Pregnancy Outcomes of Unmarried Women in Japan (1995–2015): From Abortion to Birth (Population Studies of Japan) 981163548X, 9789811635489

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SPRINGER BRIEFS IN POPULATION STUDIES POPULATION STUDIES OF JAPAN

Yukiko Senda

Pregnancy Outcomes of Unmarried Women in Japan (1995–2015) From Abortion to Birth

SpringerBriefs in Population Studies

Population Studies of Japan Editor-in-Chief Toshihiko Hara, School of Design, Sapporo City University, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan Series Editors Shinji Anzo, Tokyo, Japan Hisakazu Kato, Tokyo, Japan Noriko Tsuya, Tokyo, Japan Toru Suzuki, Tokyo, Japan Kohei Wada, Tokyo, Japan Hisashi Inaba, Tokyo, Japan Minato Nakazawa, Kobe, Japan Jim Raymo, Madison, USA Ryuichi Kaneko, Tokyo, Japan Satomi Kurosu, Chiba, Japan Reiko Hayashi, Tokyo, Japan Hiroshi Kojima, Tokyo, Japan Takashi Inoue, Tokyo, Japan

The world population is expected to expand by 39.4% to 9.6 billion in 2060 (UN World Population Prospects, revised 2010). Meanwhile, Japan is expected to see its population contract by nearly one third to 86.7 million, and its proportion of the elderly (65 years of age and over) will account for no less than 39.9% (National Institute of Population and Social Security Research in Japan, Population Projections for Japan 2012). Japan has entered the post-demographic transitional phase and will be the fastest-shrinking country in the world, followed by former Eastern bloc nations, leading other Asian countries that are experiencing drastic changes. A declining population that is rapidly aging impacts a country’s economic growth, labor market, pensions, taxation, health care, and housing. The social structure and geographical distribution in the country will drastically change, and short-term as well as long-term solutions for economic and social consequences of this trend will be required. This series aims to draw attention to Japan’s entering the post-demographic transition phase and to present cutting-edge research in Japanese population studies. It will include compact monographs under the editorial supervision of the Population Association of Japan (PAJ). The PAJ was established in 1948 and organizes researchers with a wide range of interests in population studies of Japan. The major fields are (1) population structure and aging; (2) migration, urbanization, and distribution; (3) fertility; (4) mortality and morbidity; (5) nuptiality, family, and households; (6) labor force and unemployment; (7) population projection and population policy (including family planning); and (8) historical demography. Since 1978, the PAJ has been publishing the academic journal Jinkogaku Kenkyu (The Journal of Population Studies), in which most of the articles are written in Japanese. Thus, the scope of this series spans the entire field of population issues in Japan, impacts on socioeconomic change, and implications for policy measures. It includes population aging, fertility and family formation, household structures, population health, mortality, human geography and regional population, and comparative studies with other countries. This series will be of great interest to a wide range of researchers in other countries confronting a post-demographic transition stage, demographers, population geographers, sociologists, economists, political scientists, health researchers, and practitioners across a broad spectrum of social sciences.

More information about this subseries at http://www.springer.com/series/13101

Yukiko Senda

Pregnancy Outcomes of Unmarried Women in Japan (1995–2015) From Abortion to Birth

Yukiko Senda Faculty of Liberal Arts Tohoku Gakuin University Tenjinzawa, Izumi-ku, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan

ISSN 2211-3215 ISSN 2211-3223 (electronic) SpringerBriefs in Population Studies ISSN 2198-2724 ISSN 2198-2732 (electronic) Population Studies of Japan ISBN 978-981-16-3548-9 ISBN 978-981-16-3549-6 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-3549-6 © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. The registered company address is: 152 Beach Road, #21-01/04 Gateway East, Singapore 189721, Singapore

Preface

This is my second book in this Population Studies of Japan series. In my first book, Childbearing and Careers of Japanese Women Born in the 1960s: A Life Course That Brought Unintended Low Fertility published in 2015, my main focus was on how women struggle to balance work and family in Japan; after postponing giving birth, some women born in the 1960s passed their childbearing years, while married couples with infants balanced work and family on a knife’s edge. Ultimately, whatever their choices were, almost of all were forced to make considerable compromises in their ways of life because of the Japanese social system, which still favours division of labour according to gender roles. Additionally, through my initial research, I came to realise that the issue of balancing ‘work and pregnancy’ is hidden behind the issue of balancing ‘work and family’, and this trade-off has a more serious impact on the low fertility rate in Japan. I was thus led to the next research question: pregnancy outcomes. Pregnancy outcomes include spontaneous foetal death, artificial foetal death, as well as live births, infant deaths, and no contraception. After pursuing a study on the effects of women’s occupations on the outcomes of pregnancies, I found that unmarried women are choosing birth out of wedlock more often and choosing induced abortion less frequently. This phenomenon can be well elucidated within the scope of the Second Demographic Transition. Although my research has some limitations, I hope this small book helps to introduce the Japanese demographic circumstances to readers. Sendai, Japan

Yukiko Senda

v

Acknowledgements

I would like to express my sincere thanks to all who have supported me. First, I express my deep gratitude to Dr. Kaori Honjo, who let me join her research project (funded by a grant from JPSS, JP17K09109), which gave me the opportunity to pursue this study. With her and Dr. Yuka Suzuki, I undertook cooperative research through the lens of public health using the data analysed in Chapter 7. This process was so informative, and I learned a lot from you both. I am grateful to Dr. Miho Iwasawa, who kindly read my draft and offered crucial suggestions to better position this book in the field of Population Studies in Japan. My thanks to Dr. Sigeto Tanaka, who spared no effort to help me with my study. My sincere appreciation to Ms. Masumi Sada, for her skill in creating figures that clearly represent their intended meaning, and Ms. Tamaki Sato, who meticulously reviewed the English expression of the text. Most importantly, both devoted themselves to pointing out the inconsistencies in my draft. I am also incredibly grateful to the book reviewer for giving me many helpful tips to improve my study. All errors in this book are the responsibility of the author. Chapter 7 is funded by a grant from JPSS, JP17K09109. Finally, I would like to mention the incident that alerted me to the importance of studying the relationship between pregnancy outcomes and women’s occupations. That was my foetus, which was not successfully carried to term.

vii

Contents

1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1 5

2 Trends in Childbearing (1995–2015) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1 Reporting System Regarding Vital Statistics in Japan . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2 Number of Live Births and Women by Age and Fertility Rate (1995–2015) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.3 Age-Specific Population and Marital Status of Women . . . . . . . . . . . 2.4 Trend in Pregnancy Outcomes: Live Births and Spontaneous or Artificial Foetal Death . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

7 7

12 15

3 What Were the Artificial Foetal Deaths Replaced By? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1 Shotgun Marriages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1.1 Changing Attitudes Towards Marriage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1.2 Benefits of Marriage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2 Unmarried Mothers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2.1 Attitudes Towards Unmarried Mothers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2.2 Collective Consciousness Towards Unmarried Mothers . . . . . 3.3 Accelerated Decision-Making on Abortion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.4 Decrease in Likelihood of Conception . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.4.1 Decline in Companionship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.4.2 Decrease in Sexual Activity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.4.3 Contraceptive Measures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.5 Special Adoption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

17 17 18 21 21 21 23 25 27 27 29 31 37 41

4 Facts About Abortions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.1 Women’s Experiences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.2 Women’s Reasons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.3 Women’s Feelings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.4 Women’s Attitudes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

45 46 47 50 50 54

8 9

ix

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Contents

5 Religion and Abortion: Focus on Mizuko Kuyo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.1 Changes in Meaning of Abortion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.2 Mizuko: From Vengeful Being to Source of Comfort . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

55 56 57 61

6 Discourses About Unmarried Mother . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.1 Unmarried Mothers’ Dependence on the Adult Entertainment Business for Livelihood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.2 Cycle of Poverty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.3 Types of Births Outside of Legal Marriages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.4 Opposition to Discrimination Against Children of Extramarital Relationships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.5 Moving Beyond Existing Frameworks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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7 Effects of Occupation and Year on Pregnancy Outcomes of Unmarried Women . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.1 Data and Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.1.1 Constructing Analytical Dataset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.1.2 Occupational Categories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.2 Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.2.1 Trends in the Pregnancy Outcomes in Unmarried Women . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.2.2 Differences by the Occupation of the Expected Mother . . . . 7.2.3 Correlations Between Other Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.2.4 Multinomial Logistic Regression Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.3 Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.3.1 Wage Levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.3.2 Stability of Employment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.3.3 Individual Circumstances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.3.4 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

64 64 64 65 65 68 69 70 70 71 71 71 72 74 74 81 81 86 87 92 97

8 Concluding Remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Chapter 1

Introduction

Abstract Lesthaeghe and van de Kaa’s (1986) notion of the ‘Second Demographic Transition’ was based on the experiences of societies in Western Europe, and its generalisability to other regions has been contentious. Japan, for example, seems to lack the characteristics of ‘rising extra-marital fertility and parenthood within cohabitation’. Nevertheless, it is a fact that pregnancy out of wedlock is not infrequent among women in Japan. Indeed, unmarried women face a choice between induced abortion, getting married to have a legitimate child, single motherhood, and seeking adoption. Recently, more pregnant women have simply chosen to become unwed mothers. This trend is subtle, but evident in official statistics and nationwide surveys. This book strives to capture the reality of this emerging shift in Japanese society, focusing on the period 1995–2015. Keywords Second Demographic Transition (SDT) · Pregnancy outcome · Unmarried mother · Abortion · Women’s occupation The phrase ‘second demographic transition’ (SDT) was coined by Lesthaeghe and van de Kaa (1986) to describe a set of new trends in demographic phenomena in Western Europe since ‘roughly 1960s’ (Lesthaeghe 1991, p. 2) and gave an attractive research frame for population studies. Lesthaeghe (2010) listed five characteristics on fertility change as characteristics of SDT in comparison with the first demographic transition (FDT) that occur in the early stage of modernisation: (a) further decline in fertility via postponement, (b) structural below-replacement fertility, (c) spread of efficient contraception, (d) rising extra-marital fertility and parenthood within cohabitation, (e) rising definitive childlessness in unions. Since the idea of SDT was established on the experiences of societies in Western Europe, its generalisability to other regions has been a controversial issue. For example, in Japan, although highly industrialised, the majority of the people bear their children within marriage (Raymo and Iwasawa 2008) and cohabiting unions may be best viewed as a prelude to marriage rather than as an alternative to marriage or singlehood (Raymo et al. 2013). Japan thus seems to lack the characteristics of (d) in Lesthaeghe’s list. Notwithstanding, it is a fact, even in Japan, that unmarried women’s pregnancies are not small in number. They face a choice among induced abortion (hereafter we © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 Y. Senda, Pregnancy Outcomes of Unmarried Women in Japan (1995–2015), Population Studies of Japan, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-3549-6_1

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1 Introduction

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Fig. 1.1 Trend in total fertility rate and replacement level in Japan (1970–2018). Source Table 4-3 (IPSS 2020)

will basically use just ‘abortion’), getting married to have a legitimate child, bringing up the child as a single mother, and seeking adoption. Recently, more unmarried pregnant women choose to become unwed mothers rather than to have an abortion, to get married, or to seek adoption. This trend is subtle but observable in official statistics. Although there is still a strong tendency towards unplanned pregnancies by unmarried couples terminated by abortion, there is also statistical indication of increasing number of childbirths out of marriages. In the light of SDT research, we can understand this trend of increasing unmarried mothers as a sign of social change in the direction of greater tolerance towards children of extra-marital relationships. This movement does not seem to have had a large effect at least up to now. However, it is worth exploring because it may be part of an as-yet unnoticed change in the fundamentals of the Japanese family system. Although Raymo et al. (2015), for example, assert that the situation in Japan as in other East Asian countries does not meet the conditions presented in Lesthaeghe’s (2010) list (d) in paragraph 1, stating that ‘One of the most distinctive features of fertility in these four East Asian countries is the very low level of nonmarital childbearing’ (p. 476), a subtle but noteworthy rise in extra-marital fertility can be observed and deserves consideration. This book tries to capture the reality of this new trend emerging in Japanese society, focusing on the period between the 1990s and the 2010s, especially from 1995 to 2015. In the 1990s, the Government of Japan recognised the low fertility under the replacement level (Fig. 1.1) as a social problem and introduced policy measures to respond to the matter. Those years were also a period during which public opinion became critical against traditional gender norms and family system. There were also changes in behaviours by unmarried women related to reproduction. Indeed, people’s behaviour has been changing in the past 30 years, as we will see in

1 Introduction

3

the following chapters. Some groups of women, who would have previously chosen to have an abortion, are today choosing to be unwed mothers. In post-war Japan, there has been a tendency for married couples to choose abortion without much hesitation to limit the number of children in their family up to two to three, then considered an ideal number. However, a salient indication was the decline in induced abortions. Since the 1980s, the abortion to birth ratio shows a tendency of two-step decline (Fig. 1.2). The first decrease can be seen between 1982 and 1996: the ratios are 39 and 29%, respectively. Then the decline stagnated for several years. The second decrease was between 2003 and 2016: the ratios are 29 and 17%, respectively. The latest statistic reveals that the abortion to birth ratio of Japan is moderate compared to the rest of the world (Fig. 1.3). Why did abortion decline in both number and its ratio to live births? This book focuses on this phenomenon by examining the factors that contributed to the decrement of abortions, such as changes in collective consciousness towards unwedded mothers, religious beliefs about aborted foetuses and newborns, discourses about unmarried mothers, and changes in women’s occupational environments. There have basically been two approaches in population studies: demographic and sociological. The first focuses on significant demographic changes in a country or region and examines why the changes are profound in some countries or regions 40.0

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AborƟon to birth raƟo in Japan (㸣)

Fig. 1.2 The number of abortions and abortion to birth ratio in Japan (1970–2018). Source Table 4-20 (IPSS 2020)

4

1 Introduction

(%) 80.0 70.0 60.0 50.0 40.0 30.0 20.0 10.0 Cuba(2017) Bulgaria(2017) Sweden(2017) Hungary(2018) Seychelles(2018) Romania(2017) France(2016) Armenia(2017) Denmark(2015) Ukraine(2017) U.K.(2016) Iceland(2016) Belarus(2017) Spain(2017) New Zealand(2017) Kazakhstan(2017) Mongolia(2018) Latvia(2018) Finland(2017) Portugal(2017) Italy(2017) Japan(2018) Singapore(2017) Czechia(2018) Hong Kong 1)(2018) Slovakia(2017) Dominican Republic(2017) Germany(2017) Lithuania(2018) Kyrgyzstan(2018) Costa Rica(2014) Israel(2016) CroaƟa(2017) Poland(2017) Mexico(2017)

0.0

Fig. 1.3 Abortion rate in major countries: Latest annual. Source Table 4-22 (IPSS 2020) Note 1 refers to “Special Administrative Region” (Hong Kong)

but rarely observed in others. The second clarifies the aspects of real life of people during that transition. This book adopts the latter. By assessing various elements of people’s lives that constitute changes in demographics, no matter how small those changes may be, we may assemble those aspects of SDT in Japan like a puzzle to form the complete picture. This book aims to be also a piece of that puzzle. The contents of this book are as follows. Chapter 2 is an attempt to determine the factors that led to the recent increase in unmarried mothers through examination of the national statistics from certain aspects. The results led the author to presume that the decline in abortion among unmarried women had contributed to the increase of unwed mothers. Chapter 3 aimed to discover the factors behind the decrement of abortions by reviewing nationwide surveys from a number of viewpoints. It was suggested that the following may have brought about the change: (a) collective consciousness towards unmarried women becoming more tolerant, (b) decline of sexual activity in the over 25 age groups, and (c) easier accessibility of birth control pills and emergency contraceptive (‘morning after’) pills. In Chap. 4, nationwide surveys were used to study the reality of the experience about abortion, how the women felt about it, and how the general attitude towards abortion changed and so on during the years of mainly 2002–2016. Throughout the period, the most common reason given for the decision to terminate a pregnancy was not being married, and guilt was the feeling most experienced by those who opted for abortion. Tolerance for abortion stayed the same or increased in inverse proportion to the drop in abortion experience rate, demonstrating contradiction in people’s attitude and behaviour.

1 Introduction

5

In Chap. 5, preceding studies on mizuko kuyo were examined to reveal the possibility that abortion came to be avoided due to the spread of the idea that the act was equal to murder, supported by fetocentrism, the notion of foetus as human, which pervaded society from the 1970s up to the present. Chapter 6 classified books on unmarried mothers into roughly three different categories and presented a general description of each. After an overview of those existing literature, it was suggested that people would hardly be influenced by such books to become unmarried mothers, except for those who may be ideologically influenced for their stance against the marriage system and discrimination against children of extra-marital relationships. Even then, very few of them would actually choose the life of an unwed mother. Therefore, increased tolerance for unmarried mothers, it was concluded, came from knowing an unmarried mother personally. In Chap. 7, the author analysed data from national statistics and showed that the type of occupation an unmarried woman had affected her decision on whether to have a shotgun marriage or an abortion or an unwed mother when she became pregnant, and that how much influence it had may vary depending on the year. It was also observed that unwed mothers could be divided into three different groups: highincome workers with stable incomes, low-income workers with unstable incomes, and low-income workers with stable incomes. Chap. 8 is the conclusion and discussion of the points already given. It was concluded that today’s unmarried mothers include economically independent mother–child households and their presence shows evidence that SDT is taking place in Japan as well, in a subtle but significant way.

References Lesthaeghe, Ron. 1991. The Second Demographic Transition in Western Countries: An Interpretation. IPO-Working Paper 1991-2. Brussel: Centrum Sociologie, Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Lesthaeghe, Ron. 2010. The Unfolding Story of the Second Demographic Transition. Population and Development Review 36 (2): 211–251. Lesthaeghe, Ron, and Dick J. van de Kaa. 1986. Twee demografische transities? (Two Demographic Transitions?) (in Dutch). In Bevolking: groei en krimp, ed. R. Lesthaeghe and D.J. van de Kaa, 9–24. Mens en Maatschappij book supplement. Deventer: VanLoghum-Slaterus. National Institute of Population and Social Security Research (IPSS) (Kokuritsu Shakai Hosho Jinko Mondai Kenkyujo). 2020. 2020nendo Jinko Tokei Shiryosyu (in Japanese). http://www. ipss.go.jp/syoushika/tohkei/Popular/Popular2020.asp?chap=0. Accessed 27 February 2021. Raymo, James M., and Miho Iwasawa. 2008. Bridal Pregnancy and Spouse Pairing Patterns in Japan. Journal of Marriage and Family 70 (4): 847–860. Raymo, James M., Setsuya Fukuda, and Miho Iwasawa. 2013. Educational Differences in Divorce in Japan. Demographic Research 28 (6): 177–206. Raymo, James M., Hyunjoon Park, Yu Xie, and Wei-jun J. Yeung. 2015. Marriage and Family in East Asia: Continuity and Change. Annual Review of Sociology 41: 471–492.

Chapter 2

Trends in Childbearing (1995–2015)

Abstract This chapter strives to determine the factors that led to the recent increase in unmarried mothers by examining the national statistics (i.e. the Report of Vital Statistics: Occupational and Industrial Aspects from FYs 1995, 2000, 2005, 2010, and 2015). The increased percentage of live births during this time frame was more strongly influenced by the decrease in artificial rather than spontaneous foetal deaths. In addition, unmarried women, compared to married ones, were expected to contribute to the decline in artificial foetal deaths and the trend of increased live births. Keywords Vital Statistic · Fertility rate · Live birth · Abortion · Marital status

2.1 Reporting System Regarding Vital Statistics in Japan In this chapter, we confirm the trends in childbearing from 1995 and 2015 in Japan. Information provided in this chapter is mainly based on Vital Statistics, compiled by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (hereafter, MHLW). In Japan, people register marriage, divorce, birth, and death. For example, outcomes of pregnancies over 12 weeks are reported to municipalities as live birth or stillbirth by mothers, their spouses, or persons responsible for medical certification. These reports are registered at municipalities and records are sent to prefectures via public health centres. Prefectures aggregate these reports and send them to the MHLW. These figures, as well as those on deaths, marriages, and divorces, are a part of the Vital Statistics.

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 Y. Senda, Pregnancy Outcomes of Unmarried Women in Japan (1995–2015), Population Studies of Japan, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-3549-6_2

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2 Trends in Childbearing (1995–2015)

Every five years, when the last digit of the financial year is either 0 or 5, those who report a birth, death, stillbirth, marriage, or divorce are required to report their occupation.1 These data are utilised to create the Report of Vital Statistics: Occupational and Industrial Aspects. In this book, data from the Report of Vital Statistics: Occupational and Industrial Aspects from financial years2 1995, 2000, 2005, 2010, and 2015 (latest) were analysed to describe trends in women’s fertility behaviours over these past 20 years.

2.2 Number of Live Births and Women by Age and Fertility Rate (1995–2015) In 1995, the fertility rate by age of mother was the highest (at about 116‰) among those aged 25–29, who comprised the 1966–1970 birth cohort (Fig. 2.1a). The second-highest rate was around 95‰, among those aged 30–34. This 21-points difference was large. The fertility rate of women aged 20–24 (1971–1975 birth cohort) was roughly 40‰, which was higher than that of those aged 35–39 (1956–1960 birth cohort; rate of approximately 26‰). The population of those aged 25–29 was larger than that of women aged 30–34 (1961–1965 birth cohort), and it was smaller than that of those aged 20–24. Similarly, in 2000, the fertility rate by age of mother was the highest among those aged 25–29, who belonged to the 1971–1975 birth cohort (Fig. 2.1b). However, the value was about 100‰, which was lower by 16 points compared to 1995 and much closer to the value observed for those aged 30–34 (1966–1970 birth cohort; rate of approximately 94‰). In 2000, the difference between these two age groups was only 6 points. The fertility rate of women aged 20–24 (1976–1980 birth cohort) was roughly 40‰, which was higher than that of those aged 35–39 (1961–1965 birth cohort; approximately 32‰). Those aged 25–29 in 2000 belonged to the second baby boomer generation. When they reached a suitable age for childbearing, which was 25–29 years in Japan at that time, not a few postponed childbearing. However, it is important to note that they constituted the largest population in 2000, and the number of births itself did not decrease substantially. In 2005, the fertility rate by age of those aged 25–29 (1976–1980 birth cohort) declined to about 85‰ (Fig. 2.1c). It was almost equal to that of those aged 30–34 (1971–1975 birth cohort; rate of approximately 86‰). The total number of live births decreased because of the small population of those aged 25–29. Further, while the overall fertility rate decreased substantially during this period, that for women aged 35–39 (1966–1970 birth cohort) increased to 36‰, which was nearly equal to that of those aged 20–24 (1981–1985 birth cohort; rate of approximately 37‰). A marked change in the trend was observed in 2010, in that those aged 30– 34 (1976–1980 birth cohort) exhibited the highest fertility rate by age of mother 1 2

In case of death, the industry one worked in is also required. In Japan, a financial year begins in April and ends in March of the next year.

2.2 Number of Live Births and Women by Age …

9

(Fig. 2.1d), with a rate of about 95‰. The fertility rates for those aged 25–29 (1981– 1985 birth cohort; rate of approximately 87‰) and 20–24 (1986–1990 birth cohort; rate of approximately 36‰) were almost the same as those observed in 2005. In contrast, the fertility rate by age of mother increased to about 46 ‰ among those aged 35–39 (1971–1975 birth cohort). The population of those aged 35–39 was the largest in 2010, and owing to the increase in live births in this age group, the total number of live births in 2010 was almost equal to that in 2005. Again, in 2015, the fertility rate was the highest among those aged 30–34 (1981– 1985 birth cohort) (Fig. 2.1e). Specifically, the value was 103‰, which was 8 points higher than that observed in 2010 (95‰) among those aged 30–34. Therefore, a sharp upward slope was observed when comparing the rates for the age groups of those aged 25–29 (1986–1990 birth cohort; rate of approximately 85‰) and those aged 35–39 (1976–1980 birth cohort; rate of approximately 56‰). The fertility rate of women aged 20–24 (1991–1995 birth cohort) decreased to around 29‰. Evidently, the trend observed in 2015 differed from that observed in 2010. The peak of fertility rate appeared in those aged 30–34. Further, the total number of live births decreased in 2015, possibly because the population of women aged 25–39 also substantially decreased.

