Women Told To Think About How Pregnancy Fits Their Life Plan
by Beth on Thursday, May 9, 2013
by Beth on Thursday, May 9, 2013
The government is to encourage women to think about how pregnancy fits into their life plan.
The falling birthrate is a major social problem in Japan, and the government frequently investigates various strategies to encourage women to give birth at a younger age. While we’ve seen some unusual suggestions, such as outlawing abortion, recent weeks have seen a more practical approach, such as increasing maternity leave to three years, and now, improving education for girls as they approach their teens and early twenties. The new “Women’s Notebooks”, will educate women about the dangers of postponing pregnancy past their mid-thirties, emphasizing that the most appropriate age to give birth is between 25 and 35.
However, as many online comments show, this new approach, which falls under the umbrella of the Abe administration’s “Big-Boned Policy” [policies aimed at huge social changes], seems to place an unfair pressure on women when it comes to childbirth. But should women feel pressured to give birth early as part of their life plan? Or should a woman’s course in life be an individual decision?
From MSN Sankei News:
Government To Introduce “Women’s Notebooks” For Girls From Teens Onward; Adjustments Made As Part of Big-Boned Policy: “What Age Should You Get Pregnant? Think About Your Life Plan”
Will women’s notebooks help reverse the population decline in Japan?
It was revealed on May 4 that the government is reviewing the introduction of “Women’s Notebooks” (provisional title) which are to enlighten women from their teens onward about the physiological mechanisms of their bodies and their plans for the future. The aim is to make it known that it is better, medically speaking, for women to get pregnant and give birth up until they reach their early thirties, and to put an end to “late marriage and late childbirth”. The notebooks are being worked on as part of the “Big-boned Policy” to be announced in June.
As part of strategies to counter the falling birth rate, the government has prioritised system reform to make it easier to take maternity leave and educational leave, as well as plans and policies centered on the child-bearing generations, but judged that strategies against late marriage and late childbirth are also essential in resolving the falling birth rate. Abe Shinzo’s cabinet have established this as a key political strategy, and having reflected this in the big-boned policy, they are considering earmarking funds for a survey in next year’s budget.
The cabinet’s “Taskforce On Breaking Through The Dangers Of A Falling Birthrate” (Chairperson: Mori Masako, Minister of State for the Declining Birthrate) takes the stance that rather than the “Mother-Child Health Notebook” which is currently distributed by local authorities to women upon the discovered of a pregnancy, it is more effective to introduce “Women’s Notebooks” from an early stage. They expect that the new notebooks will be distributed all together during the early teens, when girls receive the cervical cancer vaccine, and at age 20, when girls begin having screening for cancers of the cervix and womb.
It is generally assumed in medical circles that the most appropriate ages for pregnancy and childbirth are between 25 – 35 years old. It is clear that as women age, their eggs also become old; from the late thirties it becomes difficult to fall pregnant, and it is difficult for fertility treatments to be effective. However, this is not dealt with at all in schools and education.
The “Women’s Notebooks” recommend pregnancy and childbirth up to the mid-thirties, and indicate the importance of dealing with marriage and childbirth in your life plan. Still, since these are also personal choices, the advice in the books is simply intended to enlighten women about these facts. Furthermore, the cabinet has a policy of trying to improve the situation whereby couples are reluctant to get married due to economic circumstances, and will embark on a bold financial support program for newly-married couples.
According to the age breakdown in results obtained about assisted reproductive technology by The Japan Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology, pregnancy rates drop to 15% for 40 year-old women, when the rate for who were around 35 was just above 20%.
