東アジアの家庭教育と文化研究

子どもの未来と地域研究に向けて

“Children’s Futures and Community Studies Revisited: Japanese Cases of Children’s Lives”

Mutsuko Tendo, Professor, Miyagi Gakuin Women’s University
(Women’s studies, and Sociology of Education)

子どもの未来と地域再考：日本からみえること

天童睦子　宮城学院女子大学　教授（女性学，教育社会学）

要約

日本の子ども研究には豊かな歴史がある。子どもの初期的社会化の一形態であるしつけは、苗のしつけを語源とし、子どもの本性にもとづく育児の営みが、親だけでなく共同体の複数の手によってなされていた。一方、近代化の展開は子育て環境を大きく変えた。とりわけ近代家族の性別役割分業モデルの浸透のなかで、育児責任は母親の肩に重くかかり、その後の少子化、子育て支援の政策的対応も父親の育児保障を十分なものにはしていない。子どもの貧困、子どもの居場所への注目が高まっている。現代の子育て環境のニーズとはなにか、地域の役割とはなにか、いまあらためて「子どもの育ちを尊ぶ」社会のあり方を問い、子どもの未来をひらく地域づくりをともに考え実践する必要がある。

Introduction

Studying children and childhood in Japan has a rich history. Theoretical approaches to childhood and childhood studies have been conducted in psychology and sociology in the field of social science. In Japanese academia, there are various accumulated knowledge of theoretical and empirical research related to childhood and child studies, such as socialization, childcare, parenting, nursery, motherhood, anxiety of childrearing, child abuse, and so on.

The Japanese way of child socialization is called shitsuke. It originally meant of planting a rice nursery, a planting model of child rearing with child nature. Traditionally, childcare was conducted by the child nature, and local community had a common value and form of childcare and socialization.

In the past, the childcare and shitsuke(discipline) was a shared responsibility by local community, not just by family members. However, modernization in society has changed childcare and childrearing in Japan. The turning point was in the middle of 20th century, after World War Ⅱ. The modern family structure and function was based on the sexual division of labor and the role of mothers was emphasized a lot especially during the rapid economic growth since the late of 1950s to 1970s.

Low Fertility and a Gendered Society

In the 1980s, women’s studies were introduced into Japan. The “myth of motherhood” and sexual division of labor in a society had been reconsidered.

In 1999, the bill named Gender Equal Society Act (Danjo-Kyodo-Sankaku-Shakai Kihonho) passed the Diet, towards building a gender equal society. Despite this, Japanese gender regime has been rigid. Even today, Japan is still known as a gender unequal society, according to the Gender Gap Report by World Economic Forum, Japan ranks 121st out of 153 (2019), the lowest in G7. Japanese fathers childcare leave ratio is very low, and it still reflects fathers in minority in parental leave (fathers childcare leave ratio 7.48%; mothers 83.0% in 2020).

The childhood and childcare especially have become significant social concerns in Japan. Japanese society faced the phenomenon of declining birth rates in the 1990s, and being known as one of countries with a very low fertility rate in the world. It was called Shoshika (low fertility), and it became one of the serious issues. Japanese government started various childcare policies on the purpose of increasing the birth rate, such as childcare leave law (1992), Angel Plan (1994, total childcare support policies, revised in 2000) and the Campaign for promoting fathers’ participation in childcare. In the beginning of the 21st century, the Fundamental Act of Small Number of Children Measures has passed in the Diet in 2003. These policies may contribute to building a childcare-friendly, work life balanced society, however, they tacitly include the nation-scale strategies of reproduction of the population.

Childhood and Society

Japanese society faces significant issues, the phenomenon of declining birth rate, social concerns of parental responsibility and family education, mothers’ isolation in childcare, child abuse. The children in our society are expected to be as an “ace of the cards” to solve the problems of future, the pension insurance, workforce, economic growth, elderly care. Demographic changes are not just population issues but reflect the changes in family strategies.

Child abuse became a social issue because of the number of report has increased rapidly, Child abuse has also become a serious issue, and in the name of shitsuke, serious child abuse has reported in media. The Act for Preventing Child Abuse was formulated in 2000. The number of the reported abuse to children’s consultation office in 1999 was 11,631 and it has become more than ten times in 2016, 122,575. The number of the reported abuse in 2018 was 159,850(Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare 2019).

Disasters and Children’s Lives

As one of recent issues disaster prevention and children’s rights and dignity should be notified. Japan had experienced serious disasters in 2011, the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami hit Tohoku area. A 9.0-magnitute earthquake hit Japan on March 11, 2011. In the resulting earthquake, tsunami, and Fukushima nuclear plant accident, more than 15,000 people lost their lives, and over 2500 were officially reported as missing (2011).