2.3 Age-Specific Population and Marital Status of Women Figure 2.2 presents the age-specific population and marital status of women. The average age at first birth was 27.5 years old in 1995, while it was 30.7 years old in 2015. Therefore, we will focus on the trend for those aged 25–29 and those aged 30–34. Along with the increase in the population of women aged 25–29 from 1995 to 2000, there was also a significant increase in the rate of unmarried women of that age during this period. This means a high increasing rate of unmarried women among those aged 25–29. Further, the population of women aged 25–29 began to decrease in 2005. The same phenomenon was observed for those aged 30–34, which showed a decrease in the number of married females in 2005 compared to 1995. Consequently, when the average age at first birth passed 30 years old in 2010, there was a marginal increase in the number of births. Iwasawa (2015) reported that a 90% decline in total fertility rate (TFR) from 2.01 in the late 1950s to 1.38 in 2012 could be attributed to the increasing tendency to stay single until a later age. This suggests that behaviour of unmarried people is the key for understanding the current fertility changes in Japan. However, staying single until a later age does not directly mean they remain childless. We can observe steady increase of unwed mothers though they are still minority (Figs. 2.2 and 2.3). Figure 2.3 presents the number of children born out of wedlock and the percentage of these children per live births. Here, ‘out of wedlock’ means that the mother is not legally married at the time of the child’s birth. Unfortunately, the Vital Statistics data

10

2 Trends in Childbearing (1995–2015)

6,000,000 5,000,000 4,000,000 3,000,000 2,000,000 1,000,000 0

120 100 80 60 40 20 0

6,000,000 5,000,000 4,000,000 3,000,000 2,000,000 1,000,000 0

120 100 80 60 40 20 0 15-19 20-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44 45-49 y/o y/o y/o y/o y/o y/o y/o

15-19 20-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44 45-49 y/o y/o y/o y/o y/o y/o y/o Female Population

Female Population

Number of Births

Number of Births

Age Specific Fertility Rate (‰)

Age Specific Fertility Rate (‰)

(a) 1995

(b) 2000 120 100 80 60 40 20 0

6,000,000 5,000,000 4,000,000 3,000,000 2,000,000 1,000,000 0 15-19 20-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44 45-49 y/o y/o y/o y/o y/o y/o y/o

6,000,000 5,000,000 4,000,000 3,000,000 2,000,000 1,000,000 0

120 100 80 60 40 20 0 15-19 20-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44 45-49 y/o y/o y/o y/o y/o y/o y/o

Female Population

Female Population

Number of Births

Number of Births

Age Specific Fertility Rate (‰)

Age Specific Fertility Rate (‰)

(c) 2005

(d) 2010

6,000,000 5,000,000 4,000,000 3,000,000 2,000,000 1,000,000 0

120 100 80 60 40 20 0 15-19 20-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44 45-49 y/o y/o y/o y/o y/o y/o y/o Female Population Number of Births Age Specific Fertility Rate (‰)

(e) 2015 Fig. 2.1 Number of live births and women by age, and fertility rate by age (1995–2015). Data Source: Vital Statistics (2018a) Table 4-6; Vital Statistics (2018b) Table 3

used in this figure do not identify if one cohabitates with her partner,3 lives alone, or lives a communal life, and so on. Nevertheless, it is evident that the number live births out of wedlock and their percentage showed an increasing trend over this 20-year time frame. This finding is against the traditional view on the sexual behaviours of unmarried women that assume they do not affect childbearing trend because they rarely have live births (Sato 2019). 3

Iwasawa (2017) revealed that 29.8% of the children born out of wedlock lived with their father when the children were six months old.

2.3 Age-Specific Population and Marital Status of Women

11

6,000,000

5,000,000

4,000,000

Unknown 3,000,000 Separated Widowed

2,000,000

Married 1,000,000

Single

15-19 y/o

20-24 y/o

25-29 y/o

30-34 y/o

35-39 y/o

40-44 y/o

2015

2010

2005

2000

1995

2015

2010

2005

2000

1995

2015

2010

2005

2000

1995

2015

2010

2005

2000

1995

2015

2010

2005

2000

1995

2015

2010

2005

2000

1995

2015

2010

2005

2000

1995

0

45-50 y/o

Fig. 2.2 Age-specific population and marital status of women (1995–2015). Data Source Table 00701 (MIC 1995 National Census); Table 00601 (MIC 2000 National Census); Table 00520 (MIC 2005 National Census); Table 00520 (MIC 2010 National Census); Table 00520 (MIC 2015 National Census) 25,000

2.50

20,000

2.00

15,000

1.50

10,000

1.00

5,000

0.50

0

0.00 1995

2000

2005 Number

2010

2015

Rate(%)

Fig. 2.3 Number of children born out of wedlock and percentage per live birth (1995–2015). Source Table 4-18 (IPSS 2020)

Then, what led to the increase in the number of live births for children born out marriage?

12

2 Trends in Childbearing (1995–2015)

2.4 Trend in Pregnancy Outcomes: Live Births and Spontaneous or Artificial Foetal Death Figure 2.4 presents the trend in outcomes of pregnancies over 12 weeks from FY 1995 to FY 2015. The number of pregnancies remained stable at around 1.2 million per year between 1995 and 2000, then it declined to 1.1 million between 2005 and 2010, and again down to 1 million in 2015 (Fig. 2.4b). We further analysed the data by translating the actual numbers of live births, spontaneous foetal deaths and artificial foetal deaths over 12 weeks into percentage. From Fig. 2.4a we may see that the proportions of spontaneous and foetal deaths are decreasing. By contrast, the proportion of live births continues to increase, while the actual number of births is on the decline (Fig. 2.4b). The increase in the percentage of live births was more strongly influenced by the decrease of artificial rather than spontaneous foetal deaths. In addition, as evident from Figs. 2.5 and 2.6, unmarried women may contribute to the decline in artificial foetal deaths and the increasing trend in live births. In the next chapter, we investigate what replaced artificial foetal death by confirming the trends of alternatives such as shotgun marriages, unwed mothers, special adoption, and so on, utilising national statistics and the results of nationwide surveys.

2.4 Trend in Pregnancy Outcomes: Live Births …

13

100.0% 99.0% 98.0% 97.0% 96.0% 95.0% 94.0% 93.0% 92.0% 91.0% 90.0% 1995

2000 Birth

2005

Spontaneous AborƟon

2010

2015

ArƟficial AborƟon

(a) Percentage: 90–100% 1,400,000 1,200,000 1,000,000 800,000 600,000 400,000 200,000 0 1995

2000 Birth

2005

Spontaneous AborƟon

2010

2015

ArƟficial AborƟon

(b) Actual Number Fig. 2.4 Outcomes of pregnancies over 12 weeks (1995–2015). Data Source: Report of Vital Statistics: Occupational and Industrial Aspects (FY 1995, FY 2000, FY 2005, FY 2010, FY 2015) (Calculated by the Author; see Chap. 7)

14

2 Trends in Childbearing (1995–2015)

100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 1995

2000 Birth

2005

Spontaneous AborƟon

2010

2015

ArƟficial AborƟon

(a) Percentage 40,000 35,000 30,000 25,000 20,000 15,000 10,000 5,000 0 1995

2000 Birth

2005

Spontaneous AborƟon

2010

2015

ArƟficial AborƟon

(b) Actual Number Fig. 2.5 Pregnancy outcomes: Illegitimate children (1995–2015). Data Source: Report of Vital Statistics: Occupational and Industrial Aspects (FY 1995, FY 2000, FY 2005, FY 2010, FY 2015) (Calculated by the Author; see Chap. 7)

2.4 Trend in Pregnancy Outcomes: Live Births …

15

100% 99% 98% 97% 96% 95% 94% 93% 92% 91% 90% 1995

2000 Birth

2005

Spontaneous AborƟon

2010

2015

ArƟficial AborƟon

(a) Percentage: 90–100% 1,200,000 1,000,000 800,000 600,000 400,000 200,000 0 1995

(b) Actual Number

2000 Birth

2005

Spontaneous AborƟon

2010

2015

ArƟficial AborƟon

Fig. 2.6 Pregnancy outcomes: legitimate child (1995–2015). Data Source: Report of Vital Statistics: Occupational and Industrial Aspects (FY 1995, FY 2000, FY 2005, FY 2010, FY 2015) (Calculated by the Author; see Chap. 7)

References Iwasawa, Miho. 2015. Shoshika-wo motarashita mikonka oyobi fufu-no henka (in Japanese). In Jinko Gensyo-to Syoshika Taisaku, ed. Shigesato Takahashi, Hiroshi Ohbuchi, 49–72. Tokyo: Hara Shobo. Iwasawa, Miho. 2017. 2000nendai–no Nihon–ni okeru kongaishi: Chichi-oya–tono do-bekkyo, shakai-keizai-teki jyokyo–to sono tayosei (in Japanese). Jinkogaku Kenkyu (Journal of Population Studies) 53: 47–61. Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW). 2018a. Vital Statistics (in Japanese). https:// www.e-stat.go.jp/dbview?sid=0003411599. Accessed 27 February 2021.

16

2 Trends in Childbearing (1995–2015)

Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW). 2018b. Vital Statistics (in Japanese). https:// www.e-stat.go.jp/dbview?sid=0003411883. Accessed 27 February 2021. Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC). 2007a. Heisei 17 nen Kokusei Chosa (2005 National Census) (in Japanese). https://www.e-stat.go.jp/dbview?sid=0000033705. Accessed 27 February 2021. Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC). 2007b. Heisei 7 nen Kokusei Chosa (1995 National Census) (in Japanese). https://www.e-stat.go.jp/dbview?sid=0000032110. Accessed 27 February 2021. Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC). 2007c. Heisei 12 nen Kokusei Chosa (2000 National Census) (in Japanese). https://www.e-stat.go.jp/dbview?sid=0000032879. Accessed 27 February 2021. Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC). 2011. Heisei 22 nen Kokusei Chosa (2010 National Census) (in Japanese). https://www.e-stat.go.jp/dbview?sid=0003038593. Accessed 27 February 2021. Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC). 2016. Heisei 27 nen Kokusei Chosa (2015 National Census) (in Japanese). https://www.e-stat.go.jp/dbview?sid=0003148541. Accessed 27 February 2021. National Institute of Population and Social Security Research (IPSS) (Kokuritsu Shakai Hosho Jinko Mondai Kenkyusho). 2020. 2020nendo Jinko Tokei Shiryoshu (in Japanese). http://www. ipss.go.jp/syoushika/tohkei/Popular/Popular2020.asp?chap=0. Accessed 27 February 2021. Sato, Ryuzaburo. 2019. Shoshika-to sekusyuariti: Nihonjin-no seikoudou-ha donoyo-ni kawattanoka (in Japanese). Chuo Daigaku Keizai Kenkyujyo Nenpo (The Annual of the Institute of Economic Research, Chuo University) 51: 109–133.

Chapter 3

What Were the Artificial Foetal Deaths Replaced By?

Abstract There are no data that can directly answer the research question, ‘What were the artificial foetal deaths replaced by from 1995 to 2015 in Japan?’ Hence, in this chapter, the author sought to uncover what personal choices may have risen as an alternative to artificial foetal deaths during these years. Shotgun marriages have replaced the latter to some extent; however, they have decreased since 2005. Increased sexual inactivity and use of contraceptive measures can be assumed to have some effect on the decrease in artificial foetal deaths among women in their 20s. Special adoptions have remained few until now, and it is impossible to deny that an increase in unwed motherhood may function to decrease artificial foetal deaths. Keywords Shotgun marriage · Unmarried mother · Abortion · Sexual Inactivity · Contraception

3.1 Shotgun Marriages The problems of pregnancies occurring before marriage are closely related to the problems whether they lead to marriages. Marriage due to unintended pregnancy is often referred to with the term ‘shotgun marriage’. Some researchers adopt ‘bridal pregnancy’ (Raymo and Iwasawa 2008) or ‘marriage preceded by pregnancy’ (Iwasawa and Kamata 2013) to indicate the same phenomena. Hertog and Iwasawa (2011) foresaw one scenario for recent Japan in which shotgun marriages––where you are going to have children you have to get married––become consolidated. However, Iwasawa (2013) concluded the increase of marriage preceded by pregnancy was not caused by the increase of its first-marriage hazard but by a decline in conventional types of marriages such as arranged marriages and marriages through the workplace. Figure 3.1 supports that shotgun marriage increased between 1995 and 2005, however, after that, it decreased in both the ratio among marriages and the actual number.

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 Y. Senda, Pregnancy Outcomes of Unmarried Women in Japan (1995–2015), Population Studies of Japan, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-3549-6_3

17

18

3 What Were the Artificial Foetal …

100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 1995

2000 Shotgun Marriage

2005

2010

2015

Marriage -> Pregnancy

(a) Percentage 1,400,000 1,200,000 1,000,000 800,000 600,000 400,000 200,000 0 1995

2000 Shotgun Marriage

2005

2010

2015

Marriage -> Pregnancy

(b) Actual number Fig. 3.1 Marriage type by order of ‘marriage’ and ‘pregnancy’ (1995–2015). Data Source: Report of Vital Statistics: Occupational and Industrial Aspects (FY 1995, FY 2000, FY 2005, FY 2010, FY 2015) (Calculated by the Author; see Chap. 7)

3.1.1 Changing Attitudes Towards Marriage The Japanese National Fertility Survey has been conducted by IPSS every five years to investigate facts and national awareness of marriage and childbirth. The results

3.1 Shotgun Marriages

19

of the surveys show a gradual change in attitudes towards marriage in the 1990s. In 1992, the majority of female respondents supported somewhat conservative views on premarital sex (‘Prenuptial sexual activity is no problem’ (against)) (Fig. 3.2). However, its acceptance increased in 1997. While unmarried women held slightly more conservative views on premarital sex than married women in 2015, most people today are essentially unconcerned with the practice. In other words, people’s attitudes towards premarital sex became more tolerant from 1995 to 2015. The survey results also demonstrate that the idea that cohabiting couples should be married (‘People who live together should get married’) was more strongly supported than the other items (70% in 2015 among both singles and married people). In 1992, this was supported more by married people than by unmarried people. In 1997, support for this notion among unmarried women dropped dramatically but then increased in every subsequent survey. Support dropped among married women in 1997 and continued to fall, despite some yearly variation (Fig. 3.2). The survey results indicate that the idea that married people should have children was strongly supported. This idea was always supported slightly more by married women than unmarried people until 2010. In 1992, nearly 90% of both unmarried and married women supported this notion; however, the ratio of support suddenly dropped in 1997 among both unmarried and married women. In 2015, the support for this idea turned out to be nearly equal but slightly higher among single women than married women. In other words, just below 70% of both married and unmarried people supported the idea that ‘the purpose of marriage is to have children’. Regarding other items, support for the notion that ‘it is natural to sacrifice yourself in a marriage.’ was lower among unmarried people in 1992, but there was no difference between the two groups in terms of their support in the subsequent years, which was trending higher. A higher number of married than unmarried people endorsed the statement ‘divorce should be avoided.’ in 1992, but their support had fallen by 1997. After 2002, more unmarried people supported this item. In 1992, unmarried people showed themselves to be more conservative by endorsing the idea that ‘after marriage, men should go out to work and women should stay home’. However, this was only the case in that year. There was little difference between the two groups for this item in subsequent years. Only 30% of the respondents still support this notion. Support for the notion that ‘even if you are married, you should have your own goals.’ fell quicker among unmarried people. It should be noted that this idea is problematic for almost no one today. A new item, ‘It is fine to have children without being married.’ was added to a questionnaire in 2010. Singles showed a slightly more conservative attitude regarding this idea than married women. More than 60% of unmarried women were against this idea, while less than 60% of married women were against this idea.

Married people should It is natural to sacrifice PrenupƟal sexual have children. yourself in a marriage. acƟvity is no problem (against).

People who live together should get married.

Divorce should be avoided.

It is fine to have AŌer marriage, men Even if you are children without being should go out to work married, you should married (against). and women should have your own goals stay home. (against).

Married/FiŌeenth(2015)

Married/Fourteenth(2010)

Married/Thirteenth(2005)

Married/Twelveth(2002)

Married/Eleventh(1997)

Married/Tenth(1992)

Singles/FiŌeenth(2015)

Singles/Fourteenth(2010)

Singles/Thirteenth(2005)

Singles/Twelveth(2002)

Singles/Eleventh(1997)

Fig. 3.2 Supports for traditional idea on family and marriage: Comparison between single women and married women (1992–2015). Source Chart 6-1 (IPSS 2012), Chart III-3-2, III-3-4 (IPSS 2017)

0.0

10.0

20.0

30.0

40.0

50.0

60.0

70.0

80.0

90.0

100.0

Singles/Tenth(1992)

20 3 What Were the Artificial Foetal …

3.1 Shotgun Marriages

21

3.1.2 Benefits of Marriage Figure 3.3 shows the benefits of marriage as perceived by unmarried women (Fig. 3.3a) and men (Fig. 3.3b). Several changes in these perceived benefits were recorded between 1987 and 2015. Until 2005, the biggest benefit of marriage for unmarried men was peace of mind (‘You can have a place where you can relax’). Since 2010, the most significant benefit for them became ‘being able to have children’ (‘You can have children and a family’), which was selected by about 36% of unmarried men in 2015. As for unmarried women, until 2002, they chose both these two items within the range from 30 to 40%. However, since 2005, more unmarried women than before admitted that ‘being able to have children’ was the benefit of marriage and half of them endorsed that idea in 2015 while the support for peace of mind fell below 30%. Put simply, marriage has become centred on having children for both unmarried women and unmarried men. The importance of ‘peace of mind’ has declined among both men and women and was chosen by approximately 30% of people from both groups in 2015. ‘Fulfilling the expectations of parents and others’ (‘You can live up to the expectations of your parents and people around you’) displayed a U-shaped trend for both men and women, being chosen by 22% of women and 16% of men in 2015. The perceived benefit of ‘having financial security’ (‘You can have an economic cushion’) rose consistently for women and did among men in 2015––the year in which it was selected by 20% of women and 6% of men (Fig. 3.3).

3.2 Unmarried Mothers 3.2.1 Attitudes Towards Unmarried Mothers In the Japanese National Fertility Survey conducted by IPSS, the notion that it is fine to have children without being married was supported by fewer people than any other item; 60% of people rejected the idea in 2015 (Fig. 3.2). This was more so the case among unmarried respondents. In other words, the respondents are not of the mindset to recommend unmarried parenthood to others. We can confirm that people hold a negative attitude towards childbirth out of marriage from another survey; people’s responses when asked under what circumstances is abortion acceptable (Fig. 3.4). According to the National Survey on Family Planning (Mainichi Newspapers; Mainichi Newspapers Population Problems Research Council 2005), from 1996 to 1998, there was a trend relatively against abortion due to ‘failed contraceptive measures’. 40% of respondents agree this reason for abortion (Fig. 3.4). ‘Poverty’ was recognised as an acceptable reason by just under 70% of respondents. Abortion because one is ‘unmarried or unable to marry’ tended to be accepted by more married respondents, but around 75% of unmarried people also agreed in 1998. Among the

22

3 What Were the Artificial Foetal …

60.0 Ninth(1987) Tenth(1992)

50.0

Eleventh(1997) Twelveth(2002)

40.0

Thirteenth(2005) Fourteenth(2010) 30.0 Fieenth(2015) 20.0

10.0

0.0 You can have You can have You can live You can live You can You can have Life will You can You can have children and a a place where up to the with a person obtain social an economic become more become sexual family. you can expectaons that you love. standing or cushion. convenient. independent sasfacon. mentally of your equivalent from your relax. parents and relaonships. parents. people around you.

(a) Female

60.0 Ninth(1987) Tenth(1992)

50.0

Eleventh(1997) Twelveth(2002)

40.0

Thirteenth(2005) Fourteenth(2010) 30.0 Fieenth(2015) 20.0

10.0

0.0 You can have You can have You can live You can live children and a a place where up to the with a person expectaons that you love. family. you can of your mentally parents and relax. people around you.

You can have You can have Life will You can You can sexual obtain social an economic become more become cushion. convenient. independent sasfacon. standing or from your equivalent parents. relaonships.

(b) Male Fig. 3.3 ‘Yes’ rate of ‘Do you regard each item as a merit of marriage?’ among single persons (1987–2015): 0–60%. Source Chart I-1-6 (IPSS 2017)

3.2 Unmarried Mothers

23

23rd(1996)

24th(1998)

23rd(1996)

Single

Unmarried or unable to get married

Poverty

ContracepƟon failure

Unmarried or unable to get married

Poverty

ContracepƟon failure

Unmarried or unable to get married

Poverty

ContracepƟon failure

Unmarried or unable to get married

Poverty

ContracepƟon failure

100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0%

24th(1998) Married

No

N.A.

Yes

Fig. 3.4 Trends in answers of single women and married women on ‘Do you accept each item as a reason to abort? Yes/No’ (1996–1998). Source Question 42 (a) (Single women); Question 28 (a) (Married women) in Mainichi Newspapers Population Problems Research Council (2005)

various circumstances listed, both married and unmarried respondents considered ‘being unmarried or unable to marry’ to be the most acceptable reason for seeking an abortion. In 2000, perhaps due to a change in the question format, there was a sudden decrease in the percentages of people who supported abortion associated with ‘failed contraceptive measures’ or being ‘unmarried or unable to marry’ (Fig. 3.5). However, the tendency of respondents to support abortion when one is ‘unmarried or unable to marry’ more than other possible reasons remains unchanged.

3.2.2 Collective Consciousness Towards Unmarried Mothers There had also been a change in mass media contents. Since the 2000s, the media has started to build a new image of unmarried mothers. A good example would be the case of an NHK (the Japanese public broadcast corporation) drama series aired from April to September, 2000, in which the protagonist was an unwed mother. The NHK drama series is a TV programme that began in 1961 targeting housewives as its main viewer. For long, it has been known to portray a woman’s life as she matured through the ages, such as life stories of women who had lived through the war, or the experiences of women who built their careers in a man’s world. However, with the turn of the century, the programme departed from that policy, depicting ‘the average woman’ (NHK, n.d.). In the drama ‘Watashi-no Aozora (My Blue Sky)’, an

24

3 What Were the Artificial Foetal … (%) 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 ContracepƟon failure

Poverty

Single

Unmarried or unable to get married

N.A.

Married

Fig. 3.5 Trends in answers of single women and married women on ‘Please choose the items you accept as a reason to abort’ (2000): 0–60%. Source Question 42 (b) (Single women); Question 28 (b) (Married women) in Mainichi Newspapers Population Problems Research Council (2005)

unmarried mother and her child were shown living their lives with the warm support of those around them and growing as an individual (NHK 2002a).1 Had it been the 1980s, it would not have been possible to put such a character in the centre of the story. Editors of the weekly Josei-Jishin (‘The Woman Herself’) (1989) published an article with the following lead: ‘(As the circumstances surrounding the man did not allow her to marry him,) there was no way the love affair could have a happy ending. Precisely because of her true feelings for him, she decided to have the baby without telling him, and in that way she was expressing the “ultimate love” of expecting nothing in return’ (words in parentheses added by author). The article was about popular actress Ayako Sawada, who had given birth and become an unmarried mother while out of public view. It was emphasised that Sawada had made the decision with resolute determination, and fervent speculation was made over who the father was. Wagatsuma (2020) later describes the public sentiment of the time as follows: ‘In Ayako Sawada’s case, the people seemed to be in synchronization with the mass media as it pursued the identity of the biological father. They were enjoying it’. Later in 2000, when rock singer Kumiko Yamashita announced the pregnancy on her fan club website while unwed, the media suspected a business associate to be the father of the children. When Yamashita denied that and told the press that the father was a long-time friend whose identity she would not disclose, the 1

This story was the first of the NHK drama series to have a sequel produced (‘Watashi-no Aozora 2002’ NHK [2002b]). While the original was aired in the daytime slots of morning and noon, the sequel was broadcast from 9 p.m., aiming at a larger viewership.

3.2 Unmarried Mothers

25

excitement de-escalated. However, since she had delivered the premature twins, the media proceeded to interview Yamashita and splashed sentimental comments of ‘concern’ for the babies’ health over the papers. Yamashita (2002) recalls, ‘I did not feel comfortable (about the experience). I wish they had just left me alone’ (p. 231, words in parentheses added by author). Still, in Yamashita’s case, the media did not focus their attention very much on the fact that she was unmarried and a mother or her decision to conceal the identity of the biological father. Such matters might be no longer an issue. It is possible that ‘Watashi-no Aozora’, broadcast from April to September, 2000, had had some effect in changing people’s views on the matter and facilitated them to be more accepting of Yamashita’s decision, the delivery having been in late November that same year. Then, in July, 2013, figure skater Miki Ando announced during a television newscast that she had given birth six months earlier, which ‘gave the impression that being an unmarried mother was a socially acceptable choice. That had tremendous significance’ (quote by Kaoru Hosen, interviewed by Wagatsuma 2020). Since Ando gave no account of the child’s father’s identity, the media was determined to find out who it was, but this time it was frowned upon by the public. The general tone was: ‘It’s a family affair. Leave them alone’ (Wagatsuma 2020). In January 1, 2020, when popular singer Ayumi Hamasaki announced on her official fan club website, ‘At the end of last year, I gave birth to an angel. I’m a mum now’, the media did not pursue, even although Hamasaki had kept the details of the child’s birth and the father’s identity concealed. They only reported the fact that Ayumi Hamasaki had become an unmarried mother (Sports Hochi 2020). Some authors argue that, based on these changes in media attitudes, Japanese society in the twenty-first century is one where ‘becoming mothers unwedded do not or cannot be a scandal any more. It has been accepted as a lifestyle’ (quote by Kaoru Hosen, interviewed by Wagatsuma 2020). Such a view may be, however, too optimistic. In the light of the results of the surveys as shown in Sect. 3.1, a majority of the society feels negatively about having children without getting married. It might be true that there have been some changes in the people’s general attitude towards approving unmarried mothers. However, it is also probable that those who became unwed mothers receive harsh criticism within their familiar communities.

3.3 Accelerated Decision-Making on Abortion Another aspect of the problem is highly developed medical technologies. Pregnancy tests began to be sold as class 2 over-the-counter (OTC) drugs2 in 1991. The author estimated the number of pregnancy tests sold in Japan from 1995 to 2015 based on data from Ippanyo Iyakuhin Deta Bukku (1997, 2002, 2010) and 2

In Japan, OTC drugs are divided into three categories: class 1, class 2, and class 3. Class 1 drags can only be sold by pharmacists. Registered sales clerks can only sell the class 2 and the class 3 drugs.

