英字新聞

The Yomiuri Shimbun December 6, 2013
Encouraging men to take child-care leave would benefit society
男性の育児休業　働く母親支える環境作りを（12月5日付・読売社説）

Increasing the amount of child-care leave taken by men will help create a social environment more conducive to child-rearing.
　男性の育児休業をより増やすことが、社会全体で子育てを支援する環境作りにもなるだろう。

The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry has started discussions highly likely to result in raising the child-care benefits paid through employment insurance.
　厚生労働省が、雇用保険から育児休業の取得者に支払われる給付額を増額する方向で検討に入った。

The anticipated change is designed to increase the number of working men who take child-care leave. Fewer than 2 percent do so now.
わずか２％足らずの男性の育児休業取得率を引き上げるのが目的だ。

The ministry plans to submit a bill to revise the Employment Insurance Law to the ordinary Diet session next year.
来年の通常国会に雇用保険法改正案を提出する。

Under the current system, a working couple is able to take child-care leave, in principle, until their baby is 14 months old if the leave is taken by only one parent at a time. A parent taking leave is entitled to receive benefits worth 50 percent of the wages earned before taking the leave.
　育児休業は、夫婦がそれぞれ取得する場合、原則として、子供が１歳２か月になるまで認められる仕組みだ。その間、休業前賃金の５０％が支給される。

The government is likely to raise the child-care leave benefit to 67 percent of wages for at least the first six-month period for each parent.
　政府は、この育児休業給付を最初の半年に限って６７％に引き上げる方針だ。

For example, if a new mother takes two months of maternity leave after giving birth, followed by child-care leave for six months, and then her husband takes child-care leave for the next six months, the couple would be assured of a full year of child-care benefits worth 67 percent of the wages of whichever parent was taking leave at the time.
例えば、妻が子供が２か月になるまで産休を取った後に半年育児休業を取得し、続いて夫も半年の育児休業に入れば、１年間は６７％を維持できる。

The government hopes that by boosting such economic assistance, the child-care leave taken by men will increase.
　政府は、こうした経済的な支援の強化によって男性の育児休業が増えると期待している。

Companies must help

Yet there is also a sense of unwillingness in business circles.
　だが、経済界には抵抗感もある。

While the central government pays for a little under 7 percent of the child-care leave benefit, the rest is to be covered by insurance for which employers and employees pay equally. Therefore, the increase in the benefit is likely to raise the financial burden on both labor and management.
育児休業給付の７％弱は国が負担し、残りを事業主と被保険者である労働者が折半するため、給付増で労使の負担が増すことになりかねないからである。

It is also unlikely that a hike in child-care leave benefits alone will be sufficient to increase the amount of child-care leave taken by men.
　育児休業給付の増額だけで男性の休業取得が増える、とも考えにくい。

An opinion survey taken by the ministry found that men most often cited “workplace atmosphere” as a reason for not taking child-care leave.
厚労省の実施した世論調査によると、男性が育児休業を取得しなかった理由としては、「職場の雰囲気」が最も多かった。

If more working men were to take child-care leave, even for a very short period, it would give mental support to working women. We think it important for businesses to understand this well and to start creating environments in which men feel it is easier to take their child-care leave.
　短期間でも男性が育児のために休暇を取るようになれば、働く女性の精神的な支えとなろう。企業がそれをよく理解し、休業を取得しやすい環境作りから始めていくことが大切ではないか。

At leading consumer products maker Kao Corp., winner of the grand prize of the “Ikumen Company Award 2013,” the rate of men taking child-rearing leave has been hovering in the 35-40 percent range in recent years. (“Ikumen” is a recently coined word for fathers who actively take part in raising children.)
　厚労省の「イクメン企業アワード」のグランプリを受賞した日用品メーカーの花王では、近年の男性社員の育児休業取得率は、３５〜４０％で推移している。

The company has established a system of giving its male employees fully paid child-care leave for up to five days. It encourages them to take the leave more actively by holding seminars. Although the average period of child-care leave taken by male employees is only 11 days, the company said its employees’ attitudes have been changing.
　最高５日間の有給の休業制度を設けたほか、セミナーを開催するなど積極的な活用を呼びかけてきたという。男性の取得期間の平均は１１日間と短いものの、社員の意識も変わってきている。

Since earlier this year, the Tokyo Stock Exchange has selected listed companies that excel at utilizing women, calling these companies “Nadeshiko issues” and recommending their stock to potential investors. The rate of male workers taking child-care leave is one yardstick for the TSE’s selection.
　東京証券取引所では、今年から女性を積極的に活用する企業を選定し、「なでしこ銘柄」として推奨している。男性の育児休業取得率も選定基準の一つだ。

Hiroshima Prefecture Gov. Hidehiko Yuzaki provided another positive example with his announcement that he was taking child-care leave himself, apparently pushing up the rate of men taking such leave at companies in the prefecture to 7 percent.
　広島県のように知事の「育休宣言」が一つのきっかけとなり、県内企業の男性の育児休業取得率が７％にまで伸びた例もある。

Measures to deal with the low birth rate are a matter of urgency.
　少子化対策は喫緊の課題だ。

Both the public and private sectors need to consider ways to broadly support child-rearing, including the child-care leave taken by men.
男性の育児休業も含め、官民で幅広い子育て支援策を考えたい。

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Dec. 5, 2013)
（2013年12月5日01時50分 読売新聞）