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.

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"Japanese employment practices" and "male bread-winner families" were tightly bound together in 1960's Japan. This bind shall be called "Japan's 1960's System." This social system has been accepted and perpetuated since then. However, it has also been characterized by economic gaps across gender lines and between regular and non-regular employees, and it has resulted in discrimination against female and non-regular employees. Recently, the conditions for the existence of "Japan's 1960's System" have begun to disappear. But, the economic gaps and discrimination described above still exist. This has become a growing problem in Japanese society. I will argue that a return to the rigid "Japan's 1960's System" is not a valid solution to current social problems, but that an effort to establish a new social system built on job-based employment practices and diverse family structures would constitute a better solution. Furthermore, a fundamental part of this approach is the introduction of a job evaluation system based on the pay-equity principle. I will describe where research and development on pay equity have attained feasibility.

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The long-term care insurance system (LTCIS) started in 2000 with under the principle of "care by society," with the intention that society as a whole would support the care work that had been performed by many women as unpaid work within families. Rapid expansion of LTCIS via the quasi-marketization of care provisions under the social insurance scheme also implies progress in the laborization of care work. Such trends can be interpreted as a movement of Japan's social policies breaking away from the male breadwinner model supported by the labor framework consisting of "male, productive, paid work" and "female, reproductive, unpaid work," while the trend implies problematic issues drown from the process of identification of care work as a subject of social and economic assessments. In this article, using the example of home elder care help, it will be shown that visibilization of care work through the LTCIS entails serious issues. These issues lie not only in the economic status of care workers but also in the normative aspect, including the assessment criteria of care work. On that basis, the limitations of the care work value system imposed as the norm by the LTCIS and the future direction of policy for assuring dignity in care work will be discussed.

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The "Child Allowance" established in 2010-2011 was the first universal allowance for children without income testing in Japan. Many contradictions in Child Care Benefits policies established under earlier governments were supposed to be resolved. But the Child Allowance was abolished before its significance could be appreciated. The restoration of income tested benefits accompanied by tax deductions for families with children under the age of sixteen will strengthen gender bias in Japanese society and weaken social solidarity. The policy to counterbalance the child allowance with childcare services under the "straight choice between allowance in kind and allowance in cash" theory would lead to a cutback in budgets for children. The real contradiction exists in the choice between a combination of public nurseries and the universal child allowance based on a tax-financed system, and a policy of quasi-marketized childcare services and childcare vouchers based on childcare insurance. Would Japanese social policy and feminism choose the latter ? However, they should not ignore the significance of universal benefits based on the tax-financed system.

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One of the most important changes that have taken place in European societies since the 1960s and 1970s has been the incorporation of women to paid employment. The industrial economy-pretty much built around male workers has given way to a service economy changing jobs and also workers. These changes in employment together with changes in the role of women has brought about a wide number of tensions and conflicts in modern European societies. This presentation will firstly revise changing dynamics and existing tensions between the participation of women in paid employment and fertility. Secondly, the presentation will look at developments in childcare provision (Early Childhood Education and Care - ECEC) within the frame- work of a proposed paradigm change of welfare states through 'social investment'. The presentation will give an overview of the current academic and political debate around the pros and cons of expanding service provision for small children (that is, children under compulsory school age). Developments in ECEC have certainly been backed up by a vast amount of research that prove, albeit with different emphasis, positive links between investment in ECEC and (1) female labour force participation, (2) fertility dynamics (3) children's opportunities in life and (4) productivity imperatives in the knowledge-based economy. Despite the fact that causal connections are very difficult to identify [Gerda and Andersson, 2008], it truly exists strong empirical evidence on the connections between the labour market participation of women - specially mothers with under school age children - and availability of childcare provision and/or other family-oriented policies [Kamerman and Moss 2009; Boje and Ejnraes 2011]. Family policies oriented towards female employment - such as availability of public childcare - have a positive impact on levels of female employment [Gauthier, 2007] and vice versa. However, there are significant differences between European countries not just in levels of ECEC coverage but on aspects related to the quality of the provision. Furthermore, it is important to look at ECEC development within broader policies for the reconciliation of work and family life, mainly forms of flexible but secured employment and parental leave schemes. The presentation will finally give an overview of the present challenges and dilemmas that European countries face nowadays with expanding ECEC services in the context of strong austerity social and economic programmes that the EU is imposing on member states as a response to the economic crisis.

