Determinants of Married Women’s Employment and Employment Status in Japan

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the determinants of married women’s employment and employment status in Japan. The data came from NFRJ03 (National Family Research of Japan 2003) and NFRJ08 (National Family Research of Japan 2003) of the National Family Research Committee of the Japan Society of Family Sociology. Using binary logistic regression I obtained the following results: (1) Age, having a child aged less than 6 years, gender role attitudes, husband’s income and living with parents or parents in law had a significant effect on employment ; (2) The factors influencing employment status (full-time or part-time) were education, gender role attitudes, husband’s employment form, career interruption caused of marriage or childbirth ; (3) The women have a child aged less than 6 years, strong gender role attitude and higher incomes husbands tend to be housewives ; and (4) The women have lower education history, strong gender role attitude and career interruption experience tend to be part-time employer.