Causes of maternity harassment and its effect on victims' career

• Project/Area Number: 15K01931
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Gender
• Research Institution: Doshisha University
• Principal Investigator: Kawaguchi Akira 同志社大学, 政策学部, 教授 (50257903)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2019-03-31
• Project Status: Completed (Fiscal Year 2018)
• Budget Amount: ¥4,680,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,600,000、Indirect Cost: ¥1,080,000); Fiscal Year 2017: ¥1,430,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,100,000、Indirect Cost: ¥330,000); Fiscal Year 2016: ¥650,000 (Direct Cost: ¥500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥150,000); Fiscal Year 2015: ¥2,600,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥600,000)
• Keywords: マタ二ティーハラスメント / 正社員 / 残業時間 / 職務範囲 / 就業 / 妊娠 / 出産 / 差別 / マタニティーハラスメント / 雇用契約 / 女らしさ / セクハラ / 女性活躍推進 / ワークライフバランス / 職場 / ハラスメント / キャリア形成

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This is the first study that uses microdata to analyze the characteristics of women and workplaces that are associated with the risk of maternity harassment (MH). Existing surveys find that regular employees are more likely to be victimized by MH than are non-regular employees. This study decomposes the regular/non-regular gap in the rate of victimization into such factors as education, tenure, voluntary resignation, pressure to work overtime, clear job description, and male-dominated workplace. I find that voluntary resignation and pressure to work overtime are the two largest factors that explain the regular/non-regular gap in the risk of MH. I also find that organizations that provide clear job descriptions have low risk of MH. The results suggest that organizations could reduce the risk of MH by clarifying individual employees’ roles and by highly evaluating employees who execute their duties without overtime.

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

第一の意義は、マタハラの実態を明らかにしたことである。中でも、一般的な理解とは逆に、正社員の方が、非正社員よりマタハラに遭う確率が高いことが分かった。言葉によるマタハラは、妊娠した正社員の12.4％が経験しているのに対し、非正社員は6.1％しか経験していない。母性保護制度の利用拒否や解雇などのマタハラは、正社員の17.1％が経験しているのに対し、非正社員は11.6％しか経験していない。。
第二に、マタハラが多い職場の特徴として、労働時間が長いこと、職務範囲が曖昧であることが明らかになった。これらは、マタハラを少なくするための制度策定の貴重な情報となる。

Research Products

• [Journal Article] Maternity harassment in Japan: Why do regular employees have higher risk than non-regular employees do? (2019)
  • Author(s): Kawaguchi Akira
  • Journal Title: Japan and the World Economy Volume: 49 Pages: 84-94
  • DOI: 10.1016/j.japwor.2018.09.005
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Journal Article] The Effect of Pregnancy Discrimination (2017)
  • Author(s): 細見正樹・川口章
  • Journal Title: Transactions of the Academic Association for Organizational Science Volume: 6 Issue: 1 Pages: 156-161
  • DOI: 10.11207/taaos.6.1_156
  • NAID: 130005975558
  • ISSN: 2186-8530
  • Open Access
• [Presentation] Prevalence and causes of maternity harassment: Focusing on gender stereotypes and contributions to organization (2017)
  • Author(s): Akira Kawaguchi
  • Organizer: The 21 st Asian Studies Conference
  • Int'l Joint Research
• [Presentation] マラにティ・ハラスメントを受けた経験がもたらす影響 (2017)
  • Author(s): 細見正樹・川口章
  • Organizer: 組織学会
• [Remarks] 「在職中の妊娠・出産に関する調査」の結果概要
  • URL: http://www.akira-kawaguchi.jp/research/cat86/2016/04/25134109.html
• [Remarks] 「在職中の妊娠・出産に関する調査」の結果概要（川口研究室ホームページ）
  • URL: http://www.akira-kawaguchi.jp/research/cat86/2016/04/25134109.html