Working mothers in Japan are jettisoning their careers and resorting to contract work amid laws that fail to support shorter hours long term.
The child care and family care leave law obliges employers to reduce working hours to six a day in principle for those taking care of children under 3 years old and offer them an exemption from overtime work on request.
Names of parties neglecting such obligations can be made public, according to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare website. But there are no penalties for companies that breach the obligation.