Research on Occupational Gender Segregation

2003 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary

• Project/Area Number: 14594030
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: ジェンダー
• Research Institution: Kyoto Human Rights Research Institute
• Principal Investigator: FUKUDA Masako Kyoto Human Rights Research Institute, Research Division on Women's Rights, Division Manager, 研究第4部, 部長 (40280680)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): ARISAWA Tomoko Osaka Gakuin University, Faculty of Law, Associate Professor, 法学部, 助教授 (60247864) ; AKUZAWA Mariko Himeji Institute of Technology, School of Human Science and Environment, Associate Professor, 環境人間学部, 助教授 (20305692)
• Project Period (FY): 2002 – 2003
• Keywords: Occupational Gender Segregation / Gender / Male Nursery Attendant / Female Firefighter / The Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society

Research Abstract

Since "The Basic Law for a Gender-Equal Society" was enacted in 1 999, we have been asking the question: is gender equality really accepted in the workplace? The present project purports to clarify the current situation and issues of "Occupational Gender Segregation", focusing on male nursery attendants and female firefighters-both occupy about 1% of their respective workforce. We sent out over 3000 surveys to nursery attendant students, nursery attendants, nursery school managers and firefighters in both Kyoto and Osaka. Those surveys pertaining to the nursery attendant profession contain questions about gender awareness, performance expectations for male and female nursery school pupils, and working conditions for male attendants, among other subjects of interest. For firefighters, the surveys contain questions about gender awareness, the necessity of female firefighters, their personal experiences in the different firefighting sections, and so on. As a side note, space for independe nt comments was also provided.
The completed surveys showed that the gender awareness of the surveyed nursery attendant students and nursery attendants themselves does not differ greatly between males and females ; however, for male managers gender awareness is quite low. In addition, gender awareness in male firefighters is low and "gender-role" consciousness is quite strong. For the question, "do you think a female firefighter is necessary?" 36.1% of males surveyed answered yes, while 72.9% of females surveyed answered yes.
A female firefighter commented, "There is no opportunity to work at the fire ground, even though I was trained at the firefighter training center in the same program as the males." Firefighting, considered a male job, was regulated by Labor Standards Law of Japan, which restricted female labor conditions. Since it is now moving towards deregulation, along with technical innovations in the field, the specific action should be taken.
Nursery attendant has been qualified as a recognized profession by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare in 2003, and the existing wide gap between private and public nursery schools should be resolved.