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The Lehman shock and the triple disaster on March 11, 2011 laid bare Japan's socio-economic vulnerabilities. Yet even before being hit by the Lehman shock, Japanese society was already beset by a host of serious social problems, such as a high rate of suicides (more than 30,000 yearly for over 10 years), one of the world's lowest levels of fertility, and one of the highest, and most deeply gendered, poverty rates among OECD countries. This paper introduces the concept of governance to studies of livelihood security systems, and focuses on income poverty among the faces of vulnerability. After reconsidering the effectiveness of income poverty as an indicator of social inclusion/exclusion, it conducts an international comparison of the effects of various functional equivalents to income transfer schemes, as well as poverty reduction rates of income transfer. It also refers to recent studies on regional economic disparities in Japan. The paper concludes that tax and social security schemes in Japan are not only dysfunctional but "reverse-functional," and are gender-biased in favoring male-breadwinner households over other types of households. Through such gender bias, farming or fishing villages receive cold treatment because almost all able-bodied persons work in the majority of their households.

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A social policy based on the environmental conditions in which eligible persons live is necessary for contemporary Japan. However, such a social policy can result in vertical segregation of gender inequality, as the occupations are divided along gender lines. On other hand, if social policy ignores the existing gender inequality, the formation of partnerships between social policy actors can be hindered. For this reason, there is strong need to construct a social policy oriented to correcting gender inequality as well as fully considering environmental conditions.

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This paper tries to contrast the livelihood security system (hereafter LSS) of Japan with that of Denmark in some crucial aspects, based on the comments I gave regarding Prof. Greve's speech in the Panel Session on 'Care Services as Social Investment; Denmark and Japan' at the 124^<th> Conference of the Society for the Study of Social Policy, held on 27th May 2012. It first clarifies LSS as a theoretical framework, and then presents international comparisons of some aspects of employment performance, situations of redistribution by the government, and governance (total effects) of LSS. In place of concluding remarks, it poses some questions to be further considered and explored.

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This article, focusing on elderly care and taking Japan's experience of LTC policy into consideration, suggests several issues that need to be explored in order to further develop the conceptual framework for social investment. Rough outlines of the performance of LTC in OECD countries, including Denmark and Japan, are given. This is followed by a short historical description of Japan's LTC policy. Then, some problematic issues, which it is necessary to deal with in order to integrate social investment perspectives into elderly care policy, are raised. In addition to pointing out further room to develop explanatory models for variations and changes in social investment strategies, three problematic issues are examined. The first regards indicators for social investment, the second is associated with the different interpretations and meanings attached to the concept of social investment, and the last concerns incorporating the conditions of care work into the analytical and theoretical framework for social investment strategies.

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This article analyses and discusses the options and possibilities of combining work and family life in a universal welfare state, e. g. Denmark. Related to the ability to combine work and family life is the welfare states investment in affordable and high quality day care and a perspective on caring for elderly citizens. The theoretical underpinnings of universal welfare states is given and also the reason why it has been important to ensure and be able to combine work and family life. The article shows how Denmark, Sweden and Finland compare with countries from other and different types of welfare states in Europe with regard to the caring for children, female participation rates and support to the elderly. Support to families in cash is also discussed including the size of the state budget to family policy. Besides presenting central quantitative indicators the article also gives a short historical depiction of especially the development in family policy in Denmark. Finally, the article offers an explanation of how and why it has been possible to develop a comprehensive welfare state in Denmark.

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The main aim of this paper is to investigate the characteristics of the preventive home visits scheme from the perspective of welfare informatization. Denmark legally requires every municipality to offer home visits to all citizens aged 75 or older. I conclude, based on analysis of home visits in the municipalities of Denmark, that this scheme is a comprehensive measure for reaching out to help the elderly to live independent and healthy lives. It is carried out by municipalities as a public responsibility. Secondly, the information collected during the visits is shared with other parties when it is necessary to support the elderly concerned, although it is protected as confidential information. Thirdly, the data on the living conditions of the elderly in the municipality are gathered systematically, and they are put to efficient use so as to adapt the welfare policy in the municipality to the local conditions and needs. Lastly, by dint of the preventive home visits, information accessibility is secured for the elderly, who have difficulties in making use of ICT and social networks, by providing them with useful information about social services and advice on improving their functional abilities.

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