The national census in 2000 showed a significant decrease in the female labor participation in their early thirties. Being in their early thirties indicates that they were born between 1966 and 1970, and represent the bubble-period generation. These women didn't struggle to find jobs, and up until their late twenties, maintained a high level of labor participation. They were expected to create changes in both the Japanese family model and the lifestyle of Japanese women. But instead, after they reached their thirties, they started getting married, having children, and staying at home. In the end, the M-shape curve that represents the female labor force by age didn't change.

When comparing Japan's female and elderly labor participation patterns with Sweden, Germany, and the U.S after 1970, Hachiro Iwai concluded that Japan was a society that had experienced an exceptional lack of change during the past quarter century (Iwai 2002).

I had formerly suggested that we view the family system after the war as "the postwar family system" or "the 1955 family system." This was based on the idea that things in life such as family and gender roles have a history, although many people believe that they are unchangeable. I also suggested that the postwar family system continued from 1955 to 1975 but then it started to change (Ochiai 1997). The task is now, however, to uncover the secret of the persistence that the postwar family system has had since 1975.

Now, what were the structural characteristics of the postwar family? In my book, I took three aspects into consideration. First, there was a demographic change, specifically a decrease in the number of children per couple. The average number of children per couple was a little over two. In the modern family, a minimum number of children were raised with a maximum amount of love, time, and effort and became the center of the family. This child-centric characteristic was its demographic foundation. At the same time, the lifestyle ideal that people get married at a certain age and have a certain number of children gained a stronger influence. So to speak, it was the realization of "reproductive egalitarianism." Second, the establishment of a division of labor based on gender, representing men working outside and women staying at home, caused many women to become housewives (Graph 1). Third, in the process of the demographic transition, the generation born in a high fertility and low mortality period played a central role in both the economy and household formation. Because of this unique demographic situation, Japanese society could maintain the traditional stem family system and at the same time could
accommodate the nuclearization of the family.

Now what happened after 1975? Female labor participation after the Second World War can be characterized by a rise in the proportion of employees in the non-agriculture sector, an increase in the proportion of housewives up until 1975, and a move toward parttime labor after 1975 (Seiyama 2000). After 1955 when the high-growth period started, the percentage of women in agriculture and the self-employment sector decreased, while non-agriculture employees rapidly increased. The shrink in the self-employed sector including agriculture was the major cause of "housewifization" because the majority of women working in this sector were married. The percentage of women in the work force continued to decrease until1975.

However, the 1960s saw a rapid utilization of married women in the employment sector. As Graph 2:(Female Employment Rates in Japan) shows, excluding self-employed households, it is clear that more women were moving into the employed labor force (Tanaka 1999). When looking at the labor force in terms of full-time and part-time employees, there was a significant change in the mid-1970s. The proportion of female full-time workers, which had continued to grow from the 1950s and into the 1960s, stopped increasing as a result of the oil crisis. After the late 1970s, only the proportion of part-time workers increased (Tanaka 1999). The economic reforms put in place to deal with the oil crisis, changed the role of women in the labor force.

Part-time work was established for middle-aged women who chose to go back to work after their children were raised. After the late 1970s there appeared to be a trend towards fewer housewives, but in fact there was an establishment of a new division of labor, where men worked outside the home and women took care of the family and also worked.

As a solution to the economic crisis that followed the oil crisis, companies sought ways to downsize while still maintaining the number of male employees. Coincidentally, 1973 marked the year that Japan took its first steps towards becoming a welfare state. However, the government soon gave up the idea and shifted towards a so called "Japanese-style welfare system," which was to promote self-help efforts and create solidarity in the family and the community. In order to utilize women in the welfare system and at the same time utilize them for economic adjustment, part-time work was politically promoted for women. In other words, the typical modern family was modified but at the same time it was reinforced and became fixed. In addition, the family became a political issue in the 1980's under the Ohira ministry. In spite of the fact that the proportion of full-time housewives was already decreasing, various measures that treated housewives preferentially were taken; namely, raising the percentage of spousal inheritance (1980), giving the wives of salaried workers pension annuity with a premium exemption (1985), and establishing a special spousal deduction (1986).

Measures taken after the oil crisis varied depending on the country. In other developed countries, there was a transition in family policy towards an adoption of a standard based on the individual. Because of male unemployment and economic hardship, more women had to have jobs, so people couldn't maintain the traditional family model. Following this trend, Japan passed the Equal Employment Opportunity Law (1985). However, under this law, conflict with the traditional family model created two different paths between sogoshoku or the main stream workers, and ippanshoku or workers who perform only subordinate tasks in the workforce. The majority of women had to choose the latter to save time and energy for their household responsibility.

 The world reached a crossroads in the late 1970s after the oil crisis. The fact that Japan intentionally and politically took measures to reinforce the family model makes the Japanese family of today difficult to change and causes various kinds of family problems by giving too much burden on the family.