This is a review of literature on employment-policy-oriented changes in family policy measures in France in recent years and their effects on job creation and social security system. It aims to derive policy implications for Japan which has experienced a rise in female employment and a decline in fertility. First, we describe the recent trends in family policy in France. Second, we review the effects of family policy changes on employment, particularly those of the 1995 revision of Allocation Parentale d' Education and Allocation de Garde d' Enfant à Domicile. Third, we evaluate the 1998 reform of the family policy within the framework of financial reforms in the social securiy system. Lastly, we discuss policy implications of changes in France to Japan, referring to the relationship between family policy and family strategy.

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Since the unification of Germany, the federal government has been striving for the establishment of a new social order, which, reflects characteristics of both East and West German societies. Although the goals of the Unification Treaty (1990) on “Family and Women” have almost been accomplished, the government has not yet achieved satisfactory results on the issue of “compatibility of family life and work”. This study examines underlying factors which make implementation of the new family policy in unified Germany difficult. First, family policies, which support child bearing and rearing of East and West Germanies, are compared. Second, the extent of the goals, achieved by the Unification Treaty is examined. Third, an analysis is made on the reasons why the issue of “compatibility of family life and work” has not been well achieved.Basically, the difficulty lies in a dilemma. Child care leave and child care allowance have been expanded (1992), but the existing level of the public child care system is insufficient and dose not support this policy. Also, because of the current high rate of unemployment in Germany, mothers are not viewed as an efficient fulltime labor force, even though they may have a high education or similar qualifications.

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While the equal opportunity legislation in EU has resulted in some noticeable improvement in women's social and labour market conditions, it is still far from achieving a complete gender equality. In fact, the development of equal opportunity legislation in Britain over the last couple of decades shows that despite the fomal adoption of new equal opportunity laws, women continue to be disadvantaged in the labour market and in terms of social security. Recent studies have shown that the economic conditions of women in Britain has worsened in relation to men over the last couple of decades. This paper seeks to understand impact of the equal opportunity legislation and family policies in Britain since the 1980s on women's economic and social conditions, and how they may be understood in relation to the idea of “cash and care.”

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During the 1990' s, the government of the Netherlands began to introduce a policy of gradually increasing the employment of women. As a result, since 1994, part-time work has been especially encouraged. Generally, part-time work has been considered less desirable than full-time work for ill treatments. However in November 1996, a new law in the Netherlands was introduced to prohibit discriminative treatment between part-time and full-time workers. The Dutch policy with regard to women' s employment is very much in line with family and gender policy in the EU. This states that, firstly, both men and women employees have family obligations. Secondly, that the primary family obligation such as child care is an unpaid work. This changes the worker model from male 'bread winner' to gender free '1.5earner'. Accordingly, now the most important political target for the Dutch government is a proper combination of paid work and unpaid work, and to allocate these to men and women equally. In short, the aim is that both men and women have equal citizenship. In this context, the emphasis that Dutch employment policy puts on part-time work is helping to build a new and better combination of family and work life.

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Parental leave arrangements are not always gender innovative. Even though both women and men have the equal rights to take this leave, most users are mothers. Women's taking parental leave reproduces inequality in the labour market. What conditions, then, are necessary to make the parental leave policy more gender innovative? This paper consider gender-sensitive scheme of parental leave for men to care for their children, by looking at some experiences in Nordic Countries (Sweden, Denmark and Norway) and European Union. The European experiences show us two basic trends in policy : 1) from “male breadwinner model” to “equal share model”, 2) from “family entitlement” to “individual right on anon-transferable basis”. The nordic experiences suggest four conditions of gender sensitive policy on parental leave : 1) enough length of at least over 6 months, 2) high payment connected with salary, 3) flexibility, and 4) quota. We found also the relevant policies directed to such areas as the innovation of corporate culture, the transformation of father's roles and social supports for fathers as carers. On the top of these policies improving father's involvement in childcare, the positive action for men as workers in childcare sevices seem necessary. We can share the childcare between women and men, as well as between family and states.

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The degree of social acceptability toward intercultural marriage (i.e., Japanese wives and non-Japanese husbands) was examined using the data which was obtained through a survey conducted in 1996. According to the ANOVA (analysis of variance) results, the degree of opposition from the wife's parents is higher in cases where the husband is an Asian than in cases where the husband is a North American, a European, or an Australian. The degree of opposition from the husband's parents is varies depending on his ethnic and religious backgrounds. Judaism has the most strict norm of endogamy which is followed by Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, and atheism. Most of the Muslim, Hindu, and Buddhist husbands are Asians, and the Jewish husbands are North Americans. Majority of Christian and non-religious husbands are North Americans, Europeans, and Australians. The results of the two-way ANOVA show that the degree of opposition from the husband's parents is the highest in cases where the husband is an Asian and not well-educated. In contrast, the degree of opposition from the husband's parents is the lowest in cases where the husband is a North American, European, or Australian, and not well-educated.

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The purpose of this paper is to show new trends in relationships between elderly mothers and their children. I suggest that the changing role of elderly women in the family is a contemporary phenomenon that is occurring among elderly Japanese. Reviewing previous research conducted in the United States, I analyzed the increasing incidence of the negotiation between elderly mothers and their children. In particular, I focused on the ability of elderly women to form close relationships in later life. Additionally, case studies are presented in this paper. Major findings include : (1) elderly women form extensive reciprocal networks with others, including their children, (2) Elderly women form relations with their children to fit their own life style. In summary, the relationships between elderly women and their children show a great level of flexbility. Finally, the meaning of flexible parent-child relations is discussed.

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This study examined a pattern of social support exchange among the elderly and its impact on morale. Questionnaires were given to those aged 65 and over who live in Tokyo. The final sample consisted of 780 elderly respondents. I divided the sample into the four groups based on their family patterns, i.e., whether the elderly had a spouse or child in the same household. Major findings are as follows : (1) In all four groups, emotional support was voluntarily exchanged between the elderly and family, friend and neighbors. (2) Instrumental support and care were mainly exchanged between the elderly and their family members. Consequently, the exchange of instrumental support was reduced as the number of family members decreased. (3) Elderly's own independence had more positive impact on their morale than exchange of support itself. (4) Providing support for a spouse had positive impact on morale for men living with their spouses alone, but had negative impact on morale for women living with their spouses alone. (5) Higher morale was related to reciprocal support exchange with children among men living with both their spouses and children. (6) Among the four groups, the elderly living with their spouses and children reported the highest morale, but their morale declined as they moved to single living.

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The association between childhood family structure and first union formation has been explained by two hypotheses. A socialization hypothesis maintains that those who lived in no-father families in early childhood delay marriage because of insufficient internalization of traditional sex roles and norms. A stress hypothesis argues that the transition to one-parent family and/or stepfamily force children and adolescents out of their families into a premature assumption of adult roles. This study examines these hypotheses using data from National Survey of Families and Households and Cox regression models. Overall, my findings support both hypotheses. Due to interaction effects between family structure variables and birth cohorts, however, the validity of these hypotheses depends on the cohort of sample to be analyzed. The socialization hypothesis accounts for the marital timing of baby boom cohort and cohabitation timing of baby bust cohort. On the other hand, the stress hypothesis accounts for the marital timing of baby boom cohort, and cohabitaton timing of both baby boom and baby bust cohorts. The sources of these interaction effects can be found in the relationships between family structure variables and macro variables such as cohort size and divorce rate.

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