When Upper House lawmaker Masako Mori became a state minister for measures for declining birthrate, gender equality and consumer affairs and food safety last December, one of the first things she did was to announce that she would promote male staff within her ministries if they take child-care leave.
Mori, who is also the minister in charge of support for women's empowerment and child-rearing, is a lawyer with two daughters, ages 11 and 14. She especially laments the fact that Japanese men with children under 6 years old only spend an average of 39 minutes per day on child-rearing.
One element preventing working fathers from giving a hand in raising children is that, while every worker should be treated equally, many have to fulfill a certain service period to be promoted under the seniority system in many companies, including ministries.