3 What Were the Artificial Foetal … 30,000,000

30.0

25,000,000

25.0

20,000,000

20.0

15,000,000

15.0

10,000,000

10.0

5,000,000

5.0

0

0.0

1995 Single

Usage rate (䠂)

Female populaƟon, Number of test used

26

Married

2000

2005

2010

Number of pregnancy test used (doƩed line is an esƟmate)

2015 Usage rate (doƩed line is an esƟmate)

Fig. 3.6 Usage rate of pregnancy test by the population of women aged 15–49 (1995–2015). Data Source Table 00701 (MIC 1995 National Census); Table 00601 (MIC 2000 National Census); Table 00520 (MIC 2005 National Census); Table 00520 (MIC 2010 National Census); Table 00520 (MIC 2015 National Census). Ippanyo Iyakuhin Deta Bukku (1997, 2002, 2010, 2018, 2019)

Drug Magazine (2000) from 1995 to 2005. The author acquired the real number of pregnancy tests sold in 2010 and 2015 from Ippanyo Iyakuhin Deta Bukku (2019). Then, the number of pregnancy tests sold was divided by the population of women ages 15–49 per year. This is how we can observe the usage rate (Fig. 3.6). We see a consistent increase from 20% in 1995 to 28% in 2015 (Fig. 3.6). The introduction of OTC pregnancy tests enabled women to determine their pregnancy status independently during the early stages of pregnancy. Has this caused abortions of ‘unexpected pregnancies earlier?’ To answer this question about trends in abortions, Fig. 3.7 shows the distribution of the outcome of pregnancy by gestational weeks based on available data sources (the combination of sanitary administrative reports, statistical reports on maternal protection, and demographic statistics) from 1995 to 2015. Because abortion is controlled under the provisions of the Maternal Protection Law (Former Eugenic Protection Law, No. 156 of 1948), doctors should report all abortions to the local government. For other outcomes of pregnancy, live births and spontaneous stillbirths after 12 weeks gestation are collected through the usual system of demographic statistics. Unfortunately, cases of spontaneous stillbirths before 12 weeks gestation have not been reported in published statistics. The percentage of abortions before 7 weeks gestation decreased from 12 to 8% between 1995 and 2015, the percentage of abortions between 8 to 11 weeks gestation decreased from 9 to 6%, and the percentage of stillbirths after 12 weeks gestation

3.3 Accelerated Decision-Making on Abortion

27

decreased from 1.4 to 1.0% (Fig. 3.7a). The decrease in abortions was largest before 7 weeks gestation (4.4 points). The rate of decrease was approximately 30% after 12 weeks gestation and between 8 and 11 weeks gestation, and it was 35% before 7 weeks gestation. The size of the decrease was smaller in the later weeks. We cannot assume that the commercial availability of pregnancy tests promotes the early termination of unexpected pregnancies. If we add abortions performed ‘before week 7’, ‘between weeks 8 and 11’, and ‘stillbirth after week 12 (artificial and spontaneous foetal death)’, the sum total would show a decline of pregnancies during the twenty years of 1995 to 2015. In 1995, the total number of pregnancies was 1.5 million, but fell to 1.2 million in 2015. On the other hand, there is an increasing tendency for planned parenthood among married couples. One clue is the increase in the fertility rate due to Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) (Fig. 3.8). The belief that people should have children after marriage decreased from 1992 to 1997 but is still strong (Sect. 3.1.1). The number of couples who want to have children after marriage, even if they have to use ART, is increasing.

3.4 Decrease in Likelihood of Conception 3.4.1 Decline in Companionship Now we turn to a more social aspect of childbearing. Patterns recorded in the Japanese National Fertility Survey between 1987 and 2015 are discussed below (Fig. 3.9). Figure 3.9 reveals an invert U-shaped trend in the percentage of women below the age of 18–19 who had a partner (marriage partner, engaged partner, and romantic partner). It was 29% around 2002, but there was a subsequent small decline to about 21% in 2015, which was at the same level to that in 1987. In 1987, 47% of people were ‘without an intimate companion of the opposite sex’ while 68% were ‘without a friend the opposite sex’ (‘Does not have an opposite-sex friend’) in 2015. Among the 20–24 age group, the percentage of married female dropped from 17% in 1987 to 8% in 2015. Intimate companionship (‘Has an opposite-sex romantic partner’) grew from 26% in 1987 to 33% in 1997. It stayed at the same level until 2010 before dropping below 30% in 2015. The percentage of those ‘do not have an opposite-sex friend’ increased from 30% in 1987 to 51% in 2015. In 1987, 64% of those aged 25–29 were married. This figure dropped dramatically to 42% by 2002 and dropped further to 36% in 2015. Those who were either ‘married, engaged, or with an intimate partner’ accounted for around 76% of this age group in 1987 and 57% in 2015. Those ‘without a friend of the opposite sex’ increased from 13% in 1987 to 34% in 2015. Among those aged 30–34, 85% were married in 1987. In 2015, the number of married women in this group had fallen to 61%. The percentage of those who were either ‘married, engaged, or with an intimate partner’ fell from around 88% in 1987

28

3 What Were the Artificial Foetal …

100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 1995 Induced_7 weeks*1 S.F.D_after12 weeks*4

2000 2005 Induced_8–11 weeks*2 Births

2010 2015 Induced_after 12 weeks*3

(a) Percentage 1,600,000 1,400,000 1,200,000 1,000,000 800,000 600,000 400,000 200,000 0 1995 2000 2005 Induced_7 weeks*1 Induced_8–11 weeks*2 S.F.D_after12 weeks*4 Births

2010 2015 Induced_after 12 weeks*3

(b) Actual Number Fig. 3.7 Trends in the number of abortions, spontaneous stillbirths, and births by number of weeks of pregnancy (1995–2015). Note *1 Induced abortion before a full 7 weeks of pregnancy. *2 Induced abortion at between 8–11 weeks of pregnancy. *3 Induced abortion after a full 12 weeks of pregnancy. *4 Spontaneous foetal death after a full 12 weeks of pregnancy. Data Source: Report of Vital Statistics: Occupational and Industrial Aspects (FY 1995, FY 2000, FY 2005, FY 2010, FY 2015); Table 10 (MHLW 1996); Table 8 (MHLW 2009); Table 62 (MHLW 2012); Table 62 (MHLW 2012); Table 4 (MHLW 2016a)

3.4 Decrease in Likelihood of Conception

29

1,200,000

30.0%

1,000,000

25.0%

800,000

20.0%

600,000

15.0%

400,000

10.0%

200,000

5.0% 0.0%

0 1995 Births

2000

2005

Spontaneous sƟllbirths

2010 ArƟficial sƟllbirths

2015 ART babies

Fig. 3.8 Trends in the outcomes of pregnancies after 12 full weeks of gestation of a legitimate child (births, spontaneous stillbirths, and artificial stillbirths) and percentage of ART babies in all births (1995–2015). Data Source: Report of Vital Statistics: Occupational and Industrial Aspects (FY 1995, FY 2000, FY 2005, FY 2010, FY 2015); Japan Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology (n.d.)

to 69% in 2015. Those ‘without a friend of the opposite sex’ increased from 5% in 1987 to 22% in 2015. Those aged between 35 and 39 were not included in the 1987 survey. In 1992, 87% of this group were married, but this percentage fell to 70% in 2015. The percentage of those who were either ‘married, engaged, or with an intimate partner’ fell from around 88% in 1987 to 74% in 2015. Those ‘without an opposite-sex friend’ increased from 5% in 1992 to 17% in 2015. Coupling and companionship are on the decline across all age groups among women (Fig. 3.9).3

3.4.2 Decrease in Sexual Activity From the ‘number of times sex one had in the month’ portion of the Survey Concerning the Lives and Feelings of Men and Women (Japan Family Planning Association; Kitamura 2017), the frequency of sexual activity of people was tracked from 2006 to 2016, based on age group (Fig. 3.10). The data were limited to those who had ever experienced a sexual activity. Trends among those aged 16–19 were difficult to comprehend because of the amplitude; the range of ratio those who had sexual activity at least once a month was 13% in 2014 to 83% in 2012. On the other hand, the ratios of those who were inactive also fluctuated between 17% in 2012 and 63% in 2014. 3

We can observe the similar tendency among men.

30

3 What Were the Artificial Foetal …

100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% Ninth(1987) Tenth(1992) Eleventh(1997) Twelveth(2002) Thirteenth(2005) Fourteenth(2010) FiŌeenth(2015) Ninth(1987) Tenth(1992) Eleventh(1997) Twelveth(2002) Thirteenth(2005) Fourteenth(2010) FiŌeenth(2015) Ninth(1987) Tenth(1992) Eleventh(1997) Twelveth(2002) Thirteenth(2005) Fourteenth(2010) FiŌeenth(2015) Ninth(1987) Tenth(1992) Eleventh(1997) Twelveth(2002) Thirteenth(2005) Fourteenth(2010) FiŌeenth(2015) Ninth(1987) Tenth(1992) Eleventh(1997) Twelveth(2002) Thirteenth(2005) Fourteenth(2010) FiŌeenth(2015)

0%

18-19 y/o

20-24 y/o

25-29 y/o

30-34 y/o

35-39 y/o

Has a partner

Widowed/Divorced

Unmarried/Engaged

Unmarried/Has an opposite-sex romanƟc partner

Unmarried/Has an opposite-sex friend

Unmarried/Does not have an opposite-sex friend

Unmarried/Unknown

Fig. 3.9 Trends of womens’ partnership (1987–2015). Source Chart I-2-3 (IPSS 2017)

Sexual activity experience rates among those aged 20–24 followed a fluctuated curve between 53% in 2006 and 68% in 2012. The range of fluctuation was smaller than that of those aged 16–19. The rate of those who responded that they were sexually inactive for a month also followed a fluctuated curve between 26% in 2014 and 43% in 2006. We can roughly say that about one-third of this age group were sexually inactive on average during this time frame. Sexual activity experience rates among those aged 25–29 gradually decrease during this time frame; in 2006, 62% of people engaged in sexual activity at least once a month while 58% of people did in 2016. On the other side, those who were sexually inactive for a month gradually increase from 31% in 2006 to 40% in 2016. Comparing those aged 20–24, it seemed that more women were sexually inactive in this age group as a whole. Among those aged 30–34, the trends of ratios of those who were sexually active and inactive were rather stable except the outlier in 2016 (% of those sexually active was 38% and that of those who were not was 57%). The ratios of those who were sexually active were between 47% in 2006 and 62% in 2016 while ratios of those who were not were between 35% in 2008 and 41% in 2006. Comparing those aged 25–29, it seemed that slightly more women were sexually inactive in this age group as a whole.

3.4 Decrease in Likelihood of Conception

31

Trends among those aged 35–39 and sexually active was a gradual decline from 55% in 2006 to 49% in 2016 with the exception of the drop in 2012 (37%). On the other hand, the ratio of those who were sexually inactive in this age group increased from 38% in 2006 to 47% in 2016. Trends among those aged 40–44 and sexually active showed a fluctuation from 27% in 2014 to 46% in 2006. As for those aged 45+ and sexually active showed an up and down between 35 and 45% during this time frame. Overall, people were generally the most active in the age of 20–24. Those aged 25–29 showed a little less active than those aged 20–24. People 30 years or older were more inactive than their younger counter parts. Due to people marrying for the first time later in life, married women are likely to attempt becoming pregnant at an older age, and sexual activity for this purpose may be planned. In these cases, sexual activity for pleasure and unrelated to conception ceases, and frequency of sexual activity thereby decreases in elder women. On the contrary, sexual activity among the age of 20–24 or younger can be regarded mainly for pleasure. Then, whether they practice contraception affects the occurrence of unplanned pregnancy (Fig. 3.10).

3.4.3 Contraceptive Measures 3.4.3.1

Trends of Contraceptive Use by Age Groups

According to the National Survey on Family Planning (Mainichi Newspapers; Mainichi Newspapers Population Problems Research Council 2005) and the Survey Concerning the Lives and Feelings of Men and Women (Japan Family Planning Association; Kitamura 2017), there have been changes in contraceptive use from 1990 to 2016. From 1990 to 2000, there is little difference among married people that are currently using contraception at around half. Among the unmarried those who are currently using contraception, the percentage increased from 40 to 54% from 1990 to 1994. According to this data, the ratio of unmarried people using contraception increased from 1990 to 1994 (Fig. 3.11). Since 2002, the survey makeup, methods, and subjects have changed; therefore, a simple comparison by year cannot be made up to 2000. Among the ratio of women aged 16–19, those who responded ‘always’ fluctuated from 25 to 54% while the percentage of those who were inactive ranged from 0 to 25% (Fig. 3.12). Among women aged 20–24, the trends of those who responded ‘always’ described U-curve, with a range of 31–50% with an exception of high ratio of 70% in 2014. On the other hand, those who were inactive among those age fluctuated between 4 and 18%. As a whole, less people were inactive than those in other ages. Among those aged 25–29, those who responded ‘always’ showed a little increase during 2002–2016 (32% in 2002; 36% in 2016) with a fluctuation. Those who responded ‘always’ were fewer than the other age groups. On the other side, there was the

16-19 y/o

InacƟve

20-24 y/o Once

Twice

25-29 y/o

Three Ɵmes

30-34 y/o

Four Ɵmes and more

35-39 y/o N.A.

40-44 y/o

45+ y/o

3rd(2006) 4th(2008) 5th(2010) 6th(2012) 7th(2014) 8th(2016) 3rd(2006) 4th(2008) 5th(2010) 6th(2012) 7th(2014) 8th(2016) 3rd(2006) 4th(2008) 5th(2010) 6th(2012) 7th(2014) 8th(2016) 3rd(2006) 4th(2008) 5th(2010) 6th(2012) 7th(2014) 8th(2016) 3rd(2006) 4th(2008) 5th(2010) 6th(2012) 7th(2014) 8th(2016) 3rd(2006) 4th(2008) 5th(2010) 6th(2012) 7th(2014) 8th(2016) 3rd(2006) 4th(2008) 5th(2010) 6th(2012) 7th(2014) 8th(2016)

Fig. 3.10 Frequency of sexual activity per month of women by age group (2006–2016). Source Figure 4-5-1 in 3rd (2006); Figure 4-4-1 in 4th (2008); Figure 3-4-1 in 5th (2010); Figure 4-4-1 in 6th (2012); Figure 4-4-1 in 7th (2014); Figure 4-4-1 in 8th (2016) in Kitamura (2017)

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

32 3 What Were the Artificial Foetal …

3.4 Decrease in Likelihood of Conception

33

100% 90% 80% Do not use

70% 60%

N.A.

50% 40%

Used in the past

30%

Currently using

20% 10%

Single

25th(2000)

24th(1998)

23rd(1996)

22nd(1994)

21st(1992)

20th(1990)

25th(2000)

24th(1998)

23rd(1996)

22nd(1994)

20th(1990)

0%

Married

Fig. 3.11 Contraceptive use of single women and married women (1990–2000). Source Question 25 (a) in Mainichi Newspapers Population Problems Research Council (2005)

increasing trend towards sexually inactive among this age group from 1995 to 2012; 10% in 2002 and 15% in 2012. After that, the trend showed up and down but it seemed the inclination towards inactiveness did not ceased. We can say that there was a polarisation on both sides; those who were sexually active with contraception and those who were sexually inactive. Among the age groups of women aged 30–34 or older, similar tendencies can be observed; the trend of decrease of those who responded ‘always’ and the increase of those who were sexually inactive. In addition, these trends occurred more clearer among older age groups. It is understandable that people wanting children would not be using contraception and active regarding coition. However, the trends above revealed a discrepancy between women’s behaviour of contraception and that of coition. The data yielded that women aged 20–24 were the most active of all age groups in sexual activity but they practiced contraception more than other age groups. This might imply that women who have coition for pleasure came to introduce prevention of contraception in recent years and they were most active while women who have coition for childbearing were less active; they may have planned coition as we stated regarding the trends of Fig. 3.10. If these assumptions hold true, women’s introduction of contraception in case of coition for pleasure contributed the decrease of artificial foetal deaths (Figs. 3.11 and 3.12).

3.4.3.2

Contraceptive Methods

As for the method of contraception, between 1994 and 2000, the combined use of multiple contraceptive methods increased among unmarried people (Fig. 3.13) when

16-19 y/o

4th(2008)

1st(2002)

Always uses contracepƟon

20-24 y/o

4th(2008)

1st(2002)

SomeƟmes uses contracepƟon

25-29 y/o

4th(2008)

1st(2002)

Does not use contracepƟon

30-34 y/o

4th(2008)

1st(2002)

Not sexually acƟve

35-39 y/o

4th(2008)

Unclear

1st(2002)

40-44 y/o

4th(2008)

1st(2002)

45+ y/o

Fig. 3.12 Contraception use of women for the year (2002–2016). Source Figure 32 in 1st (2002); Table 6-3-1 in 2nd (2004); Table 6-3-1 in 3rd (2006); Table 6-3-1 in 4th (2008); in 5th (2010); Table 6-2-1 in 6th (2012); Table 6-2-1 in 7th (2014); Table 6-2-1 in 8th (2016) in Kitamura (2017)

Under 20

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

1st(2002) 2nd(2004) 3rd(2006)

5th(2010) 6th(2012) 7th(2014) 8th(2016)

2nd(2004) 3rd(2006)

5th(2010) 6th(2012) 7th(2014) 8th(2016)

2nd(2004) 3rd(2006)

5th(2010) 6th(2012) 7th(2014) 8th(2016)

2nd(2004) 3rd(2006)

5th(2010) 6th(2012) 7th(2014) 8th(2016)

2nd(2004) 3rd(2006)

5th(2010) 6th(2012) 7th(2014) 8th(2016)

2nd(2004) 3rd(2006)

5th(2010) 6th(2012) 7th(2014) 8th(2016)

2nd(2004) 3rd(2006) 4th(2008) 5th(2010) 6th(2012) 7th(2014) 8th(2016)

34

3 What Were the Artificial Foetal …

Married

Married

20th(1990) 21st(1992)

Married

22nd(1994)

Single

Married

23rd(1996)

Single

Married

24th(1998)

Single

Fig. 3.13 Method of contraception (1994–2000): Single women and married women (1990–2000). Source Question 25 (a) in Mainichi Newspapers Population Problems Research Council (2005)

0.0

20.0

40.0

60.0

80.0

100.0

120.0

140.0

160.0

Married 25th(2000)

Single

Condoms

IUD

Sterilization

Pessary

Contraceptives

Douches

Oginio Rhythm Method

Pill

Withdrawal Method

N.A.

3.4 Decrease in Likelihood of Conception 35

36

3 What Were the Artificial Foetal …

(%) 140.0 120.0 100.0 80.0 60.0 40.0 20.0 0.0 1st(2002) 2nd(2004) 3rd(2006) 4th(2008) 5th(2010) 6th(2012) 7th(2014) 8th(2016) Condoms(Men) Pill Withdrawal Method SterilizaƟon(Wife)

Withdrawal Method Temperature Method IUCD Condoms(Women)

Oginio Rhythm Method Douches SterilizaƟon(Husband) Unknown

Fig. 3.14 Method of contraception of women (2002–2016). Source Figure 32-2 in 1st (2002); Figure 6-3-1 in 2nd (2004); Figure 6-3-1 in 3rd (2006); Figure 63-1 in 4th (2008); Figure 6-5-1 in 5th (2010); Figure 6-5-1 in 6th (2012); Figure 6-5-1 in 7th (2014); Figure 6-3-1 in 8th (2016) in Kitamura (2017)

we focus on the increase of respondents’ rate who answered they introduced more than two measures. Nonetheless, the extent to which the increase in coitus interruptus, which has no contraceptive effect, has suppressed the incidence of unwanted pregnancy is unclear. The practice of coitus interruptus also increased among married couples. It should be noted that due to changes in the samples, methods, and scope of surveys since 2002, findings until 2000 cannot be easily compared to those that were obtained after. However, while the combined use of contraceptive methods has increased, there was no change in the utilisation of relatively unreliable methods (Fig. 3.14). Condoms and coitus interruptus were overwhelmingly the most common methods employed; 82 and 20%, respectively. In addition to these two measures, 7% of respondents introduced Oginio Rhythm Method and 4% took pills.

3.4.3.3

Use of Contraceptive Pills

Use of the contraceptive pill increased among those in their 20s with fluctuation, and in 2016, the percentages of those who took pills (those who answered ‘I am

3.4 Decrease in Likelihood of Conception

37

already using them’.) were 6% for those aged 20–24 and 7% for those aged 25–29, respectively (Fig. 3.15). Those aged under 20 and up to 30 revealed very low usage of pills. The reasons for the pill’s low rate of uptake are specific to Japan, such as the ‘anti-pill’ sentiment that formed among the populace during the 60 years between the commencement of deliberations over its authorisation in the national Diet and its eventual approval (Matsumoto 2005), the concerns over its side-effects, and the need for a medical examination in order to receive a prescription for it.

3.4.3.4

Use of Emergency Contraceptive Pills

The emergency contraceptive (‘morning after’) pill was approved for use in 2011 and requires a medical examination prior to its prescription. However, without medical examination, it is available through overseas imports and peer-to-peer sales applications. The sensitivity of the topic means that non-responses in Fig. 3.16 should be treated with caution, i.e. some portion of non-responses may be denials of actual use. Assuming that the use of the emergency contraceptive pill, like the regular contraceptive pill, is more common among young people, and considering both their higher sexual activity and reduced contraceptive use, it may be surmised that emergency contraceptives are used among a certain percentage of young people who are worried about getting pregnant after unprotected sex, notwithstanding the low rates of use recorded (Fig. 3.16).

3.5 Special Adoption Special Adoption is an institution for adaption of children under six years old. It was introduced in the 1980s to make it possible to legally dissolve the parental relationship between the biological parents and the adoptive child and to provide the adoptive child with equal legal status as the biological children of the adoptive parents. It is named ‘special’ because such features are not allowed in the ‘standard’ adoption in Japan’s family law system since its establishment in the late nineteenth century. This relatively new institution intends to promote the welfare of children (MHLW, n.d.) and was created by a revision of the Civil Code in 1987 and enacted in 1988. The legal procedure of special adoption not only creates a parental relationship between adoptive parents and adoptive child, but also erases that between biological parents and biological child. It makes the family registry system put the child and the adoptive parents together in the same entry although it is identified easily because the statement of ‘as per Article 817–2 of the Civil Code’. The roots of Special Adoption date back to 1973, with Dr. Kikuta’s Baby Mediation Incident. In this incident, Noboru Kikuta, a doctor of obstetrics and gynaecology, repeatedly falsified birth certificates by not writing the name of the birth mother, but that of the woman who intended to be the adoptive mother. This allowed the women to change their minds when they visited their clinic for an abortion to avoid a record

16-19 y/o

1st(2002)

4th(2008)

I am not using them at present, but I definitely want to use them.

I do not want to use them.

I don’t know.

In the future, I would like to use them, but I cannot use them in my current situaƟon.

N.K.

1st(2002)

20-24 y/o

I am already using them.

4th(2008)

1st(2002)

25-29 y/o

4th(2008)

1st(2002)

30-34 y/o

4th(2008)

1st(2002)

35-39 y/o

4th(2008)

1st(2002)

40-44 y/o

Fig. 3.15 Contraceptive pill use (2000–2016). Source Reference for Question10(a) in 25th (2000) in Mainichi Newspapers Population Problems Research Council (2005)

Under 50 y/o

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

25th(2000) 2nd(2004) 3rd(2006) 5th(2010) 6th(2012) 7th(2014) 8th(2016) 2nd(2004) 3rd(2006) 5th(2010) 6th(2012) 7th(2014) 8th(2016) 2nd(2004) 3rd(2006) 5th(2010) 6th(2012) 7th(2014) 8th(2016) 2nd(2004) 3rd(2006) 5th(2010) 6th(2012) 7th(2014) 8th(2016) 2nd(2004) 3rd(2006) 5th(2010) 6th(2012) 7th(2014) 8th(2016) 2nd(2004) 3rd(2006) 4th(2008) 5th(2010) 6th(2012) 7th(2014) 8th(2016) 1st(2002) 2nd(2004) 3rd(2006)

45+ y/o

4th(2008) 5th(2010) 6th(2012) 7th(2014) 8th(2016)

38

3 What Were the Artificial Foetal …

3.5 Special Adoption

39

100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% 4th(2008) Once

Twice

D.K.

N.A.

5th(2010) Three Times

6th(2012)

7th(2014)

Four Times and More

8th(2016) No Use

Fig. 3.16 Emergency pill use (2008–2016). Source Figure 3-7-2 in 4th (2008); Figure 2-9-1 in 5th (2010); Figure 3-7-1 (2012) in 6th (2012); Figure 3-7-1 in 7th (2014); Figure 3-7-1 in 8th (2016) in Kitamura (2017)

of the birth in their family registry, which resulted in the births of over 220 babies (Ishii 2020). Although falsifying birth certificates is illegal, Dr. Kikuta believed that artificial abortion of late pregnancies (at that time, the Maternal Protection Law allowed abortions up to eight full months of pregnancy) was murder, and to avoid this, he falsified the documents. As he could not find the required number of adoptive parents, he placed an advertisement in the local newspaper stating, ‘Urgently needed! Seeking a person who will raise a just-born male as one’s own’. Consequently, he was severely penalised. There was a summary indictment against him for violating the Medical Practitioner’s Act, and he was dismissed as a member of the Nihon Bosei Hogo Sanfujinkai Kai (Japan Maternal Protection Association of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, the predecessor of the Japan Association of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists). However, because of his work, abortion from seven months onwards was made illegal in 1976. Moreover, the creation of the new institution of Special Adoption partly achieved his wish to protect the rights of biological mothers and adoptive children. The ‘Exemption Law’ dissolves the parental relationship between the biological parent and child and afford an equal treatment as a biological child of the adoptive parents. Still, the history of birth of biological mothers can be easily recognised when one makes a glance on the family registry and that is the point unmarried women hate and want to avoid so far as to abort. However, there have been few cases of Special Adoptions under this institution (Fig. 3.17). Immediately after the introduction of this new institution, a number of standard adoptions were switched to Special Adoption, but thereafter, the numbers have remained at between 300 and 600 per year. This is because, in spite of its superficial intent to give priority to the child’s welfare, the will of the biological parents is prioritised in practice. Except for extremely serious situations, such as severe abuse, experts respect parents’ intentions. If they express any intention to keep

40

3 What Were the Artificial Foetal …

1,400 1,200 1,000 800 600 400 200 0

1988 1989 1990 1995 2000 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

Fig. 3.17 Number of approved special adoption cases (1998–2015). Source Yoshida (2009) and Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (2016b)

custody, their child is not considered to fall within the scope of Special Adoption (Hasuda 2018; Goto 2019). As a result, as of 2019, approximately 3000 infants and preschool-aged children were placed in infant homes (National Council of Homes for Infants 2019). This is another point to be improved so that Special Adoption can function as intended. To appeal to pregnant unmarried women who are considering abortion, ‘Confidential Birth’ would be more attractive because the birth records will not be entered in the mothers’ family register. Regarding the practice of ‘Erasing the history of birth from the biological mother’s family registry’, Jikei Hospital in Kumamoto City continues to work towards the realisation of ‘Confidential Birth’ in which the mother delivers the baby without revealing her name, address, or identity (Fukagawa 2020). If realised, abortions from unplanned pregnancies are expected to decrease and Special Adoptions to increase (Fig. 3.17). In this chapter, we investigate data from national statistics and nationwide surveys to understand what has replaced artificial foetal deaths. Shotgun marriages had replaced artificial foetal deaths to some extent; however, the number of them decreased since 2005. Increases of sexual inactivity and using contraceptive measures too can be assumed to have some effect on the decrease of artificial foetal deaths in women in their 20s. The limitation of this study is that we cannot grasp the accurate quantity of pregnancies and it is impossible to confirm whether increases of sexual inactivity and using contraceptive measures explain all the decrease in artificial foetal death or not. It is impossible to deny the effect of increase of becoming an unwed mother might have the function of decreasing artificial foetal deaths. Before confirming this assumption, we further investigate the facts of abortions using a nationwide survey.

