Gendcr Equality and Social Policy

Abstract

This paper aims to summarize points mainly from the general discussion of the Unified Theme session of the 126th Conference of the Social Policy Research Association. The themes centered on labor issues while wage, care work, and social security issues were presented to explore gender equality. During the general discussion, concerns were expressed about a perceived slowdown in efforts toward gender equality after the Basic Law for a Gender-Equal Society took effect more than 10 years ago. It was confirmed that the creation of new employment practices has been prevented by the strong connection between the existing Japanese employment practices and male-breadwinner-led families. At the same time, it was reconfirmed that social policy needs to tackle family changes. While more comprehensive social policies that include the changing family are currently being explored, efforts to achieve gender equality are still in progress. Thus, there are a number of research themes to be investigated.