From Housewife Model to Work-Care Family Model ?

: Continuity of Work of Mothers in Japan and Germany

Abstract

The male-breadwinner-and-housewife family model prevailed in the post-war economic development period in both Japan and West Germany. This paper examines whether this family model changed from the 1990s to the 2010s, along with the conditions that might have prompted this change.

In recent years, policies to support women engaged in both working and childbearing have advanced significantly in the two countries. Particularly in Germany, a new concept, the work-care family model, has been proposed in a government report. In spite of the general rise in the female labor participation rate and in double-earner families, researchers have yet to examine the extent to which the post-childbirth housewife model continues, along with the ensuing disconnection between work and career. This paper investigates both the persistence of and very recent changes in this model. It also examines critical divergences in the conditions of part-time work in Japan and Germany, and how this might lead to different variations in the work-care family model.