References

41

References Drug Magazine. 2000. Teikakakuka susumi kibishisa masu ninshin kensayaku shijo (in Japanese). Drug Magazine, February: 93–95. Fukagawa, Anjyu. 2020. Naimitsu syussan “hou teishoku–no osore” Kumamoto–shi, Jikei Byoin– ni kaito (in Japanese). Kumamoto Nichinichi Shimbun. https://kumanichi.com/news/id23407. Accessed 27 February 2021. Goto, Eri. 2019. Umanakutemo, Sodateraremasu: Funin chiryo–wo koete, tokubetu yosi engumi–he (in Japanese). Tokyo: Kodansha. Hasuda, Taiji. 2018. Yurikago–ni Sotto: Kumamoto Jikei Byoin “Konotori–no Yurikago”–ni Takusareta Haha–to Ko–no Inochi (in Japanese). Tokyo: Hojosha. Hertog, Ekaterina, and Miho Iwasawa. 2011. Marriage, Abortion, or Unwed Motherhood? How Women Evaluate Alternative Solutions to Premarital Pregnancies in Japan and the United States. Journal of Family Issues 32 (12): 1674–1699. Ippanyo Iyakuhin Deta Bukku. 1997. Ninshin kensayaku (in Japanese). Tokyo: Fuji Keizai Jokan: 171. Ippanyo Iyakuhin Deta Bukku. 2002. Ninshin kensayaku (in Japanese). Tokyo: Fuji Keizai Gekan: 191. Ippanyo Iyakuhin Deta Bukku. 2010. Ninshin kensayaku. (in Japanese). Tokyo: Fuji Keizai No.2: 225. Ippanyo Iyakuhin Deta Bukku. 2018. Ninshin kensayaku (in Japanese). Tokyo: Fuji Keizai No. 1: 137. Ippanyo Iyakuhin Deta Bukku. 2019. Ninshin kensayaku (in Japanese). Tokyo: Fuji Keizai No.1: 139. Ishii, Kota. 2020. Akachan–wo Wagako–tosite Sodateru Hoho–wo Motomu (in Japanese). Tokyo: Shogakukan. Iwasawa, Miho. 2013. Ushinawareta kekkon, zodai suru kekkon: Shokon taipubetsu shokonhyo–wo mochiita 1970nendai iko–no mikonka–to shokon kozo–no bunseki (in Japanese). Jinko Mondai Kenkyu (Journal of Population Problems) 769 (2): 1–34. Iwasawa, Miho, and Kenji Kamata. 2013. Konzen ninshin kekkon keiken–ha shussango–no josei–no hatarakikata–ni eikyo suruka? (in Japanese). Nihon Rodo Kenkyu Zassi 55 (9): 17–32. Japan Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology. n.d. ART Data Book 2007–2018 (in Japanese). Japan Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology. https://plaza.umin.ac.jp/~jsog-art/. Accessed 27 February 2021. Josei Jishin Hensyubu. 1989. Mikon–no haha Sawada Ayako (40) kanzen dokusen shuki “Chichi–no kao–wo Ranai konoko–ni itsuka taimen–wo!” (in Japanese). Josei Jishin 32 (25): 11–14. Kitamura, Kunio. 2017. Dai 8–kai Danjo–no seikatsu–to ishiki–ni kansuru chosa hokokusho 2016– nen: Nihonjin–no seiishiki, seikodo (CD–ROM) (in Japanese). Japan Family Planning Promotion Society. Mainichi Newspapers Population Problems Research Council (Mainichi Shimbun Sha Jinko Mondai Chosakai). 2005. Cho-shoshika Jidai–no Kazoku Ishiki Chosa Hokokusho (Dai 1–kai) (in Japanese). Tokyo: Mainichi Newspapers. Matsumoto, Ayako. 2005. Piru–ha Naze Kangei Sarenainoka (in Japanese). Tokyo: Keiso Shobo. Ministry of Health Labour and Welfare (MHLW). 1996. Heisei 7 nen Yusei Hogo Tokei Hokoku (FY 1995 Sanitary Administrative Reports, Statistical Reports on Maternal Protection) (in Japanese): 56. Ministry of Health Labour and Welfare (MHLW). 2009. Heisei 12 nen-do Batai Hogo Toukei Hokoku (Yusei HogoTokei Hokoku) (FY 2000 Sanitary Administrative Reports, Statistical Reports on Maternal Protection) (in Japanese). https://www.e-stat.go.jp/stat-search/files?page= 1&layout=datalist&toukei=00450029&tstat=000001024040&cycle=7&tclass1=000001030 989&stat_infid=000002412860&tclass2val=0. Accessed 27 February 2021. Ministry of Health Labour and Welfare (MHLW). 2012. Heisei 22 nen-do Eisei Gyosei Hokokurei Toukei-hyo Nendo-ho (FY 2010 Sanitary Administrative Reports, Statistical Reports on

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Maternal Protection) (in Japanese). https://www.e-stat.go.jp/stat-search/files?page=1&layout= datalist&toukei=00450027&tstat=000001031469&cycle=8&tclass1=000001046501&tclass2= 000001046502&tclass3=000001046503&stat_infid=000012536407&tclass4val=0. Accessed 27 February 2021. Ministry of Health Labour and Welfare (MHLW). 2016a. Heisei 27 nen-do Eisei Gyosei Hokokurei Toukei-hyo Nendo-ho (FY 2015 Sanitary Administrative Reports, Statistical Reports on Maternal Protection) (in Japanese). https://www.e-stat.go.jp/stat-search/files?page=1&layout= datalist&toukei=00450027&tstat=000001031469&cycle=8&tclass1=000001090415&tclass2= 000001090416&tclass3=000001090417&stat_infid=000031487699&tclass4val=0. Accessed 27 February 2021. Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW). 2016b. Jido Gyakutai Taio–ni okeru Siho Kanyo oyobi Tokubetsu Yoshi Engumi–ni tuite Siryo–2 (in Japanese): 49. https://www.mhlw.go.jp/ file/05-Shingikai-11901000-Koyoukintoujidoukateikyoku-Soumuka/sankou02.pdf. Accessed 27 February 2021. Ministry of Health Labour and Welfare (MHLW). 2018. Heisei 17 nen-do Eisei Gyosei Hokokurei Toukei-hyo Nendo-ho (FY 2005 Sanitary Administrative Reports, Statistical Reports on Maternal Protection) (in Japanese). https://www.e-stat.go.jp/stat-search/files?page=1&layout= datalist&toukei=00450027&tstat=000001031469&cycle=8&tclass1=000001024189&tclass2= 000001024190&tclass3=000001032114&stat_infid=000002409448&tclass4val=0. Accessed 27 February 2021. Ministry of Health Labour and Welfare (MHLW). n.d. “Tokubetsu Yoshi Engumi–ni tsuite” 1. Gaiyo (in Japanese). https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/seisakunitsuite/bunya/0000169158.html. Accessed 27 February 2021. Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC). 2007a. Heisei 17 nen Kokusei Chosa (2005 National census) (in Japanese). https://www.e-stat.go.jp/dbview?sid=0000033705. Accessed 27 February 2021. Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC). 2007b. Heisei 12 nen Kokusei Chosa (2000 National census) (in Japanese). https://www.e-stat.go.jp/dbview?sid=0000032879. Accessed 27 February 2021. Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC). 2007c. Heisei 7 nen Kokusei Chosa (1995 National census) (in Japanese). https://www.e-stat.go.jp/dbview?sid=0000032110. Accessed 27 February 2021. Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC). 2011. Heisei 17 nen Kokusei Chosa (2010 National census) (in Japanese). https://www.e-stat.go.jp/dbview?sid=0003038593. Accessed 27 February 2021. Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC). 2016. Heisei 27 nen Kokusei Chosa (2015 National census) (in Japanese). https://www.e-stat.go.jp/dbview?sid=0003148541. Accessed 27 February 2021. National Council of Homes for Infants. 2019. Nyujiin–towa (in Japanese). https://nyujiin.gr.jp/ about/. Accessed 27 February 2021. National Institute of Population and Social Security Research (IPSS) (Kokuritsu Shakai Hosho Jinko Mondai Kenkyujo). 2012. Dai 14–kai Shussho Doko Kihon Chosa Dai–II Hokokusho: Wagakuni Dokushinso–no Kekkonkan–to Kazoku–kan (Report on the Fourteenth Japanese National Fertility Survey, 2010: Attitudes toward Marriage and the Family among Japanese Singles) (in Japanese) (Survey Series No.30). http://www.ipss.go.jp/shoushika/bunken/DATA/ pdf/207750.pdf. Accessed 27 February 2021. National Institute of Population and Social Security Research (IPSS) (Kokuritsu Shakai Hosho Jinko Mondai Kenkyujo). 2017. Gendai Nihon–no Kekkon–to Shussan: Dai 15–kai Shussho Doko Kihon Chosa (Dokushinsha Chosa narabini Fufu Chosa) Hokokusho (Marriage and Childbirth in Japan Today: The Fifteenth Japanese National Fertility Survey, 2015 (Results of Singles and Married Couples Survey)) (in Japanese) (Survey Series No.35). http://www.ipss.go.jp/ps-doukou/ j/doukou15/NFS15_reportALL.pdf. Accessed 27 February 2021.

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NHK. (n.d.). Manga–de Yomu NHK History Dai–6–wa TV–wo Minai Jikantai–wo kaeta “Asa–dora” (in Japanese). https://www.nhk.or.jp/archives/asadora/about/index.html. Accessed 27 February 2021. NHK. (2002a). Renzoku Terebi Shosetsu Sirizu Watashi–no Aozora; Soshuhen (DVD) (in Japanese). NHK Enterprises. NHK. (2002b). Renzoku Terebi Shosetsu Sirizu Watashi–no Aozora 2002 (DVD) (in Japanese). NHK Enterprises. Raymo, J.M., and M. Iwasawa. 2008. Bridal pregnancy and spouse pairing patterns in Japan. Journal of Marriage and Family 70 (4): 847–860. Sports Hochi. 2020. Hamasaki Ayumi–ga sakunenmatsu–ni shussan ‘tenshi–wo umi mama–ni narimasita’ fan kurabu–de hokoku (in Japanese). The Hochi Shimbun. https://hochi.news/articles/202 00102-OHT1T50001.html. Accessed 27 February 2021. Wagatsuma, Azuko. 2020. Mikon singuru maza geinojin sorezore–no “Jijo” (in Japanese). Shukan Josei 64 (42): 124–126. Yamashita, Kumiko. 2002. Aru Ai–no Uta (in Japanese). Tokyo: Gentosha. Yoshida, Kasimi. 2009. Tokubetsu yoshi seido–no seiritu katei (in Japanese). Ritsumeikan Ningen Kagaku Kenkyu 19: 77–90.

Chapter 4

Facts About Abortions

Abstract Nationwide surveys were used to study the reality of women’s experience of abortion, their perceptions about it, and how their general attitudes towards abortion changed, particularly between 2002 and 2016. Throughout the period, the most common reason given for pregnancy termination was being unmarried. Abortions among those aged 16–19 years have not decreased; however, the opposite is true of those aged 20 years and older. Guilt was the most widely experienced emotion among those who chose abortion. People tend to approve of pregnancy terminations when prospective mothers are unmarried or unable to wed. However, many of those who undergo the procedure have negative feelings about the experience. We can assume that some women would rather be unwed mothers than endure self-blame post abortion. Keywords Unmarried Pregnancy · Abortion · Economic motive · Sence of Guilty · Statistics As discussed in the previous chapter, it is necessary to carefully examine the facts about abortion in Japan. Traditional Japanese society did not have strong social norms that prohibited abortion; however, abortion has often been perceived negatively, as a source of adverse physical consequences for the women who undergo the procedure. Nevertheless, the Eugenic Protection Law (1948 Law No. 156) legalised abortion under exceptional circumstances, as long as it was carried out by a certified doctor. Articles 12 and 13 of the Eugenic Protection Act stated that a doctor may perform an abortion after receiving the consent of the woman and her husband, in cases of (a) genetic diseases, (b) Hansen’s disease, (c) if the pregnancy or delivery would put the mother’s body or life at risk, or (d) if the mother was raped. These conditions were changed in its amendment in 1949 to include economic reasons. After the law was totally amended in 1996 and was renamed as the Maternity Protection Law, it currently allows abortion in cases where (a) the mother’s health is threatened by physical or economic circumstances, or (b) if the mother was raped. However, due to the ambiguity of the first condition, the judgement regarding the legality of the procedure usually falls upon the doctor. Doctors who perform abortions are required to report the procedure directly to the prefecture’s authorities. The MHLW collects reports of abortions and publishes annual statistics. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 Y. Senda, Pregnancy Outcomes of Unmarried Women in Japan (1995–2015), Population Studies of Japan, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-3549-6_4

45

46

4 Facts About Abortions

This chapter explores fact-based arguments regarding abortion. We can grasp the facts surrounding abortion in Japan by analysing statistics obtained from the MHLW, the National Survey on Family Planning (Mainichi Newspapers; Mainichi Newspapers Population Problems Research Council 2005), and the Survey Concerning the Lives and Feelings of Men and Women (Japan Family Planning Association; Kitamura 2017). Researching these sources will help us grasp Japanese people’s attitudes towards and behaviour concerning abortion. The religious aspects of this issue will be discussed in the next chapter.

4.1 Women’s Experiences Here we analyse women’s experiences regarding abortion (Figs. 4.1 and 4.2). Between 1990 and 2000, the rate of those who had the experiences of abortion fell from 11 to 5% while the percentage of those who never abort rose from 89 to 93% (Fig. 4.1). More people than before came to refuse to answer the question (N.A), which accounted for 2.9% in 2000. Due to the changes in survey groups and procedures, a direct comparison between Figs. 4.1 and 4.2 is not adequate. While noting this limitation, we continue to investigate the trends of abortion experiences after 2002. As for those aged 16–19, 95% answered ‘Never’ in 2002 and 90% did in 2016 (Fig. 4.2). Strangely, the percentages of those who answer they aborted ‘Once or more’ were 3% in 2002 and 2% in 2016. In this age group both the ratio of those who had the experiences of abortions and those who did not showed the declining tendencies between 2002 and 2016. Instead, more people than before came to refuse to answer the question or chose ‘Don’t know’ during this time frame. As for those aged 20–24, 87% answered ‘Never’ in 2002 and 93% did in 2016, while 11% of them answered that they aborted ‘Once or more’ in 2002 and none of them did in 2016. On the other hand, more people than before came to refuse to answer the question or chose ‘Don’t know’ during this time frame. As for those aged 25–29, 90% answered ‘Never’ in 2002 and 93% did in 2016, while 8% of them answered that they aborted ‘Once or more’ in 2002 and 4% of them did in 2016. This trend was shown as a U-shaped curve. The discrepancy between the increase in the percentage of ‘Never’ and the decrease in the ratio of ‘Once or more’ was not observed in this age group. As for those aged 30–34, 79% answered ‘Never’ in 2002 and 84% did in 2016, while 15% of them answered that they aborted ‘Once or more’ in 2002 and 10% of them did in 2016 with a fluctuation. As for those aged 35–39, 74% answered ‘Never’ in 2002 and 82% did in 2016, while 20% of them answered that they aborted ‘Once or more’ in 2002 and 14% of them did in 2016. In the same way, those aged 40–44, 67% answered ‘Never’ in 2002 and 77% did in 2016, while 23% of them answered that they aborted ‘Once or more’ in 2002 and 15% of them did in 2016. As for those aged 45+, 64% answered ‘Never’ in 2002 and

4.1 Women’s Experiences

47

100% 90% 80% 70% 60%

No

50%

N.A.

40%

Yes

30% 20% 10% 0% 20th(1990)

22nd(1994)

23rd(1996)

24th(1998)

25th(2000)

Fig. 4.1 Women’s experiences regarding abortion (1990–2000). Data Source Question 41 (j) in 25th (2000) in Mainichi Newspapers Population Problems Research Council (2005)

76% did in 2016, while 27% of them answered that they aborted ‘Once or more’ in 2002 and 14% of them did in 2016. From the above, we may conclude that during the period of 2002 and 2016, there was a decrease in those who never had abortions in the 16–19 age group. However, an increase was observed in all other age groups (Figs. 4.1 and 4.2).

4.2 Women’s Reasons Economic motives were by far the most cited reason why individuals reported undergoing abortions (Fig. 4.3). This is likely because economic circumstances are among the legally accepted reasons to undergo an abortion, as mentioned earlier. However, the reality is more complex. Despite the large number of options provided in the survey, many respondents indicated that their reason for undergoing the abortion was not listed. When the option ‘The father did not agree with having the baby.’ was added in 2014, the number of people who selected ‘I am not married to the father, so I cannot have the baby.’ decreased. Approximately one-third of those who selected ‘I am not married to the father, so I cannot have the baby.’ prior to 2014 might have likely selected ‘The father did not agree with having the baby’. In 2016, ‘I am not married to the father, so I cannot have the baby.’ was selected by a quarter of the respondents, whereas ‘I do not have the extra money.’ was selected by another quarter of the sample, ‘The father did not agree with having the baby.’ was selected by just under 10%, and ‘I do not want to interrupt my work or school.’ was selected by just under 10% of the sample as well. These reasons make up 64% of the responses. Thus, respondents’ unmarried status remains the most common reason for undergoing an abortion.

16-19 y/o Once

20-24 y/o

Twice 25-29 y/o

Three Times Never

35-39 y/o

Five Times and More

30-34 y/o

Four Times D.K. N.A.

40-44 y/o 45+ y/o 45-49 y/o

Fig. 4.2 Women’s experiences regarding Abortion (2002–2016). Source Question 37 in 1st (2002); Figure 7-4-1 in (2004); Figure 7-3-1 in 3rd (2006); Figure 7-3-1 in 4th (2008); Figure 8-2-1 in 5th (2010); Figure 8-2-1 in 6th (2012); Figure 8-2-1 in 7th (2014); Figure 8-2-1 in 8th (2016) in Kitamura (2017)

Under 20

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

1st(2002) 2nd(2004) 3rd(2006) 4th(2008) 5th(2010) 6th(2012) 7th(2014) 8th(2016) 1st(2002) 2nd(2004) 3rd(2006) 4th(2008) 5th(2010) 6th(2012) 7th(2014) 8th(2016) 1st(2002) 2nd(2004) 3rd(2006) 4th(2008) 5th(2010) 6th(2012) 7th(2014) 8th(2016) 1st(2002) 2nd(2004) 3rd(2006) 4th(2008) 5th(2010) 6th(2012) 7th(2014) 8th(2016) 1st(2002) 2nd(2004) 3rd(2006) 4th(2008) 5th(2010) 6th(2012) 7th(2014) 8th(2016) 1st(2002) 2nd(2004) 3rd(2006) 4th(2008) 5th(2010) 6th(2012) 7th(2014) 8th(2016) 1st(2002) 2nd(2004) 3rd(2006) 4th(2008) 5th(2010) 6th(2012) 7th(2014) 8th(2016)

48

4 Facts About Abortions

I do not know who the father is. I do not like the father. N.A.

I cannot picture a future with the father.

None of the above

8th(2016)

The father did not agree with having the baby.

7th(2014)

I am not confident in my ability to raise a child.

6th(2012)

I do not want to interrupt my work or school.

5th(2010)

My body is not strong enough to withstand pregnancy and delivery.

4th(2008)

I do not want to have any more children.

3rd(2006) I do not have the extra money.

2nd(2004)

I am not married to the father, so I cannot have the baby.

1st(2002)

Fig. 4.3 Women’s reasons to undergoing an abortion for the first time (2002–2016). Source Question 37-1 in 1st (2002); Figure 7-4-4 in (2004); Figure 7-3-5 in 3rd (2006); Figure 7-3-5 in 4th (2008); Figure 8-4-1 in 5th (2010); Figure 8-4-1 in 6th (2012); Figure 8-3-1 in 7th (2014); Figure 8-3-1 in 8th (2016) in Kitamura (2017)

100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0%

4.2 Women’s Reasons 49

50

4 Facts About Abortions

4.3 Women’s Feelings The number of respondents who selected proactive reasons for undergoing an abortion (‘It was a necessary choice for my own life’.) has increased from 13% in 2002 to 17% in 2016 over the years; however, they remained in the minority (Fig. 4.4). The options ‘I blamed myself.’ and ‘I felt sorry for the foetus.’ reflect the humanisation of the foetus; while the frequency of these responses fluctuated over the years, they remain by far the most common; 25 and 42%, respectively, in 2002 and 17 and 59%, respectively, in 2016. The responses ‘I felt sorry for the partner.’ and ‘I was angry at the partner.’ likely reflect that the decision to abort was taken solely by the respondents, but they were not common; for example, 0% in 2006 and 2012 for the former, and 0% in 2004 for the latter. For women, the decision and responsibility to undergo an abortion are borne alone.

4.4 Women’s Attitudes Attitudes towards abortion tend to vary according to the year the survey was taken. Even so, every year, approximately half of the respondents, whether single or married, answered ‘approve under certain conditions’. It is noted that unmarried people were under more pressure to give birth if they become pregnant than are married people (Fig. 4.5). Due to changes in survey groups and procedures, rigorous comparisons between different study periods, the former was from 1990 to 2000 and the latter was from 2002 to 2016, are not impossible. In all age groups except those aged 45+ , the values showed much fluctuation and it was hard to recognise the characteristic tendencies of each age groups. However, we can say that those aged 16–19 showed lower tendency to approve abortion while revealing higher tendencies not to approve than other age groups (Fig. 4.6). As for those aged 20–24, the tendency to approve abortion was as low as that of those aged 16–19 while they yielded the highest preference among all age groups towards ‘approve under certain circumstances’ with a fluctuation from 54% in 2004 to 75% in 2014. Among those aged 29–29, the fluctuation was very large in both approving abortion and disapproving abortion; the values of approving abortion ranged from 6% in 2004 to 17% in 2010 while the value of disapproving abortion ranged from 1% in 2012 to 13% in 2006.

I was angry at the father. None of the above

I felt sorry for the father.

I don’t remember.

5th(2010)

I blamed myself.

4th(2008)

Not a problem, since lots of women have aborƟons.

3rd(2006)

I was nervous about the operaƟon.

2nd(2004)

It was a necessary choice for my own life.

1st(2002)*1

7th(2014)

N.A.

I felt sorry for my parents.

I felt sorry for the foetus.

I felt liberated.

6th(2012)

8th(2016)

Fig. 4.4 Women’s feelings concerning abortion (2002–2016). Note *1 Up to 2 answers can be selected in 2002. After 2004, only one answer can be selected. *2 ‘I felt sorry for the father’ and ‘I felt sorry for my parents’ are filled with estimated values. Source Figure 7-3-6 in 3rd (2006); Figure 7-3-6 in 4th (2008); Figure 8-5-1 in 5th (2010); Figure 8-5-1 in 6th (2012); Figure 8-4-1 in 7th (2014); Figure 8-4-1 in 8th (2016) in Kitamura (2017)

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

4.4 Women’s Attitudes 51

52

4 Facts About Abortions

100% 90% D.K.

80% 70%

Disapprove

60% N.A.

50% 40%

Approve under certain circumstances Approve

30% 20% 10% 0% Single

Married

20th(1990)

Married 21st(1992)

Single

Married

22nd(1994)

Single

Married

23rd(1996)

Single

Married

24th(1998)

Single

Married

25th(2000)

Fig. 4.5 Women’s attitudes towards abortion (1990–2000). Source Singles: Question 42 (a) in 25th (2000); Married: Question 28 (a) in Mainichi Newspapers Population Problems Research Council (2005)

Those aged 30–34 showed lower tendency to approve abortion than other age groups. Those aged 35–39 yielded the highest approval towards abortion; the value was 21% in 2016. Those aged 40–44 marked a moderate tendency in both approval and disapproval of abortion. Those aged 45+ showed the trend of coming to approve abortion as time passed during this time frame (Fig. 4.6). In summary, abortions among those aged 16–19 have not decreased; however, among people in their 20s and older, they have. People tend to approve of abortions when prospective mothers are unmarried or unable to get married; however, many of those who undergo abortions have negative feelings about the experience. Some women may choose to become unwed mothers rather than blame themselves for having abortion.

Approve under certain circumstances

25-29 y/o Disapprove

30-34 y/o

Can't judge

35-39 y/o

None on the above

40-44 y/o

N.A.