Because of the disaster, tsunami, and Fukushima nuclear plant accident, quite a lot of children’s lives were damaged. To provide enough social services will be indispensable to build the childcare friendly society. There are a lot of research on children and schools after the disaster (for example large-scale survey by MEXT 2012). Child-centered community research also started in Miyagi, focusing on dignity of children and children as active participants in society (See Web Reference 1: Tendo and Adachi, 2020).

In the areas affected by this disaster, more than 40% of the households answered that their households had suffered more than before the earthquake, and about 60% said it was difficult to cover school expenses for their children (Kahoku Shinpo NP Nov. 21, 2017).

These poverty issues threaten children’s equal opportunities for education and right to learn, leading to a decline in their willingness to learn and, consequently, poor academic performance. These results may be a cause of school refusal and increased bullying in the affected areas.

What We Can Do for Children’s Futures

In the 21st century, child poverty has become a social issue. Since 2008, the relative poverty rate in Japan has increased; for example, the child poverty rate was 10.9% in 1985, but rose to 16.3% by 2012, and it was 13.5% in 2018. This is relatively higher than the OECD average (See Web Reference 2).

In this context, some new measures have been introduced to support children. For example, kodomo shokudo or children’s restaurant activities, began around 2012. This program offers free food mainly to poor children, and it promote children’s healthy, safe lives. The restaurant activities are organized by an NGO that operates in Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, and other urban areas. There are many activities and places devoted to children in Miyagi, too. It also became a children’s safe space, ibasho.

In the past, children could be found playing with friends in parks and nearby vacant lots, but communities have been greatly transformed based on changes in lifestyles and the loss of playgrounds due to urbanization, the spread of technology devices such as smart phones, the sparseness of local communities, and so on. In response to these developments, securing an after-school location that contributes to children’s safety and healthy growth is an important issue that must be considered in the region (Sumida 2009). After school children’s clubs also provide ibasho.

Conclusion

As mentioned above, the main issues facing children and childhood studies in the 21st century in Japan are the country’s declining birth rate, mothers’ isolation in their childcare role, concerns about family education, social disparities, child abuse, and child poverty.

Children’s issues are not just the individual families; rather, they are community issues. We need to construct a means of providing full support and social inclusion for all children and families.

Since the earthquake, Miyagi Gakuin Women’s University students have provided learning support in coastal areas where tsunami damage was severe, as well as in inland areas, where many of the victims relocated.

Learning support has the function of promoting the personality of the child and strengthening the role of the family as a safe space for the mind. In this project, through an analysis of the current situation of learning support needs in disaster-stricken areas, a learning support program that meets those needs, promotes social and independent living, promotes healthy development, and builds a social space is developed and implemented.

Furthermore, through multifaceted reinforcement through learning support (parent support for child-rearing, regional care support), we aim to restore the functions of watching and caring for children and their families.

Focusing on children’s viewpoints and children’s subjectivity, we aim to improve community development and community formation with the cooperation of leading local citizens and other members of society. In order “to respect the growth of children”, the “child-centered perspective” emphasizes a viewpoint that analyzes the needs of the child as an intrinsic member of the community. It, therefore, considers the opinion of the child. Furthermore, it refers to a future-oriented project in which both the citizen who is currently active and the child as a future leader, are involved in examining and finding ways to improve and participate in community development, as a more significant social issue.

References

  • Shibano, Shozan, (ed.) (1989) Sociology of Sitsuke, Kyoto: Sekai shisosha, (in Japanese). 柴野昌山編『しつけの社会学』世界思想社。
  • Sumida, Masaki, (2009), ‘Children’s Group Building and School/Community Network’, in Shibano, S. ed., Self-support by Youth Work, Kyoto: Sekai shisosha, (in Japanese). 住田正樹「子どもの集団作りと学校地域の連携」、柴野昌山編『青少年・若者の自立支援』世界思想社。
  • Tendo, Mutsuko, (ed.), (2016), Sociology of Child-rearing Discourses, Kyoto: Sekai shisosha (in Japanese).　天童睦子編『育児言説の社会学―家族・ジェンダー・再生産』世界思想社。
  • Tendo, Mutsuko, (2020), Women’s Empowerment and Future of Education, Tokyo : Toshindo (in Japanese).　天童睦子『女性のエンパワメントと教育の未来』東信堂。

Website

  1. Tendo, M. and Adachi, T. eds., 2020 Action Research Paper, 「宮城学院女子大学・地域子ども学研究センターHP」https://www.mgu.ac.jp/main/child-future/english/research2020.html
  2. http://www.oecd.org/japan/sag2019-japan-jp.pdf