Paper short abstract:

This study examines the state of elderly care provision by adult children at home and the gendered distribution of care responsibility in Japan by using "Survey to grasp the state of balance between work and elderly care responsibility, 2013".

Paper long abstract:

This study examines the state of elderly care provision by adult children at home and the gendered distribution of care responsibility in Japan. Japan has experienced a rapid increase in the ratio of elderly population. The percentage of the population of aged 65 or older was 24.1% in 2013, which is the highest rate in the world (Cabinet Office 2013). This suggests that taking measures for proper elderly care provision is one of the urgent issues for the Japanese government. Although the Long-Term Care Insurance Act, which provides public care service for elderly with care needs, was enacted in 1997, routine/daily care services are still mostly provided by relatives within the household (MHLW 2000). The Japanese government has maintained the male-breadwinner-housewife social security model, which assigns care responsibility to women within the household. Thus, 72.2% of elderly care services are provided by women (MHLW 2000). Due to the incompatibility between paid work and elderly care responsibility, 80 thousand workers quit their jobs for elderly care responsibility in 2010 (Oshima 2012).

This study uses "Survey to grasp the state of balance between work and elderly care responsibility, 2013" to investigate gendered elderly care provision in Japan. The sample consists of male and female respondents (aged 40-59 year old) who has quit their job for elderly care responsibility. The main findings are following: (1) Elderly care services are mainly provided by women (daughter or daughter in law). (2) Respondents report that their care burden has increased since they quit their jobs. The percentage who report that "the burden increased a lot" is higher for female respondents than is for male respondents. (3) However, both male and female respondents who provide care at home shoulder heavy care responsibility as approximately 50% respondents provide care every day.

These results suggest that public care provision is far from sufficient, and women take most care responsibility privately within the household. However, once men become a care provider, they also share heavy care responsibility. Policy implications are discussed.