45+ y/o 45-49 y/o

Fig. 4.6 Women’s attitudes towards Abortion (2002–2016). Source Question 35 in 1st (2002); Figure 7-3-1 in (2004); Figure 7-2-1 in 3rd (2006); Figure 7-2-1 in 4th (2008); Figure 8-1-1 in 5th (2010); Figure 8-1-1 (2012) in 6th (2012); Figure 8-1-1 in 7th (2014); Figure 8-1-1 in 8th (2016) in Kitamura (2017)

Approve

20-24 y/o

1st(2002) 2nd(2004) 3rd(2006) 4th(2008) 5th(2010) 6th(2012) 7th(2014) 8th(2016) 1st(2002) 2nd(2004) 3rd(2006) 4th(2008) 5th(2010) 6th(2012) 7th(2014) 8th(2016) 1st(2002) 2nd(2004) 3rd(2006) 4th(2008) 5th(2010) 6th(2012) 7th(2014) 8th(2016) 1st(2002) 2nd(2004) 3rd(2006) 4th(2008) 5th(2010) 6th(2012) 7th(2014) 8th(2016) 1st(2002) 2nd(2004) 3rd(2006) 4th(2008) 5th(2010) 6th(2012) 7th(2014) 8th(2016) 1st(2002) 2nd(2004) 3rd(2006) 4th(2008) 5th(2010) 6th(2012) 7th(2014) 8th(2016) 1st(2002) 2nd(2004) 3rd(2006) 4th(2008) 5th(2010) 6th(2012) 7th(2014) 8th(2016)

Under 20 y/o16-19 y/o

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

4.4 Women’s Attitudes 53

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4 Facts About Abortions

References Kitamura, Kunio. 2017. Dai 8-kai Danjo-no seikatsu-to ishiki-ni kansuru chosa hokokusho 2016nen: Nihonjin-no seiishiki, seikodo: The Eighth National Survey on Men’s and Women’s Life and Consciousness (CD-ROM) (in Japanese). Japan Family Planning Promotion Society. Mainichi Newspapers Population Problems Research Council (Mainichi Shimbun Sha Jinko Mondai Chosakai). 2005. Cho-shoshika Jidai-no Kazoku Ishiki Chosa Hokokusho (Dai 1-kai) (in Japanese). Tokyo: The Mainichi Newspapers Co. Ltd.

Chapter 5

Religion and Abortion: Focus on Mizuko Kuyo

Abstract Religion’s influence on sexual behaviour and reproduction has not been studied extensively in Japan. However, religion is clearly linked to reproductive practices in the nation, especially abortion. This is evidenced by 1980s political campaigns in which religious groups such as Seicho-no-Ie and the Catholics sought to exclude the condition on the Eugenic Protection Act that people can abort if that childbearing may cause harm to the women’s health due to the poverty which would be brought by the rearing of that child. Moreover, in Japan, religion is closely tied to practice. It was only in the 1970s that abortion came to be seen as murder from the viewpoint of fetocentrism. In the 1970s, some Buddhist circles created a new ‘religious’ service called Mizuko kuyo. Until the 1980s, women held Mizuko Kuyo to soothe the vengeful aborted being. After the 1990s, however, they used the service to confirm attachment to a source of comfort. Indeed, the meaning projected onto the foetus changed from a ‘vengeful being’ to a ‘source of comfort’, with the aid of a commercial ‘spiritual boom’. Keywords Mizuko kuyo · Abortion · Religion · Fetocentrism · Spiritual boom The influence of religion on sexual behaviour and reproduction has not been studied much in Japan. However, it is clear that religion is linked to reproductive practices, especially abortion, in Japan, as evidenced by the political campaign in the 1970s and 1980s by religious groups such as Seicho-no-Ie and Catholics to exclude the condition on the Eugenic Protection Act that people can abort if that childbearing may cause harm to the women’s health due to the poverty which would be brought by the rearing of that child. It was only in the 1970s that abortion came to be seen as murder, from the viewpoint of fetocentrism (Hardacre 1993). In the 1970s, there was a considerable number of women who had undergone abortion in the 1950s due to the financial difficulties of their household and who still held a sense of guilt for what they had done. At that time, some Buddhist circles created a new ‘religious’ service. That was the Mizuko kuyo. Mizuko literally means ‘water child’, expressing the mutability of life. Kuyo is a Buddhist ritual service.

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 Y. Senda, Pregnancy Outcomes of Unmarried Women in Japan (1995–2015), Population Studies of Japan, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-3549-6_5

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5.1 Changes in Meaning of Abortion Ogino (2008) has revealed how the decision of whether or not to have children, when to have them and to make those decisions on one’s own accord became a given since the Meiji era in modern Japan. Her study is significant in that it shed light to what was the preferred contraceptive method and how it was used, as well as what was not chosen and the reasons behind it. We are shown how the condom became the main choice of contraceptive in Japan, and that later arrivals of the more reliable methods such as the IUD and the pill never came to replace the condom. Ogino argues that those with vested interests, namely midwives and doctors, kept the new methods out of reach of their patients. Although the general public had heard of the IUD and the pill, they did not opt for it because obstetrician-gynaecologist stressed the risks that were involved. People were told that the IUD may get lost inside, and that oral contraceptives had strong side effects. Meanwhile, midwives, who were earning a considerable amount of extra income selling condoms, did not recommend alternative methods of contraception. Leaders of the women’s liberation movement were not so eager in introducing the pill, either. They regarded the pill as something forced upon women by men, and that taking it encouraged women’s passivity (Matsumoto 2005). It is common knowledge among researchers that, although the number of infanticide had remained relatively fixed at more or less 200 every year in the postwar period between 1955 and 1978 according to the crime statistics compiled by the police and those by the courts, in 1973 there was a steep rise in the number of newspaper articles written on the abuse, desertion, or murder of children (Nakano 1980; Kurusu 1982). There were certain instances behind this phenomenon in 1973 which concerned children’s lives and they demanded wide attention from the general public. Three in particular may be pointed out: (a) Investigations were conducted on child abuse, desertion, and murder by the Ministry of Justice and then the Ministry of Health and Welfare (hereafter, MHW). (b) A doctor by the name of Noboru Kikuta was found to have been acting as a mediator for adoptions of unwanted babies. Dr. Kikuta acted under the strong belief that abortions after the 8 months of pregnancy should be abolished, and persuaded women who came to his clinic for abortions to give birth instead. When the baby was born, he signed the birth certificate showing the names of adoptive parents as the biological parents of the child, which was an illegal act. (c) There was much debate at the Diet over the deletion of ‘financial reasons’ from the enlisted conditions for lawful abortion under the Eugenic Protection Act (Tama 2001). Tama (2001) elucidates the way in which newspaper articles reported stories and how the ‘reality’ of infanticide was structured by them and the social phenomenon where people accepted such ‘reality’ as presented by journalism in relation to the Ideology of Motherhood. Put plainly, all responsibility over a child’s life fell exclusively on the mother’s shoulders under the concept of Motherhood, and the father’s was all but dismissed.

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Such attitude is comparable towards abortion. Today, in Japan, abortion is a crime punishable by law. However, the Maternal Protection Act (the Eugenic Protection Act amended, est. 1948) pronounces it legal under certain conditions (Tama 2001). In the 1950s, abortion was justified on the premise of ‘protecting the mother’s health’. In 1949, the MHW approved contraceptive medication such as emmenagogues or spermicides as a means of birth control, suggesting to the nation that having a smaller family was the key to happiness. However, in the absence of quality control, the drugs failed many who used it and abortion was the only solution left (Ota 1991). The Eugenic Protection Act was amended in 1952, and procedures necessary for abortion were simplified. At the same time, a clause was added in the article stating education and practice of birth control as necessary. In this way, abortion was made easy under the pretence of the idea of ‘family planning’ and the actual method spread throughout the country. Abortion was affirmed for the realisation of a wholesome, cultured, enjoyable, rewarding, happy family life, a familial ideal that was distinctive to the postwar period. Since then, criticism from the West accusing Japan to be an ‘abortion-seeker’s paradise’ and the anti-abortion movement lead by cult religion Seicho-No-Ie gave rise to a new consciousness of ‘abortion as murder’. Catholics went along this movement. Nabatame (1980) and Nippon Kyobun-Sha (1983) are good examples of such a standpoint. Norgren (2001) claims that this frame of mind regarding the foetus as human which was developed in the 1970s and 1980s is alive and well today below the surface. Still, the premise of ‘abortion is murder’ only holds for abortions practiced by married couples. It does not quite apply to pregnancies out of marriages. Indeed, even as of 1990, there was social disapproval concerning pregnancy resulting from sexual activity between unmarried couples, regarding it to be immoral and deserving termination, and abortion was seen as the solution to a problem (Yoshizumi 1993; Tama 2001).

5.2 Mizuko: From Vengeful Being to Source of Comfort Memorial services for the mizuko (‘mizuko kuyo’) came into being in the 1970s as a new kind of religious ritual. In 1974, there was a series of events that generated popular interest in the occult, i.e. the release of the film ‘The Exorcist’, the selfproclaimed psychic Uri Geller’s visit to Japan and the publication of Kokkurisan no Himitsu, a book on kokkurisan, the Japanese version of table-turning. This ‘occult boom’ provided the backdrop for mizuko kuyo. The term mizuko originally referred to newborn babies, but today it is used to mean foetuses and babies that were unborn due to abortion, miscarriage, or stillbirth (Iwata and Omi 2020). Initially, however, when the practice of mizuko kuyo began, mizuko was used more specifically to refer to the aborted foetus. Although mizuko kuyo has mainly been provided at Buddhist temples, there is no authority for such rituals in Buddhist scriptures. In response to the media blitz on

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mizuko-kuyo in the 1970s, where advertisements magnified the image of the foetus being angry and haunting due to failure in performing proper rituals, Buddhist priests and academics in the field of religion showed their criticism, denouncing mizuko kuyo as a product of commercialism. S. Takahashi (1999) claims that the practice of mizuko kuyo dwindled in the 1990s. However, Fujii (2008), a scholar of religious studies and a Jodo-sect Buddhist monk, argues that in future, three types of religious services, namely the eitai kuyo (perpetual religious services for the deceased), pet kuyo (services for the family pet), and mizuko kuyo, will be essential in running temples. Fujii (2008) is a business book for temples looking to the launch of mizuko kuyo as a new service to be provided. Furthermore, Morishita (2011) recommends the ‘mizuko funeral’, which would be more elaborate than the mizuko kuyo. There can be no doubt that the mizuko kuyo was part of a business strategy for temples at least up to the 2010s. Today, in place of expensive services or funerals provided on-site, consumers can purchase ‘mizuko kuyo stones’ online for as cheap as 1,500 yen. Mizuko kuyo can be said to have become an accepted religious or folk ritual among the Japanese people. Iwata and Omi (2020) write that mizuko kuyo ‘is a religious practice that is found intriguing by foreigners, although Japanese people themselves see nothing out of the ordinary about it’ (p. 120) and that, since the 1990s, the practice has spread to Korea, Taiwan, and China. By the 1980s, mizuko kuyo had already become an object of study for Japanese researchers. S. Takahashi (1999) categorises research done in Japan in the 1980s into three groups. They are (a) those that examine its religious meaning from an academic perspective, (b) appraisal by people connected to religious institutions who affirm or deny its religious significance, and (c) those examined within the sociological framework, such as analyses on the connection between mizuko kuyo and the social psychology of anxiety in an economically stable society. As a matter of fact, study on mizuko kuyo has more actively been conducted in Europe and North America. This is probably due to the fact that researchers with Christian backgrounds are able to see more clearly the religious contradictions of mizuko kuyo, compared to their Japanese counterparts. Under Christianity, abortion is as an act of taking another’s life, which is a sin. Therefore, the fact that the teachings of a religion, which should value life, should not condemn the act of abortion but rather forgive the woman who had no other choice than to do it is viewed as an incongruity (Iwata and Omi 2020), and its interpretation became the target of interest for many Western academics. Smith (2013) mentioned that the first literature on mizuko kuyo released in English appears to be that by Brooks (1981). Smith (2013) has done a concise and accurate overview on the trend of studies from 1981 to 2012 in English on mizuko kuyo. LaFleur (1992) and Hardacre (1993) are particularly well-known to have been translated into Japanese and inspired many Japanese scholars. LaFleur’s (1992) Japanese translation was printed in 2006, and Hardacre’s (1993) was issued in 2017. These two studies present opposing views on mizuko kuyo. According to LaFleur (1992), the population plateau of Japan during the Edo period of the 1820s to the mid-nineteenth century was achieved through the combined practice of infanticide

5.2 Mizuko: From Vengeful Being to Source of Comfort

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and abortion by people ‘culling’ human beings in the same manner that they culled crops for a harvest of better quality. However, the intention was to ‘return’ the child to the other world, hoping it would later be reborn into another life. In this way, during the Edo-era, such acts were not related to the sense of guilt because they believed that infants killed before their first breath would be reborn at a better time. However, because of the permeation of fetocentrism in the 1970s, parents of the ‘culled’ child came to feel a sense of guilt for living safely with the rest of the family at the sacrifice of that child. They show their ‘apology’ to the child with the wish to confirm that, even though they have done the horrible act of taking the life of their own child, they still have human feelings and consideration for other people. To them, mizuko kuyo is an opportunity to admit to sinning and to make the apology. LaFleur (1992) asserts the importance of accepting this positive therapeutic function. On the other hand, Hardacre (1993) stresses mizuko kuyo’s commercial side, provided as a marketable product during Japan’s economically strong 1970s towards women who resorted to abortion for financial reasons in the 1950s. The mizuko supposedly haunted the women if they were not given proper rituals, and the women, frightened or guilt-ridden, were driven into paying for the service. In this way, mizuko kuyo is portrayed in a negative light. Moreover, Hardacre makes no mention of such view of life and death as asserted by LaFleur (1992), where the child that is ‘returned’ to the other world immediately after birth will be incarnated in the next life. According to Hardacre (1993), people had come to regard foetuses as human beings by the 1970s, and that the idea of the angry mizuko terrifying the mother comes from the rhetoric of fetocentrism. Modern Japanese society is generally intolerant of abortion and the women who choose to abort. Even nurses have negative attitudes towards them. Until relatively recently, there was no psychological care provided by medical practitioners or nurses to those who underwent abortion. However, abortion can have adverse effects on women in many different ways (Hibino 2005). Thus, it was eventually understood that women who had an abortion needed specific nursing care, with more focus on their mental health. The first study to discuss mizuko kuyo from this perspective is probably M. Takahashi (1993). M. Takahashi suggests that those who look to mizuko kuyo are women who felt attached to the aborted foetus or those who had strongly been against abortion but had no other choice. The aforementioned researches are all in agreement that women decide to have mizuko kuyo out of guilt, and that mizuko kuyo was done for the mizuko, not for themselves. Contrarily, Hibino (2005) discovered that women who terminated their pregnancies had mizuko kuyo for themselves, as well. It was revealed that the women had positive moods such as feeling ‘ties’ (together, precious),1 ‘in good spirits’ (happy, feel well) and ‘love’ (love, like) as frequently as the negative moods of feeling ‘depressed’ (sad, painful) or ‘self-blame’ (feel apologetic, sorry). Although in a negative mood, women who experienced abortion brought forth their positive feelings for the aborted foetus calling it ‘my baby’ and bearing warm feelings of ‘ties’ and ‘good spirits’ and ‘love’ in an effort to hold themselves together. 1

Words in parentheses were used by the women themselves to describe their feelings.

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It is of academic significance that Hibino (2005) found that mizuko kuyo functioned as a form of psychological care for women who had abortions. It is unfortunate, then, that the findings have yet to realise actual mental health programmes for these women because of ‘spiritual boom’. The ‘spiritual boom’ of the 2000s began as a business (Hashisako 2019). In that regard, it is similar to mizuko kuyo. The term spiritual is unlike the original English, however, in that it does not have that profound connotation. Some examples of spiritual may include going to a therapist or astrologer. The purpose is to receive help without putting in one’s own effort (Arimoto 2011). There is more literature on the lines of women being spiritually nourished from the experience of abortion. Ikegawa (2008) supports the idea of mizuko being a source of spiritual fulfilment for the women. Ikegawa, an obstetrician and the only researcher in Japan working on prenatal memory, emphasised the view that the mizuko leads its mother towards spiritual growth. He goes so far as to claim that, if the mother can only learn it through the experience of a miscarriage, the foetus, in being sacrificed, might teach its mother the dignity of life (p. 184). In Ikegawa’s view, the foetus is telling its mother the importance of life by being aborted. Once women receive the message from the foetus and acknowledge it, they visit temples for services, talk to their child and ‘mourn’ for it, thereby confirming the bond of mother and child. In this way, the aborted foetus becomes her ‘child’ (Matsuura 2006). They may talk to the aborted child online as if it were still alive somewhere by saying, for example, ‘I love you,’ ‘How are you?’ or sometimes even complaining, ‘Your daddy said he didn’t want you, but Mummy still loves Daddy’ (Matsuura 2007). Today, women no longer go to the temples for mizuko kuyo for fear of ‘the mizuko’s vengeance’ as in the 1970s. The mizuko is a dear child that was lost, and mizuko kuyo is done to pray for its happiness. In addition, today’s mizuko kuyo is showing a new trend of including unborn lives of any kind that had once lived in the mother’s uterus, such as those in fertility treatment, to be defined as mizuko (Suzuki 2017). The spiritualist Ryukoh (2018) understood mizuko as including not just the aborted child, but the unborn foetuses from stillbirths and miscarriages, as well as the newborn babies who do not survive. Ryukoh argues that not being born is the life chosen by the foetus, and this need not be mourned by the mother. On the whole, the mizuko concept is somewhat vague. It represents both forgiveness and comfort for the person who had to choose to abort. In modern times, memorial services for the mizuko provide solace for the woman who could not give birth to the child. However, this study focuses on women who chose to give birth when they discovered being pregnant while unmarried, and not those who, under the same conditions, decided to terminate their pregnancy and have mizuko kuyo. What were the contributing factors that led them to choose differently? It might depend on the choice between the ‘fetocentrism’ and ‘spiritual’. Or not the mental mood but the material conditions such as income and occupation might have effect on the decision. Or again, the mixture of them. We will further investigate discourses on unmarried mothers in Chap. 6.

References

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References Arimoto, Yumiko. 2011. Spiritual Shijo-no Kenkyu (in Japanese). Tokyo: Toyo Keizai Shinposha. Brooks, Anne Page. 1981. “Mizuko kuy¯o” and Japanese Buddhism. Japanese Journal of Religious Studies (Nanzan University) 8 (3/4): 119–147. Fujii, Masao. 2008 Korekara-no Mizuko Kuyo Unei Jissen Koza (in Japanese). Tokyo: Shikisha. Hardacre, Helen. 1993. Marketing the Menacing Fetus in Japan. Berkeley: University of California Press. Hashisako, Mizuho. 2019. Uranai-wo Matou Shojo-tachi: Zassi “My Birthday” to Spirituality. Tokyo: Seikyusha. Hibino, Yuri. 2005. Chuzetsu-wo keikenshita jyosei-no supirichuariti (in Japanese). Nihon Kango Kagaku Kaishi 25 (3): 3–11. Ikegawa, Akira. 2008. Mama, Sayonara. Arigato (in Japanese). Tokyo: Futami Shobo. Iwata, Fumiaki, and Toshihiro Omi. 2020. Shitte Okitai Nihon-no Shukyo (in Japanese). Kyoto: Minerva Shobo. Kurusu, Eiko. 1982. Kogoroshi-no haikei-no suii (in Japanese). In Kogoroshi, Oyagoroshi-no Haikei “Oyashirazu, Koshirazu-no Jidai”-wo Kangaeru, ed. Kinko Nakatani, 35–81. Tokyo: Yuhikaku. LaFleur, William R. 1992. Liquid Life: Abortion and Buddhism in Japan. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Matsumoto, Ayako. 2005. Piru-ha Naze Kangei Sarenainoka (in Japanese). Tokyo: Keiso Shobo. Matsuura, Yumiko. 2006. “Tomurai”-no poritikusu: Ideorogi toshiteno mizuko kuyo (in Japanese). Tagen Bunka (Nagoya University) 6: 29–42. Matsuura, Yumiko. 2007. Denshi mizuko: Intanetto kukan-ni okeru aratana mizuko kuyo-no tenkai (in Japanese). Tagen Bunka (Nagoya University) 7: 1–14. Morishita, Eibin. 2011. Mizuko-no Ososhiki: Ai-to Iyashi-ga Kokoro-ni Mezameru (in Japanese). Tokyo: Gendai Shorin. Nabatame, Shoichi. 1980. Yami-ni Naku Taijitachi: Jinko Ninshin Chuzetsu (in Japanese). Tokyo: Senbunsha. Nakano, Kinko. 1980. Kogoroshi-no hoteki sokumen (in Japanese). In Nihon-no Kogoroshi-no Kenkyu, ed. Yasuyuki Sasaki, 101–131. Tokyo: Kobundo Shuppansha. Nippon Kyobun-Sha. 1983. Taiji-wa Ningen-dewa Nai-noka: Yusei Hogo Hou-no Mondai-ten (in Japanese). Tokyo: Nippon Kyobun-Sha. Norgren, Tiana. 2001. Abortion Before Birth Control: The Politics of Reproduction in Postwar Japan. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Ogino, Miho. 2008. “Kazoku Keikaku” heno Michi: Gendai Nihon-no Seisyoku-wo Meguru Seiji (in Japanese). Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten. Ota, Motoko. 1991. Shoshika-to kindai shakai-no kosodate: Mabiki no Shakai-shi (in Japanese). In Kazoku-no Shakai-shi, ed. Chizuko Ueno et al., 163–179. Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten. Ryukoh, Nana. 2018. Dannasama-ha Yurei Reikai Dayori (in Japanese). Tokyo: East Press. Smith, Bardwell L. 2013. Narratives of Sorrow and Dignity: Japanese Women, Pregnancy Loss, and Modern Rituals of Grieving. New York: Oxford University Press. Suzuki, Yuriko. 2017. Mizuko kuyo-ni miru taijikan-no henkan (Minzoku girei-no henyo-ni kansuru shiryoronteki kenkyu) (in Japanese). Kokutitsu Rekshi Minzoku Hakubutsukan Kenkyu Hokoku (Bulletin of the National Museum of Japanese History) 205: 157–209. Takahashi, Mari. 1993. Mizuko kuyosha-no shinrikatei-to tokucho (in Japanese). Nihon Kango Gakkai-Shi (Japan Journal of Nursing Science) 13 (3): 282–283. Takahashi, Saburo. 1999. Mizuko Kuyo: Gendai Shakai-no Fuan-to Iyashi (in Japanese). Kyoto: Koro-sha. Tama, Yasuko. 2001. Boseiai-toiu Seido: Kogoroshi-to Chuzetsu-no Poritikusu (in Japanese). Tokyo: Keiso Shobo. Yoshizumi, Kyoko. 1993. Kongaishi-no Shakaigaku (in Japanese). Kyoto: Sekaishisosha.

Chapter 6

Discourses About Unmarried Mother

Abstract There are several books on unmarried mother in Japan. Of these, 12 were analysed because they met the following non-fiction criteria: ‘Japanese women’s case in Japan’, ‘personal experience or report instead of how-to or support guide’, ‘printed book (hardcopy)’, and ‘non-comic book’. These publications were categorised into the following themes: ‘unmarried mothers’ dependence on the adult entertainment business for livelihood’, ‘cycle of poverty’, ‘types of births outside of legal marriages’, ‘opposition to discrimination against children of extramarital relationships’, and ‘moving beyond existing frameworks’. It is logical to assume that first-hand reports have limited the effect on readers’ decision to become unmarried mothers themselves because those books describe the misery of unwed mothers or the stories of women whose lives are unconventional. Indeed, one can rationally expect a greater likelihood that people are influenced by the lifestyle choices of those around them rather than books. Keywords Unmarried mother · Cycle of poverty · ‘Non-legal’ couple · Discrimination · Extramarital birth There are several books on unmarried women in Japan. The author searched1 the terms ‘mi-kon’ (not yet married), ‘hi-kon’ (unmarried), ‘kongai-shi’ (children out of wedlock), or ‘shinguru maza’ (single mother) on CiNii (https://ci.nii.ac.jp/), a search system of books owned by a university in Japan, and found 179 titles (33, 4, 26, and 116 books, respectively). By searching Amazon.co.jp (https://www.amazon. co.jp/) using the same keywords, 1247 titles were found (98, 4, 103, and 1042 books, respectively). Among them, 12 books were selected for further analysis because they met the criteria of being: ‘non-fiction’, ‘Japanese women’s case in Japan’, ‘one’s own experience or report instead of how-to or suggesting necessary support for them’, ‘printed book’, and ‘not comic book’. The books were Senda (1975), Marumo (1987), Takasaka (1992), Kira (1992), Yoshizumi (1992, 1993, 1997), Konsa-kai (2004), Aoto (2009), Okawa (2016), Hajihata (2018), and Sakatsume (2019).

1

The search results were reconfirmed on 25 February 2021.

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 Y. Senda, Pregnancy Outcomes of Unmarried Women in Japan (1995–2015), Population Studies of Japan, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-3549-6_6

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6.1 Unmarried Mothers’ Dependence on the Adult Entertainment Business for Livelihood The content of Senda’s (1975) ‘Daiyonshou: Kozure hosutesu no sekai [Chapter 4: World of a Hostess with a Child]’ and Sakatsume (2019) are shockingly similar, although they were published 44 years apart. Both depict the merciless realities faced by a woman without much education who become pregnant when she was unwed. This circumstance leads her to become a hostess or deriheru (dispatched sex service) worker to pay for her needs and that of her child. These occupations are draining, but dorms and day care are attractive benefits not many other jobs or government services offer. As such, the sex industry is the third major ‘social resource’ for single mothers, after their mothers and government parenting support (Sakatsume 2019, p. 52). However, this type of work can be physically and emotionally strenuous, and they will no longer be able to use the dorm or day care once their children are older. Thus, they do not have any long-term plans to continue as a sex worker. Nevertheless, they have low prospects for other employment and are worried about their future.

6.2 Cycle of Poverty Aoto (2009) describes the cycle of poverty illustrated by children raised in financial instability or in families with unstable couple or parental relationships. These children grow up to start unstable families themselves. Poor, isolated young people who could not financially or emotionally rely on their parents enter dependent relationships through sex, become pregnant, and have babies but are unable to find stable employment as high school drop-outs. The husband, too, is typically mentally or employment-wise unstable, so the marriage itself is unstable. Some become unwed mothers. Okawa (2016) notes that women who have low academic selfesteem become mothers in their teens, make life plans, and increase their self-esteem through the experience of raising the child enthusiastically, which makes them feel like good mothers. Once a woman decides to have the baby, many get married to the father during the pregnancy, but some become victims of domestic violence. Unwed mothers also find themselves in situations where the father is underaged and cannot get married under Japanese law, men must be aged 18 years or older to get married. However, some choose to abort their baby when they have little hope of being able to raise the unborn child.

