Tokyo, 04 October, /AJMEDIA/
The children and families agency’s newly-appointed minister, Ayuko Kato, expressed her commitment to implementing a range of new policies regarding child-related issues during a joint interview with media organizations including The Japan Times on Tuesday.
One of the main aims of the agency is to help implement the Children’s Future Strategy, a plan that was announced in June by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida as a way to reverse Japan’s declining birthrate.
“We held the Children’s Future Strategy Council meeting yesterday and debates over various topics took place,” Kato said Tuesday. “We are in the process of fleshing out the details by the end of the year.”
The 2030s is projected to be the period when the number of young people will decrease significantly, and the plan states that steps must be taken beforehand to reverse the declining birthrate trend as it may be Japan’s last chance to do so.
The government is aiming to acquire ¥3.5 trillion annually in funding for this measure during the three year period starting in fiscal 2024, which is seen as the period when intensive action must be taken.
One topic that is highlighted within the strategy is men’s child care leave. For the majority of households, it remains the norm for the mother to take on a lot of the child-rearing responsibilities.
“In order to create a society where people can balance both their career and raising a child, I want to stress how essential it is for people to be able to take child care leave when they want to, regardless of gender,” said Kato.
“As the first step in making double-income and co-parenting — which remains less frequent in Japan compared to the global standard — the norm, we must achieve a society where it is widely accepted for men to also take child care leave,” she added.
The plan aims to increase the number of working men who take paternity leave to 50% by 2025 and to 85% by 2030 — a big jump from the 17.13% in fiscal 2022.
Kato addressed public concerns regarding the Children’s Future Strategy, saying that as they move forward with fleshing out the details they will invite interest groups at the forefront of child-rearing to offer their thoughts on the policies.
The children and families agency was established in April under Kishida to address the need for a governing body that oversees child-related policies.
The agency was initially led by former-minister Masanobu Ogura, who was replaced by Kato in the most recent Cabinet reshuffle. As a 44-year-old working mother with two young sons, she said that she hopes to put her child-rearing experience to good use. Kato is a second generation politician, having succeeded her father as Yamagata Prefecture’s representative in 2014.
