DPJ proposes cutting tax deductions for spouses, which would force wives employed in part-time work into full time work. Since 1961, tax deductions for dependent spouses have discouraged women from finding full-time work. To remain qualified as dependents on their breadwinner husbands, Japanese wives operate under an effective income ceiling of 1.3 million Japanese yen, or $14,456.

[SoCalDem]

1. Step one, on the slippery slope

get those families dependent on the wife's income, so they spend more, retract the subsidies, and then watch wages fall, so soon they too will be a society where 2 incomes barely cuts it..

[sasquatch]

2. Like here

[surrealAmerican]

3. Unless there is a severe labor shortage in Japan ...

... this sounds like a bad move. It will drive down wages.

[pampango]

4. Why? Are you suggesting that women should stay home to protect wage levels for men?

That sounds like a "Let's go back to the good ol' 1950's" kind of proposal.

Women participate in the workforce in the US to a much greater extent than a few decades ago. Their talents, as well as those of African Americans and other minorities who were excluded from most good jobs in the past, have enriched our economy and society.

I suppose that white men as a group might be better off today, if women and minorities had stayed at home or in jobs that were "traditional" for them. The former would certainly have an even tighter control on professional and executive jobs and political office than they do today. Some white men may have suffered from the competition, but in general we are all better off for opening up the economy to fuller participation by women and minorities.

[surrealAmerican]

5. There is nothing PREVENTING women from working full-time now.

It's just that the tax code makes part-time work ALMOST as financially advantageous for married couples. And yes, if you change that, it will cause wages to decline.

[pampango]

7. "if you change that, it will cause wages to decline." Because women enter the workforce to a greater

degree? I don't agree. More people entering a workforce do not force wages down (otherwise, only countries with very small workforces would have high wages), as long as: 1) they are as productive as current workers and 2) their productivity is shared fairly within the society.

Japan has a much better reputation than the US does with respect to not concentrating wealth in the hands of the ultra-rich and corporations. They don't have the extremes of wealth and poverty that we have. And, of course, Japanese women will be just as productive as Japanese men.

[Arcana]

6. What about mothers who want to be there for their children?

It's one thing to encourage women to work, it's another to force them to work even if they have more important things at hand like children. It should be a choice for mothers to work, but the economy already forces many to work anyway. However I'm all for encouraging women to be independent if they can, and that's a cultural thing rather.

[taught_me_patience]

8. This is a good thing

and will provide a huge growth engine for Japan's economy going forward.