6.3 Types of Births Outside of Legal Marriages Yoshizumi (1993) analysed 138 cases of extramaritally pregnant women (60 of whom chose to give birth and 78 of whom chose abortion) who visited a hospital in Osaka

6.3 Types of Births Outside of Legal Marriages

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City between 1975 and 1977 and classified the women’s relationships with the children’s fathers into nine types. She found that delivery was chosen more often when they were living together (cohabitation or de facto marriage) or in a shotgun marriage relationship. Abortion was selected more often by engaged partners (single partner, with intention to get married, living separately). The higher rate of abortions among engaged partners was because the publicity of premarital sexual relationships would ruin their reputation. Yoshizumi (1997) further conducted a survey on the lifestyles of ‘non-legal’ couples and the motives that led them to become one. ‘Non-legal’ couple is a term used by Yoshizumi to refer to couples who either do not feel the necessity to have their marital relationship recognised by the government, are against the Japanese couplebased family system, whose relationship is a union where one of them already has a de jure marriage, and so on. The survey subjects were members of groups campaigning against discrimination towards children outside of marriages and for the legalisation of couples having different surnames, and the acquaintances of such members. She found that the female respondents were relatively highly educated and were highincome earners. Around 40% of them had unwed children and 30% belonged to groups against discrimination against unwedded children.

6.4 Opposition to Discrimination Against Children of Extramarital Relationships Konsa-kai (Group to fight discrimination against children born outside of marriage; 2004) claims that discrimination against children outside of marriage should be eradicated, following the footsteps of Yoshizumi (1992). This group advocates for the victims of the presumption of legitimacy (i.e. children born within 300 days of divorce are assumed to be the child of the ex-husband) and discrimination against children born outside of marriage in the Child Care Allowance. The group has raised concerns over issues such as the following: why should women not have children without being married?; why are children born outside of marriage pitied and discriminated against?; why are legitimate and illegitimate children treated differently on the family registry or in welfare services? The group has demanded changes in social perceptions and reforms to the system.

6.5 Moving Beyond Existing Frameworks Some unmarried mothers have published stories of their lives. Four books were chosen for their abundant description out of the twelve from the search result mentioned at the beginning of this chapter.

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Jun Marumo (1987) falls in love with a married man and becomes pregnant after convincing her partner that she will raise their child as a single mother. Yet, when the news is disclosed by the press and the man’s family discovers his infidelity, he breaks off the relationship. Marumo decides that a man who refuses to become a father of his own child cannot, in essence, be the father. At the same time, she feels that wanting to become a mother is a ‘woman’s nature’ (p. 187). At the same time, she raises the child with the understanding that ‘the life of this child no longer belongs to me. This child will have its own wonderful life of its own’ (p. 71). The author describes her happiness in breastfeeding the baby and receiving her mother’s help in caring for it. Hiromi Kira (1992) is an editorial writer who dates actively but has long announced that she ‘will never marry’. In her 20s, she is set on remaining unwed and childless, but things change after turning 35: ‘While I’m in no rush to have a child, if I get pregnant by mistake, I’m keeping it!’ (p. 21). She feels that now she can raise a child without having to compromise on the way she wants to live her life, such as never undertaking a job that goes against her beliefs or never marrying (p. 253). Her choice not to marry is inspired by her feminist politics. She begins a romantic relationship with a university student who is 14 years younger than her and soon finds out that she is pregnant despite taking contraceptive measures. At the age of 39, she gives birth to her first child. Two years later, her second child is born under similar circumstances. When she announces her first pregnancy to her partner, he, after thinking it over for several days, tells her: ‘I don’t know what the future brings and I’m not ready to become a father, but being with you makes me happy, and I don’t want to lose that. If you want to have this child, I will help you in whatever way I can’ (p. 27). He comes along to parenting classes and moves in with her before the arrival of their child. Both the mother and her de facto husband participate in raising the child. Her husband is someone with whom she shares ‘a partnership based on love and trust’ (p. 260), though his parents do not accept the arrangement even after four years. The fact that she herself was born out of wedlock and suffered from discrimination was one of the reasons why she never wanted a child, but she comes to see the discrimination against such children as the actual problem. The book became a daytime television drama series in 1993. Miki Takasaka (1992) owns a colour consulting business and is a colour consultant herself. She becomes pregnant by her illicit lover of eight years. While the pregnancy is completely unforeseen, she believes that ‘the task of raising this child has been given to me either by God or by my ancestors’ and that ‘it’s just a matter of lending my body as its home for 10 months. All I have to do is help him or her become independent. This child just needed a little bit of my traits and a little bit of his’ (p. 34). Through her professional network, Takasaka finds a new home and a babysitter to help her outside of crèche hours. She says that ‘unmarried mothers’ tend to be seen as loose women who end up getting pregnant even though they’re not married. ‘Single mothers’, on the other hand, are simply a mother and single. It’s just an explanation of how things are. That’s the magic of words’ (p. 234). She decides it is better to be ‘single’ because, as she puts it, ‘There’s no way I’m going to live my life getting angry at my partner every time my partner expresses his selfish need, be it sex, housework or raising children’ (p. 236). She also enjoys being a ‘mother’. She was not aware of

6.5 Moving Beyond Existing Frameworks

67

any disadvantage that the child may face by being born illegitimate, but now sees a need to change family registry entries due to the fact that ‘unnecessary distinctions could lead to discrimination’ (p. 203). Atsuko Hajihata (2018) is a single mother who voluntarily chose to have a child without being married. She differs from the previous three women in that, initially, instead of getting pregnant by a man she loves, she attempts alternative ways to get pregnant. She just wants a child without a husband or partner and raise the child with her friends. Her story became well-known when her lifestyle was featured on a television documentary show, entitled The Non-Fiction. Never comfortable in groups, Hajihata sought to build a ‘third place’ after graduating high school that was neither home, school, or workplace, because she was influenced by various individuals who had chosen to live outside of organisational structures. As part of this effort, she made a section of her home an ‘open living’ place for socialising, started a stall with friends, and actively connected with individuals through social networks. In the midst of this, Hajihata had the idea of ‘having children and raising them amongst friends’. Instead of closing off her family by getting married, she would try to raise the child in an ‘open’ family made up of friends supporting each other. To pursue this ambition, she tries many measures. For example, she looks for a man who would agree to contract-based coitus for the sole purpose to conceive. She also tries to conceive through self-administered artificial insemination with the help of a gay couple with whom she makes an agreement to raise the child together, which ends in failure. In the end she becomes pregnant by a man named Shohei whom she falls in love with. Her daughter, Hikari, was born in the autumn of 2017, and they currently live in a tenement house in Osaka, where friends help out in raising her child while Shohei lives in Tokyo as he used to. For Hajihata, her family includes friends who live near her and Hikari and share her childrearing. However, she has not been able to identify the relationship with Shohei until now. In Japan, the majority of people regards marriage and pregnancy as inseparable. However, new family forms are emerging, including lesbian couples with children and single mothers who look after each other’s children. Hajihata drew on these people’s practices and created her ideal ‘family’. It may be informative for the reader to see, for example, the way these writers built their relationships with their partners, how they felt when they decided to have the child, and the way they prepared for the arrival of the baby and raised their children. Among them, the way they felt when they decided to have the child was interesting. The women who kept the child, had, for example, been struck by the inspiration that ‘the task of raising this child has been given to me either by God or by my ancestors’ (Takasaka 1992), had a clear opinion on maternal separation such as, ‘the life of this child does not belong to me. This child will have its own wonderful life’ (Marumo 1987, p. 71), or had confidence backed by a career, in the manner that she may feel, ‘I can raise a child without having to compromise on the fundamentals of how I lives my life’ (Kira 1992, p. 235). Having said that, the majority of the readership may find it difficult to relate to the authors as they do not have the ‘average’ kinds of jobs, being a writer or specialist and entrepreneur.

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6 Discourses About Unmarried Mother

It would be safe to say that firsthand reports have limited effect as to the amount of influence they may have on the readers’ decision to become unmarried mothers themselves. No ordinary person would want to become one after reading documentaries on the misery of unwed mothers driven into selling their bodies to make a living and being in a cycle of poverty, such as in Sects. 6.1 and 6.2. The two succeeding Sects. 6.3 and 6.4 of this chapter, may provide practical information to those who empathise with people suffering from discrimination against children of extramarital relationships, so much so that they would become one of them in order to add number to the minority, thus hoping to eventually eliminate such discrimination. They would be able to know more about the ‘types of extramarital births’ and the situations surrounding unwed mothers and their children. At any rate, we can assume that there is a greater chance for people to be influenced by those around them than by books. Rindfuss et al. (2004) indicate that individual norms regarding nontraditional family behaviours such as cohabitation and nonmarital birth can change towards being more tolerant when one comes to know that their acquaintances have chosen such lifestyles.

References Aoto, Yasushi. 2009. Dokyumento Koko Chutai: Ima, Hinkon-ga Umareru Basho (in Japanese). Tokyo: Chikumashobo. Hajihata, Atsuko. 2018. Futsu-no Hikon Shussan Singuru Maza, Atarasii “Kazoku”-wo Ikiru (in Japanese). Tokyo: East Press. Konsa-kai (Group to Fight Discrimination against Children Born outside of Marriage). 2004. Hikonno Oya-to Kongaishi: Sabetsunaki Asu-ni Mukatte (in Japanese). Tokyo: Aoki Shoten. Kira, Hiromi. 1992. Shijuku Mama-no Shussan Kosodateki: Hikon, Konen, Gutara, Binbo (in Japanese). Tokyo: Bunensha. Marumo, Jun. 1987. Ai-ha Furin-wo Koete: Hikon-no Haha-no Ki (in Japanese). Tokyo: Shufu to Seikatsu Sha. Okawa, Satoko. 2016. 10dai-no Haha-toiu Raifu Sutairu: Shussan -wo Sentakusita Shakaiteki Keiken-ni Chakumokusite (in Japanese). Kyoto: Koyoshobo. Rindfuss, R.R., M.K. Choe, L.L. Bumpass, and N.O. Tsuya. 2004. Social Networks and Family Change in Japan. American Sociological Review 69 (6): 838–861. Sakatsume, Shingo. 2019. Sei Fuzoku Singuru Maza: Chihotoshi-ni okeru Jyosei-to Kodomo-no Hinkon (in Japanese). Tokyo: Shueisha. Senda, Kako. 1975. Mikon-no Haha: Kaga Mariko-kara Kozure Hosutesu-made Atarasii Seimoraru-no Kyozo-to Genjitsu (in Japanese). Tokyo: Futabasha. Takasaka, Miki. 1992. Arara, “Hikon Mama”-ni nattyatta!: Unde Mitai Onna-to, Kokai Shitakunai Otoko-he (in Japanese). Tokyo: Geibunsya. Yoshizumi, Kyoko. 1992. Hikon-wo Ikitai: Kongaishi-no Sabetsu-wo Tou (in Japanese). Tokyo: Aoki Shoten. Yoshizumi, Kyoko. 1993. Kongaishi-no Shakaigaku (in Japanese). Kyoto: Sekaishisosha. Yoshizumi, Kyoko. 1997. “Kindai Kazoku”-wo Koeru: Hihoritsukon Kappuru-no Koe (in Japanese). Tokyo: Aoki Shoten.

Chapter 7

Effects of Occupation and Year on Pregnancy Outcomes of Unmarried Women

Abstract We quantitatively analysed data from the Report of Vital Statistics: Occupational and Industrial Aspects (FYs 1995, 2000, 2005, 2010, and 2015), compiled by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, to determine the factors that lead to differing pregnancy outcomes among unmarried women according to the year and mothers’ occupations. We ran a multinomial logistic regression analysis on pregnancy outcomes and years. The mothers’ occupations and the survey year were entered into the analysis as dummy variables, indicating each combination of values for the two variables, with the reference variable of ‘unemployed × 2015’. The results revealed the rising extra-marital fertility in very recent Japan while there was still a disparity of intensity among occupations. The results also revealed a tendency towards either unmarried motherhood or artificial foetal death rather than shotgun marriages among those with service and sales jobs. In recent years, the same shift was seen among manufacturing workers. The pregnancy outcomes of those in managerial positions also tended towards unmarried motherhood rather than artificial foetal death. Further discussion took place regarding wages, employment stability, and individual circumstances. We identified three subgroups of mother–child families: those who enjoyed high income and stability, those who lacked high income but had stability, and those who had neither. The first subgroup largely represented women in managerial positions, the second mostly comprised women in manufacturing, and the third included women in sales and service. Even in Japan, it is likely that a certain percentage of them are ‘single mothers by choice’ (SMC; Mattes, Single Mothers by Choice: A Guidebook for Single Women Who Are Considering or Have Chosen Motherhood, Harmony, New York, 1994). Keywords Vital Statistics · Unmarried mother · Women’s occupation · Stability of employment · SMC As argued in the preceding chapters, we can estimate that unmarried pregnant women are more likely to give birth to children without getting married recently. Likewise, there would be differences in their social status once they become mothers. However, it is difficult to directly verify this hypothesis because of the lack of data on pregnancy or childbirth out of wedlock. Instead, in this chapter, we try to estimate some superficial characteristics and the changing trends through quantitative analysis © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 Y. Senda, Pregnancy Outcomes of Unmarried Women in Japan (1995–2015), Population Studies of Japan, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-3549-6_7

69

70

7 Effects of Occupation and Year on Pregnancy …

of data from the financial years 1995–2015 Report of Vital Statistics: Occupational and Industrial Aspects. The Government of Japan collects information about all childbirths and stillbirths (after 12 weeks of pregnancy). The MHLW routinely conducts this work, and the results are annually published as vital statistics. In addition, every five years, when the last digit of the financial year is either 0 or 5, the MHLW collects information on the occupation and socioeconomic status of the mother and father from those reporting the notification of childbirth or stillbirth. These data are published in the Report of Vital Statistics: Occupational and Industrial Aspects. According to Article 33 of the Statistics Act, the author had an opportunity to provide the raw data for this report from the MHLW in financial years 1995, 2000, 2005, 2010, and 2015 (the current one) for a study funded by a grant by JPSS; JP17K09109. These data are useful for describing trends in women’s fertility behaviours out of wedlock over the past 20 years.

7.1 Data and Method 7.1.1 Constructing Analytical Dataset The MHLW provided datasets of live birth and stillbirth cases from the Report of Vital Statistics: Occupational and Industrial Aspects for FY 1995, FY 2000, FY 2005, FY 2010, and FY 2015. They included a total of 5,492,445 cases of live birth and 156,999 cases of foetal death (after 12 weeks of pregnancy; 70,705 spontaneous foetal deaths and 86,294 artificial foetal deaths). Note that the data do not include cases of stillbirth and abortion before 12 weeks of pregnancy because such cases are outside the survey framework. This means that the data do not include information about cases of abortion in early stages of pregnancy, even although such cases frequently occur (Chap. 3). In other words, the data recorded outcomes of all pregnancies reaching the 12th week in Japan during each financial year surveyed.1 The author combined these datasets by supplementing the data of live births with that of stillbirths.2 These data inform on the legitimacy of the child, which indicate whether the mother and father were legally married at the date of birth registration.3 Among such cases where the father and the mother were legally married, the author regarded those as shotgun marriages when couples had their first children within seven months of their marriages. Hereafter, we use the term ‘married pregnancies’ to refer to the pregnancies within marriages, while we use the term ‘shotgun marriage’ to imply the pregnancies within seven months of marriages. Moreover, we use the 1

Only the cases with Japanese mothers were studied in this research. In Japan, only foetal deaths after the 12 gestation weeks are included in Vital Statistics. Hereafter, we use the term ‘stillbirth’ to refer to the foetal deaths after the 12 gestation. 3 The law allows a simultaneous registration of the marriage of the couples and the birth of their children, if the fathers report this information to the local governmental office. 2

7.1 Data and Method

71

term ‘out-of-wedlock childbirth’ to refer to cases where the fathers and mothers were not legally married at the date of birth registration. Live birth cases are divided into three categories. Stillbirth cases are both spontaneous and artificial. We exclude the former cases because spontaneous stillbirth is not an intentional outcome. Finally, the dataset has four categories for outcomes of pregnancy: married pregnancy, shotgun marriage, out-of-wedlock childbirth, and artificial stillbirth.

7.1.2 Occupational Categories The data have variables about the occupations of mothers and fathers at the date of birth registration. Occupations were coded according to the major classification level of the Standard Occupation Classification for Japan. The coding system was revised twice between 1995 and 2010, so the occupational variables in our data were coded based on different systems depending on the survey year. To maintain consistency, in this study, occupations were reclassified into ten categories: administrative and managerial (henceforth ‘managerial’); those who held professional jobs and engineers (henceforth ‘professional’); clerical; sales; service; security; agriculture, forestry and fishery (henceforth ‘agriculture’); transport, communications, mining, skilled, construction, manufacturing process, and labourers (henceforth ‘manufacturing’); unclassified; and unemployed. Information about mothers’ occupation is available at the time of childbirth and not during pregnancy. This typically means that some of the ‘unemployed’ women may have been working until some points during their pregnancies, and they may have quit their jobs before their deliveries. We must acknowledge this as a probable source of unseen errors.

7.2 Results 7.2.1 Trends in the Pregnancy Outcomes in Unmarried Women Table 7.1 shows the number of cases classified into the three categories of outcomes of pregnancy: artificial stillbirth, legitimate child (married pregnancies and shotgun marriage), and unwed mother. When we total the all data for five years, legitimate child is the vast majority with the percentage 96.62%. Out-of-wedlock childbirth accounts for 1.83%. Artificial stillbirth is 1.55%. If we break down the data into each year, there is an increase in unmarried childbirths. Out-of-wedlock live births doubled from 1.2% in 1995 to 2.3% in 2015. During this period, artificial stillbirth decreased slightly from 1.7% in 1995 to 1.1%.

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7 Effects of Occupation and Year on Pregnancy …

Table 7.1 Yearly pregnancy outcomes (1995–2015) Unwed live birth

Legitimate live birth

1.2%

97.0%

1.7%

100.0%

2000

19,554

1,159,128

21,957

1,200,639

1.6%

96.5%

1.8%

100.0%

21,868

1,041,842

17,982

1,081,692

2.0%

96.3%

1.7%

100.0%

2010

23,030

1,043,620

14,052

1,080,702

2.1%

96.6%

1.3%

100.0%

2015

22,947

980,160

11,350

1,014,457

2.3%

96.6%

1.1%

100.0%

102,062

5,390,383

86,294

5,578,739

1.8%

96.6%

1.5%

100.0%

Total

20,953

Total

14,663

2005

1,165,633

Artificial abortion

1995

1,201,249

The percentage of legitimate birth was maintained at the same level of approximately 97%, with a slight decrease observed between 1995 (97.0%) and 2000 (96.5%) (Table 7.1).

7.2.2 Differences by the Occupation of the Expected Mother If we look at the statistics for each year based on the occupations of mothers, we understand that approximately 81% of pregnancies occur among couples whose marriage preceded pregnancy, and turn out to be live births, while approximately 14% are estimated to occur in cases of shotgun marriages. Live births out of marriage comprise around 3% of cases, and abortion accounts for roughly 2% of cases (Table 7.2). Those in managerial positions consistently have a rate of unmarried live births of 2–3%, neither particularly high nor particularly low among all occupational groups. As for shotgun marriages, those in managerial positions consistently show the lowest tendency of all occupations and were the least likely of all occupations to seek abortions between 1995 and 2015. On the other hand, there was a clear tendency towards married pregnancies between 1995 and 2015. The proportion of outcomes of pregnancies occupied by those in managerial positions was consistently the second smallest among all occupational categories in this time frame. Those who held professional jobs consistently have a moderate rate of premarriage pregnancies among all the occupations and show almost the lowest inclination towards live births out of wedlock. As for abortion, those who held professional jobs continued to show the lowest inclination over the years. On the other hand, there was a clear tendency towards married pregnancies between 1995 and 2015.

7.2 Results

73

The proportion of outcomes of pregnancies occupied by those who held professional jobs was the third largest in 1995 and the second largest since 2000 and later. Clerical positions showed a moderate likelihood towards both births out of wedlock and shotgun marriages during this time frame. For artificial stillbirth, it revealed the third-highest percentage among all occupations in 1995; however, the rank gradually decreased, and in 2015, the order was the third lowest among all occupations. The proportion of outcomes of pregnancies occupied by clerical workers was the second highest in 1995, and then decreased to the third highest in 2000 and remained at the same rank thereafter. Among those working in sales, the rate of shotgun marriages was moderate from 1995 to 2005, and then the rate became higher than the other occupations after 2010. As for the probability of artificial stillbirth and out-of-wedlock childbirth, it was the second highest among all the occupations during 1995 and 2010 and the third highest in 2015. The proportion of outcomes of pregnancies occupied by sales workers was moderate among the occupations. Women in service occupations show a high proportion of out of wedlock live births at 7% in total, the highest among all occupations. Women in service occupations also recorded a high percentage of artificial stillbirths at 5%. Married pregnancies accounted for 72%, the lowest among all occupations. This tendency, towards more out-of-wedlock live births and artificial stillbirths, and fewer married pregnancies, was very clear during this time frame. As for shotgun marriage, it showed a rather moderate tendency between 1995 and 2000; however, since 2005, a higher tendency was seen towards cases in which pregnancy preceded marriage. In 2015, they showed the highest inclination towards shotgun marriage. The proportion of outcomes of pregnancies occupied by service workers was moderate among the occupations. Security workers showed the highest likelihood of shotgun marriages among all occupations between 1995 and 2005. Subsequently, the tendency became not the highest but higher than other occupations. As for inclination towards both artificial stillbirth and births out of marriage, security workers continually showed a moderate tendency. The proportion of outcomes of pregnancies occupied by security workers was the lowest among occupations throughout this time frame. Among those working in agriculture, between 1995 and 2015, there was a clear tendency towards married pregnancies and a clear avoidance of unmarried birth and shotgun marriage. The proportion of outcomes of pregnancies occupied those in in agriculture was the third lowest among occupations in this time frame. Those working in manufacturing showed a moderate tendency towards births out of marriage in 1995; however, the relative inclination towards births out of marriage gradually became larger, and it ranked second in 2015. The same trend was observed for artificial stillbirth. The trend occurred in shotgun marriages was fluctuated; the second highest in 1995 and 2000, moderate in 2005, the highest in 2010 and moderate in 2015. The proportion of outcomes of pregnancies occupied by workers in manufacturing ranked in the middle among occupations throughout this time frame. Those without occupation showed a middling inclination towards artificial stillbirths and shotgun marriages during this time frame. As for children out of wedlock,

74

7 Effects of Occupation and Year on Pregnancy …

the tendency was rather low in 1995; however, the inclination gradually rose to the middle rank among occupations. The proportion of outcomes of pregnancies occupied by non-workers was the largest throughout this time frame (Table 7.2).

7.2.3 Correlations Between Other Variables These differences may be mediated by various factors. Our data have some other variables: the age of the expected mother, socioeconomic status of the household, and whether the mother is multi-fete. These factors have some effects on pregnancy outcomes (Table 7.3). Women over 32 years old were more likely to have married pregnancies, while women belonging to households without occupations were more likely to abort the foetus than those in other occupations.

