The Fact―finding Survey on Childcare Providers in Communities Supporting Families with Young Children

Abstract

We uncovered the strong effect of care work on people working in this field, namely those who are supporting families with young children in Japan. These important effects include being encouraged by care work to obtain revenues, boosting business for NPO, and forming small business groups in communities. We believe that care workers most often obtained qualifications as nursery school teachers during their youth （about 40 percent） and that once they retired from teaching, after or during their childrearing years, they started to become caregivers in the areas of residence. They also advised other mothers in the area to join them. In the case of mothers who lack formal qualifications, they generated community work by forming self―supporting groups or by finding care work from NPO, co―operatives, or others. Care work in communities empowers them to be good caregivers, to be able to change childrearing systems, and/or to obtain greater economic influence. However their salaries are lower than average. How can we change this work situation to protect and to empower caregivers, including their various work shifts in communities ?