7.2.4 Multinomial Logistic Regression Analysis To confirm factors determining the differences by year and mother’s occupation, we ran a multinomial logistic regression on the pregnancy outcomes, controlling for the variables of the mothers’ age, main household occupation, and monotonous/multifaction. The mothers’ occupation and the survey year were entered in the analysis in the form of dummy variables indicating each combination of values of the two variables, with the reference variable of ‘unemployed × 2015’. The dependent variable was the pregnancy outcome. Among its three categories, ‘marital births’ of shotgun marriages was set as the reference. Logged odds ratios for the other two categories of ‘unmarried mothers’ and ‘artificial stillbirths’ were estimated against the reference category. The estimated results are shown in Tables 7.4 and 7.5. Table 7.4 shows the tendency of ‘more recent, less abortion’ except those who had manufacturing jobs, those who had agriculture occupations, and those who do not work. The odds ratios of first group went up and down during this time frame and the value was 5.2 in 1995, 8.0 in 2005, and 3.8 in 2015. The trend of odds ratios of second group was fluctuated and the value was 2.4 in 1995 and 3.4 in 2015. The values of odds ratios kept around one for those who do not work. Also, the difference between the highest value and the lowest one became more small because those which revealed higher odds ratio such as service and sales decreased sharply in these 20 years. Table 7.5 shows that all occupational categories but managers increased their odds ratios between 2010 and 2015. This meant that more women than before chose to become unwed mothers recently. However, there remained the larger difference between the highest odds ratio (2.8) and the lowest odds ratio (0.7): the highest odds ratio was that of those who worked as managers and the lowest odds ratio was that of those who had security positions. This means that there arose the inclination towards unwed mothers in all occupations recently, although the there was still a disparity of

2000

1995

1546

2829

1351

2916

56

50

795

2327

Professional

Clerical

Sales

Service

Security

Agriculture

Manufacturer

Unclassified

28,087

Total

119

17,142

Unemployed

Manager

1837

39

Security

Unclassified

2512

Service

44

1312

Sales

739

3173

Clerical

Manufacturer

1183

Professional

Agriculture

106

Manager

Unwed live birth

3138

3344

388

308

4196

3466

12,301

13,563

260

170,612

135,095

2043

3950

535

231

3367

3180

12,058

9902

251

Shotgun marriage

17,228

15,227

4046

1393

17,034

16,063

72,794

74,724

2843

1,002,550

781,300

13,551

20,397

6227

1155

16,220

17,843

72,684

69,876

3297

Married pregnancy

2568

650

98

42

2126

1078

2092

979

30

20,953

11,470

2205

667

150

32

1909

1102

2543

838

37

Artificial stillbirth

19,636

25,753

6956

1457

24,008

23,437

90,458

81,799

3691

25,261

20,016

4582

1799

26,272

21,958

90,016

90,812

3252

1,222,202

945,007

Total

Table 7.2 Yearly cross table of pregnancy outcomes by mother’s occupation (1995–2015)

9.2

4.0

1.1

3.1

11.1

6.2

3.1

1.7

3.7

2.3

1.8

9.4

2.9

0.6

2.7

10.5

5.6

3.5

1.4

2.9

Unwed live birth (%)

12.4

16.7

8.5

17.1

16.0

15.8

13.7

14.9

8.0

14.0

14.3

10.4

15.3

7.7

15.9

14.0

13.6

13.3

12.1

6.8

Shotgun marriage (%)

68.2

76.1

88.3

77.4

64.8

73.2

80.9

82.3

87.4

82.0

82.7

69.0

79.2

89.5

79.3

67.6

76.1

80.4

85.4

89.3

Married pregnancy (%)

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

Total (%)

(continued)

10.2

3.2

2.1

2.3

8.1

4.9

2.3

1.1

0.9

1.7

1.2

11.2

2.6

2.2

2.2

8.0

4.7

2.8

1.0

1.0

Artificial stillbirth (%)

7.2 Results 75

2010

2005

144

1600

2008

1132

3039

38

46

Professional

Clerical

Sales

Service

Security

Agriculture

33,666

Manager

Total

57

Agriculture

20,683

91

Security

Unemployed

3085

Service

820

1250

Sales

3747

2356

Clerical

Unclassified

1453

Professional

Manufacturer

124

34,367

Total

Manager

22,378

Unwed live birth

Unemployed

Table 7.2 (continued)

363

415

8097

4510

12,556

14,895

433

169,819

126,649

8568

2508

337

403

5672

3205

10,387

11,808

282

192,982

152,018

Shotgun marriage

3538

2061

35,758

20,347

90,264

101,781

4379

878,207

627,251

46,688

12,196

3259

1796

22,992

15,020

70,478

75,626

2901

973,290

751,938

Married pregnancy

40

27

1823

660

1159

914

40

17,982

8816

2952

584

64

74

2140

804

1583

931

34

21,957

12,294

Artificial stillbirth

3987

2541

48,717

26,649

105,987

119,190

4996

1,099,674

783,399

61,955

16,108

3717

2364

33,889

20,279

84,804

89,818

3341

1,222,596

938,628

Total

1.2

1.5

6.2

4.2

1.9

1.3

2.9

3.1

2.6

6.0

5.1

1.5

3.8

9.1

6.2

2.8

1.6

3.7

2.8

2.4

Unwed live birth (%)

9.1

16.3

16.6

16.9

11.8

12.5

8.7

15.4

16.2

13.8

15.6

9.1

17.0

16.7

15.8

12.2

13.1

8.4

15.8

16.2

Shotgun marriage (%)

88.7

81.1

73.4

76.4

85.2

85.4

87.7

79.9

80.1

75.4

75.7

87.7

76.0

67.8

74.1

83.1

84.2

86.8

79.6

80.1

Married pregnancy (%)

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

Total (%)

(continued)

1.0

1.1

3.7

2.5

1.1

0.8

0.8

1.6

1.1

4.8

3.6

1.7

3.1

6.3

4.0

1.9

1.0

1.0

1.8

1.3

Artificial stillbirth (%)

76 7 Effects of Occupation and Year on Pregnancy …

Total

2015

789

Manufacturer

6244

14,911

Sales

Service

12,540

Professional

Clerical

616

7633

Manager

29,228

53

Agriculture

Total

59

Security

2846

3359

Service

16,775

1199

Sales

Unemployed

2174

Clerical

Unclassified

123

1851

Total

Professional

31,580

Unemployed

Manager

3176

19,655

Unclassified

742

Unwed live birth

Manufacturer

Table 7.2 (continued)

31,775

19,395

60,416

65,546

1652

128,288

73,384

6578

3213

277

441

10,443

5034

13,114

15,378

426

156,461

104,697

7302

3193

Shotgun marriage

144,922

96,418

421,285

456,880

18,040

856,941

451,347

46,790

17,814

3902

2467

52,918

27,145

115,065

134,873

4620

892,661

576,238

43,804

14,491

Married pregnancy

9583

4145

8469

4555

174

11,350

4794

2024

364

38

26

1585

501

1092

893

33

14,052

6791

2161

437

Artificial stillbirth

56,443

18,863

201,191

126,202

502,710

534,614

20,482

1,025,807

546,300

58,238

22,180

4270

2993

68,305

33,879

131,445

152,995

5202

1,094,754

707,381

Total

7.4

4.9

2.5

1.4

3.0

2.8

3.1

4.9

3.6

1.2

2.0

4.9

3.5

1.7

1.2

2.4

2.9

2.8

5.6

3.9

Unwed live birth (%)

15.8

15.4

12.0

12.3

8.1

12.5

13.4

11.3

14.5

6.5

14.7

15.3

14.9

10.0

10.1

8.2

14.3

14.8

12.9

16.9

Shotgun marriage (%)

72.0

76.4

83.8

85.5

88.1

83.5

82.6

80.3

80.3

91.4

82.4

77.5

80.1

87.5

88.2

88.8

81.5

81.5

77.6

76.8

Married pregnancy (%)

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

Total (%)

(continued)

4.8

3.3

1.7

0.9

0.8

1.1

0.9

3.5

1.6

0.9

0.9

2.3

1.5

0.8

0.6

0.6

1.3

1.0

3.8

2.3

Artificial stillbirth (%)

7.2 Results 77

96,633

Unclassified

Unemployed

156,928

13,933

Manufacturer

Total

250

3885

Agriculture

283

Unwed live birth

Security

Table 7.2 (continued)

818,162

591,843

27,629

16,208

1900

1798

Shotgun marriage

4,603,649

3,188,074

168,061

80,125

20,972

8872

Married pregnancy

86,294

44,165

11,910

2702

390

201

Artificial stillbirth

23,512

11,154

5,665,033

3,920,715

221,533

102,920

Total

2.8

2.5

6.3

3.8

1.1

2.5

Unwed live birth (%)

14.4

15.1

12.5

15.7

8.1

16.1

Shotgun marriage (%)

81.3

81.3

75.9

77.9

89.2

79.5

Married pregnancy (%)

1.5

1.1

5.4

2.6

1.7

1.8

Artificial stillbirth (%)

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

Total (%)

78 7 Effects of Occupation and Year on Pregnancy …

17,904

19,631 21,133 59,592 10,359

Employed II

Others

Unemployed

2083

Multifetation

11,464

806,698

96,959

264,958

330,186

96,591

4,506,981

78,876

45,045

437,398

2,027,678

1,520,410

370,966

123,276

1,859,065

2,744,581 151,475 458,452

112,604

136,900

571,777

1848

111,986

84,253 5,552,661

5465

15,464

16,287

15,809 2,328,076

23,405 1,905,749

7802

2062

23,866 2,054,115

62,427 3,610,874

1.9

2.8

9.2

43.5

3.7

0.8

1.7

2.6

1.7

2.0

3.2

10.2

14.5

15.9

12.3

17.0

11.4

17.3

14.8

15.5

6.3

19.1

86.3

81.2

70.0

32.9

76.5

87.1

79.8

80.9

81.4

90.5

76.0

1.7 100.0

1.5 100.0

4.9 100.0

11.3 100.0

2.8 100.0

0.7 100.0

1.2 100.0

1.7 100.0

1.4 100.0

1.2 100.0

1.7 100.0

Unwed Shotgun Married Artificial Total Live Marriage pregnancy Stillbirth (%) Birth (%) (%) (%) (%)

I’ indicates a regular worker’s household that the most income earner works at an office (the government offices are excluded) where the number of employed is between 1 and 99 employees. ‘Employed II’ indicates a regular worker’s household that not suit the definition of Employed I and an executive’s household. ‘Other’ indicates a non-regular worker’s household

a ‘Employed

154,729

Unknown

16,799

31,748

Employed I

23,490 67,866

2647 11,818

130,182

687,980

Self-employed

41,002

32 + y/o

Agricultural

115,886

Under 31 y/o

Monotocous/multifetation Monotocous

Main household occupation

Mother’s age

Unwed Shotgun Married Artificial Total live birth marriage pregnancy stillbirth

Table 7.3 Pregnancy outcomes by mother’s age, main household’s occupation, and monotocous/multifetationa

7.2 Results 79

80

7 Effects of Occupation and Year on Pregnancy …

intensity among occupations. Then, it is prudent for us to grasp the characteristics of each occupation according to the likelihood to have abortion and the possibility of becoming unwedded mothers during this time frame. We can distinguish some subgroups with regard to the trends of odds ratios during the time frame, 1995–2015. Both service and sales workers showed a higher probability of pursuing abortion rather than a shotgun marriage over the years (Table 7.4). The odds ratios showed declines (21 to 6 and 13 to 4, respectively); however, they remained higher than those in other occupational categories. Clerical workers showed a relatively higher probability of aborting in 1995, with an odds ratio of 9; however, it consistently declined to 2 in 2015, a relatively lower tendency in that year. The odds ratios of those who had manufacturing jobs fluctuated; 5 in 1995, 8 in 2005, and 4 in 2015. In 1995, the odds ratio of 5 was moderate. However, in 2015, the odds ratio of 4 was relatively higher than other occupations in 2015. Those in managerial and security positions had a similar tendency of moving middle probability in 1995 to low probability in 2015; each odds ratio moved from 4 to 1. The inclination towards abortion of those who had agriculture occupations remains moderate through the years; the odds ratios fluctuated between 2 and 3. The odds ratio of 3 in 2015 was the same level as those of service workers and those who had manufacturing jobs. Those who held professional occupations had a lower probability of aborting during this time frame; the odds ratios changed from 3 to 1. Of all the occupational categories, those unemployed kept the lowest probability to abort throughout this time frame; the odds ratios were always around 1. As for the inclination towards unmarried motherhood rather than a shotgun marriage, overall, the odds ratios increased between 2010 and 2015 (Table 7.5). For those in managerial or service position, the probability of being unmarried mothers declined between 1995 and 2010: odds ratio of 4 to 3. Those who had sales jobs maintained a lower and fluctuated tendency during the years; the odds ratios remained around 2–3. Those who had manufacturing jobs showed a rather low tendency to unmarried motherhood in 1995; however, the odds ratios increased from 1 in 1995 to 2 in 2015. In 2015, they showed higher probability than those who held sales jobs. The probability of clerical workers being unmarried mothers remained moderate throughout this time frame; the odds ratios were approximately 1 to 2. The movement of odds ratios of those who held professional jobs moved parallel to clerical workers at a lower level. The odds ratios of those who had security jobs fluctuated at lower levels than other categories during this period. The probability of becoming an unmarried mother of the unemployed was very low in 1995, however, the probability continued to rise and it was higher than that of security workers in 2015. When we compare Tables 7.4 and 7.5, we can point out that the outcomes of unmarried service workers’ pregnancies had a higher probability of artificial foetal death and out-of-wedlock births than those of other occupations. The trend of outcomes of unmarried sales workers’ pregnancies was parallel but a lower level than service workers. The outcomes of pregnancies of those in managerial positions tended towards unmarried mothers rather than artificial foetal death. The trend of those who had manufacturing jobs to become more likely to be unmarried mothers since 2005 should be noted. The odds ratios moved from middle to high in this time frame.

7.2 Results

81

To conclude, we can say that among those who held service and sales jobs, there was a tendency towards either unmarried mothers or artificial foetal death rather than shotgun marriages. Those who had manufacturing jobs have changed their trend more towards unmarried mothers rather than shotgun marriages in recent years. The pregnancy outcomes of those in managerial positions tended towards unmarried mothers rather than artificial foetal death. Unemployed women showed relatively lower probability than other categories to become unwed mothers, however, the probability gradually rose and reached higher than that of those who held security professions in 2015 (Tables 7.4 and 7.5).

7.3 Discussion In the above sections, we confirmed the differences in trends between the occupations of women. To interpret these findings, we should consider additional information, such as trends in wage levels and individual circumstances.

7.3.1 Wage Levels Next, we consider the wage levels by occupation. Childrearing costs money. As financial ability is a decisive factor in the number of children parented by a couple, it should also be a decisive factor in whether a woman becomes an unwed mother. The Japan Institute of Labour (as of now, The Japan Institute for Labour Policy and Training) calculated wage levels by occupation from 1981 to 2015 based on the Basic Survey on Wage Structure by the MHLW. Of these, wage levels by occupation for women are consistently positioned from high to low in the order of specialised skilled work, clerical work, sales, service, and physical labour. As the wage level for those in managerial positions is unknown from the Basic Survey on Wage Structure, if we consult the 2015 Survey of Private Employer Wages by Occupation conducted by the National Personnel Authority, data on wages received by workers show that clerical those in managerial positions and skilled job leaders had higher wages than general clerical or skilled work staff. Based on the above, the occupational types can be ranked from highest to lowest wage levels in the order of those in managerial, professional, clerical, sales, service, and manufacturing. Unemployed people have no income. From the standpoint of wage levels, high-wage women in managerial positions, mid-to-low-wage women who worked as sales, service, and manufacturing employees are more likely to become unwedded mothers in 2015. Hence, there is an inconsistent relationship between wage levels and the likelihood of becoming an unmarried mother. The social circumstances of individuals, including work environment factors depending on the occupation, determine whether a woman becomes an unmarried mother.

82

7 Effects of Occupation and Year on Pregnancy …

Table 7.4 Comparison between artificial foetal deaths and marital live births Odds ratio

p value

CI Lower

Women’s Occupation at Birth

Upper

Manager × 1995

4.072

0.000

2.510

6.607

Professional × 1995

2.856

0.000

2.592

3.147

Clerical × 1995

8.858

0.000

8.305

9.448

Sales × 1995

12.603

0.000

11.514

13.795

Service × 1995

21.245

0.000

19.707

22.902

Security × 1995

4.442

0.000

2.895

6.816 3.705

Agricultural × 1995

2.444

0.000

1.612

Manufacturer × 1995

5.232

0.000

4.675

5.856

Unclassified × 1995

25.787

0.000

23.718

28.037

Unemployed × 1995

1.418

0.000

1.350

1.488

Manager × 2000

3.773

0.000

2.267

6.279

Professional × 2000

2.505

0.000

2.288

2.743

Clerical × 2000

7.063

0.000

6.595

7.564

Sales × 2000

11.749

0.000

10.734

12.860

Service × 2000

20.496

0.000

19.091

22.005

Security × 2000

3.915

0.000

2.629

5.832

Agricultural × 2000

3.423

0.000

2.234

5.246

Manufacturer × 2000

6.504

0.000

5.807

7.284

Unclassified × 2000

18.807

0.000

17.422

20.302

Unemployed × 2000

1.422

0.000

1.356

1.491

Manager × 2005

4.178

0.000

2.612

6.683

Professional × 2005

2.505

0.000

2.275

2.759

Clerical × 2005

6.048

0.000

5.606

6.526

Sales × 2005

9.565

0.000

8.651

10.575 16.260

Service × 2005

15.169

0.000

14.151

Security × 2005

5.385

0.000

3.969

7.306

Agricultural × 2005

2.935

0.000

1.816

4.742

Manufacturer × 2005

8.028

0.000

7.125

9.045

Unclassified × 2005

7.426

0.000

6.939

7.947

Unemployed × 2005

1.110

0.000

1.056

1.167

Manager × 2010

2.529

0.000

1.589

4.025

Professional × 2010

1.622

0.000

1.461

1.802

Clerical × 2010

3.101

0.000

2.834

3.393

Sales × 2010

5.345

0.000

4.797

5.955

Service × 2010

8.835

0.000

8.224

9.493

(continued)

7.3 Discussion

83

Table 7.4 (continued) Odds ratio

p value

CI Lower

Upper

Security × 2010

0.924

0.793

0.513

1.666

Agricultural × 2010

2.035

0.013

1.165

3.554

Manufacturer × 2010

4.449

0.000

3.879

5.103

Unclassified × 2010

5.898

0.000

5.468

6.362

Unemployed × 2010

0.989

0.689

0.939

1.043

Manager × 2015

1.049

0.901

0.495

2.220

Professional × 2015

1.380

0.000

1.231

1.546

Clerical × 2015

2.410

0.000

2.182

2.661

Sales × 2015

3.564

0.000

3.145

4.038

Service × 2015

6.040

0.000

5.605

6.510

Security × 2015

1.132

0.649

0.664

1.931

Agricultural × 2015

3.269

0.000

1.934

5.526

Manufacturer × 2015

3.844

0.000

3.315

4.457

Unclassified × 2015

5.713

0.000

5.270

6.193

0.784

0.000

0.763

0.805

Agricultural

1.489

0.000

1.391

1.594

Self-employed

2.111

0.000

2.028

2.197

Employed I

1.388

0.000

1.346

1.430

Other

4.172

0.000

4.041

4.306

Unemployed

59.823

0.000

57.744

61.978

Unknown

6.239

0.000

5.960

6.530

0.864

0.001

0.793

0.940

Unemployed × 2015 Women’s Age

32 + y/o Under 31 y/o

Households’ Main Occupation

Employed II Monotocous/multifetation

Monotocous Multifetation

84

7 Effects of Occupation and Year on Pregnancy …

Table 7.5 Comparison between unmarried mothers and marital live births Odds ratio

p value

CI Lower

Women’s occupation at birth

Upper

Manager × 1995

4.119

0.000

3.203

5.297

Professional × 1995

0.906

0.022

0.832

0.986

Clerical × 1995

1.463

0.000

1.371

1.561 2.420

Sales × 1995

2.195

0.000

1.992

Service × 1995

3.570

0.000

3.305

3.856

Security × 1995

0.819

0.482

0.470

1.428

Agricultural × 1995

0.487

0.002

0.310

0.765

Manufacturer × 1995

1.245

0.000

1.109

1.398

Unclassified × 1995

1.549

0.000

1.374

1.746

Unemployed × 1995

0.497

0.000

0.481

0.514

Manager × 2000

4.394

0.000

3.465

5.573

Professional × 2000

0.934

0.064

0.868

1.004

Clerical × 2000

1.506

0.000

1.414

1.605

Sales × 2000

2.216

0.000

2.020

2.432

Service × 2000

3.423

0.000

3.187

3.676

Security × 2000

1.177

0.427

0.787

1.761

Agricultural × 2000

0.963

0.852

0.649

1.429

Manufacturer × 2000

1.677

0.000

1.503

1.871

Unclassified × 2000

1.445

0.000

1.312

1.593

Unemployed × 2000

0.551

0.000

0.533

0.568

Manager × 2005

3.646

0.000

2.887

4.606

Professional × 2005

1.006

0.877

0.935

1.082

Clerical × 2005

1.526

0.000

1.430

1.628

Sales × 2005

2.629

0.000

2.406

2.872

Service × 2005

2.914

0.000

2.729

3.111

Security × 2005

1.057

0.753

0.749

1.492

Agricultural × 2005

1.430

0.039

1.019

2.006

Manufacturer × 2005

2.392

0.000

2.153

2.658

Unclassified × 2005

1.490

0.000

1.402

1.584

Unemployed × 2005

0.607

0.000

0.588

0.627

Manager × 2010

2.802

0.000

2.277

3.448

Professional × 2010

0.959

0.214

0.898

1.024

Clerical × 2010

1.327

0.000

1.247

1.412

Sales × 2010

1.902

0.000

1.745

2.073

Service × 2010

2.462

0.000

2.319

2.614

(continued)

7.3 Discussion

85

Table 7.5 (continued) Odds ratio

p value

CI Lower

Upper

Security × 2010

0.502

0.002

0.324

0.777

Agricultural × 2010

1.124

0.527

0.783

1.614

Manufacturer × 2010

2.032

0.000

1.838

2.247

Unclassified × 2010

1.779

0.000

1.673

1.893

Unemployed × 2010

0.729

0.000

0.706

0.753

Manager × 2015

2.801

0.000

2.263

3.468

Professional × 2015

1.199

0.000

1.130

1.273

Clerical × 2015

1.537

0.000

1.451

1.628

Sales × 2015

2.288

0.000

2.119

2.471

Service × 2015

2.642

0.000

2.505

2.786

Security × 2015

0.707

0.066

0.489

1.023

Agricultural × 2015

1.514

0.020

1.069

2.145

Manufacturer × 2015

2.405

0.000

2.190

2.642

Unclassified × 2015

1.999

0.000

1.877

2.128

2.196

0.000

2.158

2.235

Agricultural

1.550

0.000

1.464

1.640

Self-employed

2.197

0.000

2.130

2.266

Employed I

1.300

0.000

1.269

1.330

Other

2.337

0.000

2.272

2.404

Unemployed

83.233

0.000

81.002

85.525

Unknown

7.056

0.000

6.805

7.316

0.962

0.247

0.900

1.027

Unemployed × 2015 Women’s age

32 + y/o Under 31 y/o

Households’ main occupation

Employed II Monotocous/multifetation

Monotocous Multifetation

86

7 Effects of Occupation and Year on Pregnancy …

7.3.2 Stability of Employment Next, we investigated the stability of employment. It is desirable for everyone to have a tenured occupational position to plan a life with a longer scope. A job that provides substantial earnings is preferable; however, the stability of employment is a priority for designing future prospects. Figure 7.1 shows women’s employment status by occupation and age group in 2015. We can consider that those who work as regular employees or run their own businesses have stability of employment, while those who work as non-regular employees only have an unstable employment status. Here, we focus on the trends of those in managerial positions, sales and service workers, and those who had manufacturing jobs, who revealed a higher probability of becoming unwed mothers in 2015. We can see that the number of those in managerial positions was low, showing an increase with age, and they were mostly regular employees. As for sales and service workers, the proportion of service workers was slightly larger than that of sales employees and both were few in number. Those who held professional jobs and clerical workers were larger in number than sales and service workers. The trends of both number and ratios between regular and nonregular workers by age group were similar among these two occupations; sales and service. There were a few under 20 years old and most of them were primarily in non-regular positions. Among those aged 25–29 years, one of the two worked as a regular worker; among those in their 30s, the ratio of regular employees decreased while the number of employees stagnated. As for those in their 40s, due to the entry of new non-regular workers, the ratio of regular employees decreased, even although the actual number of those working as sales or service workers increased. We recognised different tendencies in the case of those who had manufacturing jobs. They were also not large in number—fewer than sales and service workers. Notably, those who had manufacturing jobs aged 15–19 years were small in number; however, half of them were regular employees. Nowadays, for high school graduates who prefer regular positions, holding a manufacturing job is a wise choice. An increase in number was observed among those aged 20–24 years but the proportion of regular employees was 50%, as was the case for those aged 15–19 years. This means that for both high school graduates and those who do not have a bachelor’s degree, becoming a worker who had manufacturing job is a good way to acquire a stable employment status. This occupation shows the same volume in the number of regular employees between those aged 20–24 years and those aged 45–49 years. We could suppose that some of them continued their careers from their teenage to mid-age, while most newcomers aged 25–29 years and over could be regarded as non-regular employees and they constituted the majority. We can point out the trend that those with lower academic careers such as high school graduates could become regular workers and continue their career if they chose manufacturing jobs. This indicates that if one can accept to work as a bluecollar worker with a low salary, one can obtain a stable occupational status and can

7.3 Discussion

87

arrange life choices such as marriage and childbearing more easily than those in unstable occupational status. In sum, from the viewpoint of occupational stability, those in managerial positions and those who had manufacturing jobs enjoy a longer career scope as regular employees. On the other hand, those who work in either sales or service lack employment stability. Information about wage levels and occupational stability reveals that those in managerial positions enjoy both high income and occupational stability. Those who had manufacturing jobs earn less than other occupations but they have the advantage of occupational stability. As for sales and service workers, their income level is lower than that of workers in other occupations and they lack occupational stability in addition. Considering the occupational conditions of income and occupational stability, we can conclude that those in managerial positions have the strongest status for forming economically stable mother–child families. Therefore, they showed a strong tendency towards becoming unwedded mothers rather than opting for shotgun marriages. However, since women those in managerial positions occupy a smaller portion of all occupations, we cannot expect a large number of mother–child families created by those in managerial positions. The next most economically stable mother–child family might be constructed by those had manufacturing jobs. Their pay is the lowest among all occupations; however, they are regular workers and are guaranteed a steady future income. This may explain why those who had manufacturing jobs came to reveal a higher tendency towards the probability of becoming unmarried mothers in recent years. The number of those who had manufacturing jobs is much larger than that of those in managerial positions but it is smaller than those in sales and services. With neither high earnings nor a stable occupational position, those in sales and services are the least advantaged in terms of occupational conditions. However, workers in both these professions continue to have a higher tendency towards unwed mothers than other occupations. It is possible that they construct the typical pattern of mother–child families in poverty (Fig. 7.1).

7.3.3 Individual Circumstances The 1995–2015 average shows that 80% of pregnancies by out-of-marriage women resulted in marriages, even although the number of unmarried mothers was increasing. Iwasawa (2013) created multiple decrement marriage tables from 1965 to 2009 by first-marriage hazard based on the Vital Statistics and the Population Census. Additionally, cross tabulations by age at first marriage and the type of marriage were determined from the Japanese National Fertility Surveys. These indicated an increase in the hazard of ‘marriage with a husband or a wife of a non–regular worker’.4 Iwasawa and Kamata (2013) noted the probability that the preparation for earning 4

Iwasawa (2013) also indicates that ‘shotgun marriage’ and ‘marriage preceded by pregnancy’ (according to the author) have increased. However, the author concludes that since type-specific

Manager Professionals Regular employee

Clerical workers

Unemployed

Security workers Agricultural workers

Self-employed worker

Service workers

Non-regular employee

Sales workers

Fig. 7.1 Women’s employment status by occupation and age group (2015)

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

(a) Percentage

100%

Manufacturer Unemployed

15-19 y/o 20-24 y/o 25-29 y/o 30-34 y/o 35-39 y/o 40-44 y/o 45-49 y/o 15-19 y/o 20-24 y/o 25-29 y/o 30-34 y/o 35-39 y/o 40-44 y/o 45-49 y/o 15-19 y/o 20-24 y/o 25-29 y/o 30-34 y/o 35-39 y/o 40-44 y/o 45-49 y/o 15-19 y/o 20-24 y/o 25-29 y/o 30-34 y/o 35-39 y/o 40-44 y/o 45-49 y/o 15-19 y/o 20-24 y/o 25-29 y/o 30-34 y/o 35-39 y/o 40-44 y/o 45-49 y/o 15-19 y/o 20-24 y/o 25-29 y/o 30-34 y/o 35-39 y/o 40-44 y/o 45-49 y/o 15-19 y/o 20-24 y/o 25-29 y/o 30-34 y/o 35-39 y/o 40-44 y/o 45-49 y/o 15-19 y/o 20-24 y/o 25-29 y/o 30-34 y/o 35-39 y/o 40-44 y/o 45-49 y/o 15-19 y/o 20-24 y/o 25-29 y/o 30-34 y/o 35-39 y/o 40-44 y/o 45-49 y/o

88

7 Effects of Occupation and Year on Pregnancy …

Manager

Fig. 7.1 (continued)

0

200,000

400,000

600,000

800,000

1,000,000

(b) Actual number

1,200,000

Professionals Regular employee

Clerical workers Agricultural workers

Unemployed

Security workers

Self-employed worker

Service workers

Non-regular employee

Sales workers Manufacturer Unemployed

15-19 y/o 20-24 y/o 25-29 y/o 30-34 y/o 35-39 y/o 40-44 y/o 45-49 y/o 15-19 y/o 20-24 y/o 25-29 y/o 30-34 y/o 35-39 y/o 40-44 y/o 45-49 y/o 15-19 y/o 20-24 y/o 25-29 y/o 30-34 y/o 35-39 y/o 40-44 y/o 45-49 y/o 15-19 y/o 20-24 y/o 25-29 y/o 30-34 y/o 35-39 y/o 40-44 y/o 45-49 y/o 15-19 y/o 20-24 y/o 25-29 y/o 30-34 y/o 35-39 y/o 40-44 y/o 45-49 y/o 15-19 y/o 20-24 y/o 25-29 y/o 30-34 y/o 35-39 y/o 40-44 y/o 45-49 y/o 15-19 y/o 20-24 y/o 25-29 y/o 30-34 y/o 35-39 y/o 40-44 y/o 45-49 y/o 15-19 y/o 20-24 y/o 25-29 y/o 30-34 y/o 35-39 y/o 40-44 y/o 45-49 y/o 15-19 y/o 20-24 y/o 25-29 y/o 30-34 y/o 35-39 y/o 40-44 y/o 45-49 y/o

7.3 Discussion

89

90

7 Effects of Occupation and Year on Pregnancy …

a livelihood and coordination with surroundings might be insufficient in women who marry following a pregnancy compared with women whose marriage was not preceded by pregnancy. The rate of leaving the job for pregnancy is higher in women whose marriage was preceded by a pregnancy, while their rates of taking maternity leaves are lower. They have a high rate of reemployment after giving birth, but many of them get part-time jobs, resulting in lower incomes. Some unwed mothers may not be able to arrange their socioeconomic basis for childrearing before having the baby or make necessary arrangements with people, such as parents, friends, neighbourhoods, and colleagues, among others. Such women might have been forced to leave their jobs for pregnancy.5 Moreover, such women either did not get married because of the lack of sufficient emotional or financial benefits in dividing roles and responsibilities of childrearing in marriage, or their proposal to get married may have been rejected by their prospective partner. Moreover, the economy has been getting increasingly harsh since the Lehman shock in September 2008 and the Great East Japan Earthquake in March 2011. As observed by Iwasawa (2013), the trend of ‘one of the partners being a non– permanent worker’ might have changed after the period of her observation, 2010, thereby contributing to the increase in unmarried mothers. Thus, women who might have found a way to get married after learning about their pregnancy—even if they were temporary workers—may have lost that chance and left their jobs. They had to give birth while remaining out-of-wedlock. This is evidenced by the high rate of welfare recipients among unemployed unwedded mothers (Table 7.6). The rate of welfare recipients is higher among unwedded mothers and divorced mothers than widows in 2011. In 2016, the rate of welfare recipients is higher among unwedded mothers than single mothers by divorce or spousal death. Recently, there is more possibility that unmarried mothers become welfare recipients. Vital statistics for outcomes of pregnancies according to legitimate or illegitimate children by age group suggest that it is questionable whether unwed mothers are arranging their livelihoods or coordinating with people around them before having the baby. Figures 7.2a,b show that most births of legitimate children are to mothers in their early 30s, almost none to mothers in their teens, and decreasing each year to mothers in their early 20s. However, births of illegitimate children are increasingly observed in teenage mothers, those in their early 20s, and 35 years old and over (Fig. 7.3b). In terms of percentages, the number of births of legitimate children to mothers in their 30s and older is increasing every year, but there are no other major changes to outcomes of pregnancy (Fig. 7.2b). Given that the university or junior college attendance rate is now 58.6% (MEXT 2020), most people in their teens and early 20s should either be students or have just started work. They are in a position where they have to perform either academics marriage rates for these marriages have not increased, the previously mentioned changes are caused by the increase in the exposure population resulting from a decline in other conventional marriages. 5 The Institute for Research on Household Economics (IRHE; the present Center for Research on Family and Household Economics) (1997) has noted that the household becomes poorer after the mother leaves her job for giving birth to her child.

7.3 Discussion

91

Table 7.6 Welfare recipient rates for mothers of single-mother-headed households (2011 and 2016) Receive 2011

Unmarried Divorced Widowed

2016

Unmarried Divorced Widowed

Don’t

Total

17

98

115

14.8%

85.2%

100.0%

181

1071

1252

14.5%

85.5%

100.0%

11

103

114

9.6%

90.4%

100.0%

28

144

172

16.3%

83.7%

100.0%

162

1,354

1,516

10.7%

89.3%

100.0%

13

132

145

9.0%

91.0%

100.0%

Source Table 22-5 (MHLW 2016b), Table 22-5 (MHLW 2019) MHLW (2016b) FY 2011 Nationwide Survey on Single parent household MHLW (2019) FY 2016 Nationwide Survey on Single parent household

or work. They are likely to be financially dependent if they are students, and even if they are working, they may not have sufficient income to raise a child. Indeed, the average age of having a first child is over 30 years in Japan.6 Currently, people stabilise as adults and prepare to have children only in their 30s. The increase in the rates of women who have children while being out-of-marriage in their teens and 20s may be leading to an increase in the rates of single-mother-headed households without sufficient parenting resources and financial or housing means. This is why ‘poverty in children’ has become a major social problem, which started in the late 2000s (e.g. Abe 2008). McLanahan (2004) explains that there are two different trajectories for women with different implications for their children. In the first trajectory, women experience delays in childbearing, increases in maternal employment, and gains in socioeconomic resources. In the second trajectory, women experience divorces, non-marital childbearing, and loss of resources. Thus, the former trajectory is followed by women with most opportunities and resources, while the latter is being followed by women with the fewest opportunities and resources. In this way, the SDT widens class disparities in children’s socioeconomic resources.7 We would like investigate the idea that

6

The average age of mothers at the birth of the first child exceeded 30 years in 2011 (30.1 years), and it has increased to 30.7 years in 2015 and 2019 (latest) (Reiwa 1 Vital Statistics Volume I Births Table 4.19). 7 In Japan, divorces, cohabitation unions, shotgun marriage, and children out of wedlock are increasingly concentrated among women with lower levels of educational attainment (Iwasawa 2015).

92

7 Effects of Occupation and Year on Pregnancy …

not only the income level but also the occupation stability is the key to socioeconomic resources. To pursue this subject, it is better to conduct a survey regarding those who work as manufactures and construct mother–child family; we have scarce information of them.

7.3.4 Summary We confirmed that there was the inclination towards unwed mothers among women of all occupations in 2015 while there is a difference in the degree of intensity among occupations (Table 7.5). Anyway, we can conclude that we confirmed the rising extra-marital fertility in very recent Japan even though this movement was still subtle. This study had several limitations. First, the nature of the data makes it difficult to distinguish unwed mothers from mothers in de facto marriages. To extrapolate, de facto marriages are probably more associated with those in managerial positions. This is because the logic of selecting a de facto marriage is necessary for those who make the choice; a high level of education is necessary to acquire that logic, which tends to be linked to those in managerial positions. In present-day Japan, a little short of 30% of illegitimate children lived with their fathers when they were 0 years old. Also, there is a certain number of unmarried mothers with high income (Iwasawa 2017). We confirmed that the income of those in managerial positions is the highest among all occupations in Sect. 7.3. To put them together, we can suggest that a certain percentage of those in managerial positions are ‘single mothers by choice’ (SMC; Mattes 1994). That is, unwedded mothers who are those in managerial positions likely represent at least two groups: a group in de facto marriages and a group comprising SMC. SMC can be assumed to have a network that supports parenting. Meanwhile, women in service and sales jobs are presumed to be more likely to cohabitate with ‘other household members’ (Nishi 2017), particularly with their mothers. However, notably, their emotional ties with family members are weak, even if they cohabitate and financial hardships and the narrowness of their parenting networks are challenges (Iwasawa 2017). On the other hand, we found the different type of mother–child family. Despite the low income, occupational stability pushes women to become unwed mother. Women who work as manufactures are typical of this pattern. This ‘low income but high job stability’ is the third group of unwed mothers which was found by this study. In the data used in this study, it is not possible to distinguish ‘unmarried mothers’ who are in ‘de-facto marriages’ from those who are ‘a family of unwedded mother and her children’. However, we can confirm that unwed mothers are growing in both the actual number and the portion of mother–child families using the Nationwide Survey on Single Parent Households and the Nationwide Survey on Families and Children conducted by the MHLW (Fig. 7.4).

7.3 Discussion

93

100% 98% 96% 94% 92% 90% 88% 86% 84% 82% 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015

80%

Under 19 y/o

20-24 y/o Birth

25-29 y/o

30-34 y/o

Spontaneous aboron

35-39 y/o

40+ y/o

Arficial

(a) Percentage: 80–100% 500,000 450,000 400,000 350,000 300,000 250,000 200,000 150,000 100,000 50,000 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015

0

Under 19 y/o

20-24 y/o Birth

25-29 y/o

30-34 y/o

Spontaneous aboron

35-39 y/o

40+ y/o

Arficial

(b) Actual Number Fig. 7.2 Pregnancy outcome by maternal age group: Legitimate children (1995–2015)

94

7 Effects of Occupation and Year on Pregnancy …

100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015

0%

Under 19 y/o

20-24 y/o Birth

25-29 y/o

30-34 y/o

Spontaneous aboron

35-39 y/o

40+ y/o

Arficial

(a) Percentage: 80–100% 10,000 9,000 8,000 7,000 6,000 5,000 4,000 3,000 2,000 1,000 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015

0

Under 19 y/o

20-24 y/o Birth

25-29 y/o

30-34 y/o

Spontaneous aboron

35-39 y/o

40+ y/o

Arficial

(b) Actual Number Fig. 7.3 Pregnancy outcome by maternal age group: Illegitimate Children (1995–2015)

Finally, the factors of the recent increase in unwed mother-headed families will be discussed from the perspective of potential ‘active choices by the women’. According to the 1987 (9th) and 2015 (15th) Japanese National Fertility Surveys, 90% of women have consistently answered that there were ‘benefits to single life’ (Fig. 7.5). Those who answered that there were ‘benefits to marriage’ started to increase since 2005

7.3 Discussion

95

100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 1978

1983

1988

Widowed

(a) Percentage

1993

1998

Divorced

2003

Unmarried

2006

2011

2016

Other

2,500

2,000

1,500

1,000

500

0 1978

1983

1988

Widowed

1993 Divorced

1998

2003

Unmarried

2006

2011

2016

Other

(b) Actual Number Fig. 7.4 Changes in rates of single–mother families by cause: Spousal death, divorce, or never married (1978–2016). Data Source Table 1-(1) MHLW (2016a), Table 1-(1) MHLW (2016b), Table 1-(1) MHLW (2019)

96

7 Effects of Occupation and Year on Pregnancy … 100.0%

100.0%

Single_Merit_Yes 90.0%

90.0%

80.0%

80.0% 70.0%

70.0% 60.0%

Single_Merit_Yes

Marriage_Merit_Yes

60.0%

Marriage_Merit_Yes

50.0%

50.0% 40.0%

40.0%

Marriage_Merit_No 30.0%

Marriage_Merit_No

20.0%

20.0%

10.0% 0.0%

30.0%

10.0%

Single_Merit_No

(a) Women’s Response

0.0%

Single_Merit_No

(b) Men’s Response

Fig. 7.5 Trends in answers of men and women on ‘Benefits of single life Yes/No’ and ‘Benefits of marriage Yes/No’ (1987–2015). Source Table I-1-5 (IPSS 2017), Table I-1-7 (IPSS 2017)

(13th). That is, the number of women who find marriage beneficial increases without any changes to the degree to which women find a single life beneficial. Conversely, 80% of men see ‘benefits to single life’, but the proportion of men who ‘see no benefits to marriage’ has increased from one-fourth in 1987 to one-third in 2015. In other words, the number of men who find marriage beneficial has decreased without any changes to the degree to which men find a single life beneficial. In such a situation, why are men seeing fewer benefits to marriage in recent years, while more women are finding marriage beneficial? In Japan, the benefits of marriage include allowing one to have children (Sect. 3.1). However, women tend to quit work when they get married and focus on housework and childrearing, and men are required to fend for the family. Men escape from family responsibilities as those include unpaid care work. Thus, women should have the option of having children without marriage. If they do not get married, they must take sole financial responsibility; however, they would not have to provide domestic services to their husbands. Rather, they should provide domestic and parenting services only to children. If they are unmarried, they would not be required to feel frustrated by a husband who does not engage in any housework or childcare. The life of an unmarried mother and her children is an attractive option for women who have socioeconomic means, if they could live such a life without caring about how others view them. In Japan, there are no significant changes in the reliance on men to use contraception (Coleman 1991), even in the 2010s (Sect. 3.4). However, unlike the phenomenon observed by Coleman in the 1970s (1991), women are gradually starting to use contraceptive pills and morning after pill, even although such instances are still rare.

7.3 Discussion

97

Regarding abortion, there is a minor increase in people with a proactive attitude that ‘Abortion is a necessary choice for myself’. The rate of unmarried mothers also increased slightly. The number of people who answered yes to the question, ‘Is it acceptable to have children without getting married?’ has also increased somewhat (Sect. 3.1). Although the rates are still low compared to Western countries, these changes are probably sign that the second demographic transition is becoming in Japan.

References Abe, Aya. 2008 Kodomo–no Hinkon: Nihon–no Fukohei–wo Kangaeru (in Japanese). Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten. Coleman, Samuel. 1991. Family Planning in Japanese Society: Traditional Birth Control in a Modern Urban Culture. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Institute for Research on Household Economics (IRHE). 1997. Gendai Jyosei–no Kurashi–to Hatarakikata Shohi Seikatsu–ni Kansuru Paneru Chosa (Dai–4–nendo) (in Japanese). Tokyo: Printing Bureau, Ministry of Finance. Iwasawa, Miho. 2013. Ushinawareta kekkon, zodai suru kekkon: Shokon taipu-betsu shokonhyo–wo mochiita 1970nendai iko–no mikonka–to shokon kozo–no bunseki (in Japanese). Jinko Mondai Kenkyu (Journal of Population Problems) 769 (2): 1–34. Iwasawa, Miho, and Kenji Kamada. 2013. Konzen ninshin kekkon keiken–ha shussan go–no jyosei– no hatarakikata–ni eikyo suruka? (in Japanese). Nihon Rodo Kenkyu Zassi 55 (9): 17–32. Iwasawa, Miho. 2015. “Posuto jinko tenkanki”–no shussho doko: Shoshika–no keii–to tenbo (in Japanese). Jinko Mondai Kenkyu (Journal of Population Problems) 71 (2): 86–101. Iwasawa, Miho. 2017. 2000nendai–no Nihon–ni okeru kongaishi: Chichi-oya–tono do-bekkyo, shakai-keizai-teki jyokyo–to sono tayosei (in Japanese). Jinkogaku Kenkyu (Journal of Population Studies) 53: 47–61. Mattes, Jane. 1994. Single Mothers by Choice: A Guidebook for Single Women Who Are Considering or Have Chosen Motherhood. New York: Harmony. McLanahan, Sara. 2004. Diverging Destinies: How Children Are Faring Under the Second Demographic Transition. Demography 41 (4): 607–627. Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). 2020. Gakko Kihon Chosa: Reiwa 2nendo Kekka–no Gaiyo (in Japanese). https://www.mext.go.jp/b_menu/toukei/ chousa01/kihon/kekka/k_detail/1419591_00003.htm. Accessed 27 February 2021. Ministry of Health Labour and Welfare (MHLW). 2016a. Heisei 10 nen-do Zenkoku Boshi Setai-tou Chosa (FY1998 Nationwide Survey on Single parent household) (in Japanese). https:// www.e-stat.go.jp/stat-search/files?page=1&layout=datalist&toukei=00450275&tstat=000001 024522&cycle=8&tclass1=000001033194&tclass2val=0. Accessed 27 February 2021. Ministry of Health Labour and Welfare (MHLW). 2016b. Heisei 23 nen-do Zenkoku Boshi Setai-tou Chosa (FY 2011 Nationwide Survey on Single parent household) (in Japanese). https:// www.e-stat.go.jp/stat-search/files?page=1&layout=datalist&toukei=00450275&tstat=000001 024522&cycle=8&tclass1=000001086735&tclass2val=0. Accessed 27 February 2021. Ministry of Health Labour and Welfare (MHLW). 2019. Heisei 28 nen-do Zenkoku Hitori Oya Setai-to Chosa (FY 2016 Nationwide Survey on Single parent household) (in Japanese). https://www.e-stat.go.jp/stat-search/files?page=1&layout=datalist&toukei= 00450275&tstat=000001127535&cycle=8&tclass1=000001127536&tclass2val=0. Accessed 27 February 2021. National Institute of Population and Social Security Research (IPSS) (Kokuritsu Shakai Hosho Jinko Mondai Kenkyujo). 2017. Gendai Nihon–no Kekkon–to Shussan: Dai 15–kai Shussho Doko

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Kihon Chosa (Dokushinsha Chosa narabini Fufu Chosa) Hokokusho (Marriage and Childbirth in Japan Today: The Fifteenth Japanese National Fertility Survey, 2015 (Results of Singles and Married Couples Survey)) (in Japanese) (Survey Series No.35). http://www.ipss.go.jp/ps-doukou/ j/doukou15/NFS15_reportALL.pdf. Accessed 27 February 2021. National Personnel Authority. 2015. Heisei 27nen Shokushu-betsu Minkan Kyuyo Jittai Chosa (in Japanese). https://www.jinji.go.jp/kyuuyo/minn/minnhp/min27_index.html. Accessed 27 February 2021. Nishi, Fumihiko. 2017. Singuru Maza-no Saikin-no Jyokyo 2015 (in Japanese) Statistical Research and Training Institute, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. https://warp.da.ndl.go. jp/info:ndljp/pid/11668595/www.stat.go.jp/training/2kenkyu/pdf/zuhyou/single5.pdf. Accessed 27 February 2021. The Japan Institute for Labour Policy and Training (in Japanese). https://www.jil.go.jp/kokunai/sta tistics/dbdata/wage/sub4.html. Accessed 27 February 2021.

Chapter 8

Concluding Remarks

Abstract This book was written to explain the increased number of children born from extramarital relationships in recent years. There are no data that can directly answer this question. Thus, this book sought to find the answer by reviewing national statistics, nationwide surveys, and existing literature, followed by the author’s own analysis of the statistics. The author’s analysis suggests the rising possibility of extramarital fertility in very recent Japan even though the intensity towards unwed mothers varied among occupations. The author identified three subgroups of mother– child families: those who enjoyed high income and stability, those who lacked high income but had stability, and those who had neither. Even in Japan, it is likely that a certain percentage of unwed mothers are ‘single mothers by choice’ (SMC; Mattes 1994). Keywords Second Demographic Transition (SDT) · Pregnancy outcome · Unmarried mother · Abortion · Women’s occupation Japanese society since the 1990s has witnessed a subtle but steady change towards an increasing tendency of childbirth by unmarried women (Chap. 2). As marriage has continued to decline, unwed mothers have increased and may contribute to the maintenance of the population reproduction level of the whole society, although they are still a minority. This book was written to answer the question of why there has been an increase of children born in extramarital relationships in recent years. There is no data that can directly answer this question. Hence, this book sought to find the answer by reviewing national statistics, nationwide surveys, existing literature, and performing the author’s own data analysis on the statistics. Statistics suggest that less sexual activity and more use of contraceptive measures can be assumed to have some effect on the decrease of artificial foetal deaths (Chap. 3). Abortion is decreasing among those aged 20 and above (Chap. 4). As a more recent phenomenon, women have come to have wider variations of choice in regard to reproduction, owing to technological developments. It is probable that women in their 20s over utilised these technologies such as OTC pregnancy tests, pills, emergency contraceptives, and ART. These technologies, especially pills and emergency contraceptives, may contribute to decrease abortions. However, younger © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 Y. Senda, Pregnancy Outcomes of Unmarried Women in Japan (1995–2015), Population Studies of Japan, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-3549-6_8

99

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8 Concluding Remarks

women, especially teenagers, may not enjoy enough access to these new technologies (Chap. 3). Overall, abortion is decreasing. More contraceptive measures taken in the early 20s and less sexual activity above 25 may have brought about the decrease of pregnancies, and consequently, fewer abortions. Yet, it is also true that the number of unmarried mothers is on the rise. How could that be? In Chap. 5, preceding research have been shown that through mizuko kuyo, memorial services to appease the aborted foetus, a new attitude was forming since the 1990s. In spite of its traditional appearance, mizuko kuyo is a relatively new custom that was introduced by some Buddhist circles and gained popularity in the late twentieth century. Until the 1980s, women held a memorial service to sooth any vengeance by the aborted foetus. However, with the ‘spiritual boom’ in the 2000s, the aborted foetus began to mean something different for some women who had an abortion. It transformed from ‘something that may cause evil’ to ‘something like a guardian angel’. Women who are able to follow the trend of the ‘spiritual boom’ may turn abortion into a positive experience. However, there is also another type of women who have no alternative other than to think of it as murder, from the view of fetocentrism. Thus, some may decide to choose giving birth unmarried, in order to avoid the consequence of becoming a killer. Chapter 6 showed some aspects of discourses on unmarried mothers through a survey of literature published in Japan. The author collected books focusing on unwed mothers and found that they could be categorised into three types: those featuring women facing economic hardship and unstable work conditions, those whose subjects were actively campaigning in the elimination of discrimination against children of extramarital relationships, and those who highlighted women who were living ‘outside the box’, so to speak. These books did not show unwedded mothers’ lifestyles to be attractive. Nor did it seem to have any relevance to the average readers’ lives. Although the books do provide information on the different types of unmarried women, it appears that the incentive for women to become one or to become more tolerant towards unmarried mothers comes more from real people they know, rather than from knowledge gained from such books. The author’s data analysis in Chap. 7 yielded the rising possibility of extramarital fertility in very recent Japan even though the intensity towards unwed mothers varied among occupations. In Japan, this movement, rising extramarital fertility is still subtle, however, we can confirm it. In this respect, it is noteworthy that results from our analysis in Chap. 7 suggested that there is a polarisation among the increasing unwed mothers: those who enjoy socioeconomic stability, and those who do not. It is also assumed that the former tends to have a de facto marriage; however, it is not the case for the latter. This is similar to the findings of Iwasawa (2017). In addition, this overlaps with common view of researchers on diversifying trends among social classes. In Japan, for example, Hara (2009) pointed out the polarisation of the family structure as one of the possible consequences of SDT because of the high childlessness rate in Japan as in the same way as in Germany.

8 Concluding Remarks

101

In addition, this research showed that in recent years, there was a stronger tendency for women working in manufacturing jobs (a low-income but secure job) to become unmarried mothers. Evaluation on the appropriateness of describing a person’s situation of ‘having a low-income but secure job’ as ‘socioeconomically stable’ will have to wait until the reality of their lifestyles have been clarified. Unmarried women are so heterogeneous that the impact of any social event will differ among subgroups. For example, in 2020, the coronavirus crisis affected various aspects of society, including the family system. Marriage and childbirth have declined, as appeared in the statistics, but the effect of this crisis can be different between women with socioeconomic stability and those without. Also, the Cabinet Office (2020) reported results from a survey of a change in young people’s outlook towards family. According to the report, one-third of unmarried people in their 20s and 30% of those in their 30s expressed increased interest in marriage compared to before the spread of the coronavirus. If marriage is revived in the post-corona society, what will happen to the probability of the appearance of unmarried mothers? If the increase in unmarried mothers in recent years is due to unavoidable choices made from economic instability, more marriages will mean smaller number of unwed mothers. We will keep an eye on the future trend of the marriage behaviour of young people and the consequences of unmarried pregnancies.

References Cabinet Office. 2020. Dai-2-kai Shingata Korona Uirusu Kansensho-no Eikyoka-ni okeru Seikatsu Ishiki Kodo-no Henka-ni kansuru Chosa (in Japanese). https://www5.cao.go.jp/keizai2/keizaisyakai/future2/20210119/shiryou3-1.pdf. Accessed 27 February 2021. Hara, Toshihiko. 2009. Mushi-no zoka: Doitsu-to Nihon-no hikaku (in Japanese). Sapporo Shiritsu Daigaku Kenkyu Ronbunshu (SCU Journal of Design & Nursing) 3 (1): 5–18. Iwasawa, Miho. 2017. 2000nendai–no Nihon–ni okeru kongaishi: Chichi-oya–tono do-bekkyo, shakai-keizai-teki jyokyo–to sono tayosei (in Japanese). Jinko Mondai Kenkyu (Journal of Population Problems) 53: 47–61.