A New Trend! What Kind of Couple is an "Even Couple"?

With dual-income households exceeding 60% in Japan, how are today's Japanese mothers and families changing? As more women enter the workforce, the topic of "housework and childcare division" becomes increasingly debated. In recent years, terms like "single-parent operation" and "nameless chores" related to this division have gained attention.

Since its establishment in 2009, Mama Lab has proposed solutions by extracting real insights from moms, dads, children, and families.

In this series, Erika Matsubara of Mama Lab will explore how the realities of dual-income couples are changing today, based on surveys of such couples. She will also introduce the "even couples" featured in this installment.

Horizontal and Vertical Perspectives Surrounding Women

According to data from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, dual-income households in Japan have been increasing annually. They surpassed stay-at-home mom households in 2000 and exceeded 60% in 2017.

Furthermore, the proportion of women in the labor force, which previously showed a decline in their 20s and 30s—a period marked by life stage changes like marriage and childbirth—forming an M-shaped curve, has shifted. More women in their 20s and 30s are now working, transforming the curve into a trapezoid.

One more point: The government has set a target for promoting women's advancement, aiming for women to hold 30% of leadership positions by 2020. (Source: Cabinet Office Gender Equality website)

When Japanese women are expected not only to "continue working" (horizontal perspective) but also to "advance their careers" (vertical perspective), won't they find themselves in a tougher situation than before, caught between these demands?

What defines an "equal couple"?

Have you heard comments like, "Mr. XX, who recently became a dad, is really proactive with housework and childcare," or "I've been seeing dads picking up their kids at daycare lately"?

Amidst all this talk about "sharing household chores and childcare," how has the reality actually changed? Within Mama Lab, a hypothesis emerged: "Could a new type of couple be emerging, especially among young families?" "Could there be couples who equally share household chores and childcare (later named 'Equal Couples')?"

This sparked our "Even Couples Survey."

That said, defining "even" proved challenging. Key questions included: "Which specific household chores and childcare tasks define a couple as 'even'?" and "Should we define it solely based on the actual percentage of tasks shared?"

To get the most accurate picture of reality, we broke down responsibilities into four detailed categories: "Cooking," "Cleaning," "Laundry," and "General Childcare." We asked respondents to report the actual percentage of each task handled by themselves and their spouse.

Through interviews, we discovered that couples don't always split everything 50-50. Instead, they often assign primary responsibility by category—like Dad handles cleaning while Mom cooks—and each household has its own unique rules and methods. Therefore, we defined "even couples" as those averaging 50-50 or 40-60 (or 60-40) across the four categories.

The result? "Even couples" appeared as a minority at 5.6%!

Incidentally, the breakdown showed that 22.7% of couples had a 2:8 (or 8:2) division, while 71.6% had either a 1:9 (or 9:1) or a 0:10 (or 10:0) division.

What kind of people are "even couples"? Let's explore the profile revealed by the survey!

So, what kind of people are the "even couples" revealed by the survey?

First, the average age: moms in even couples are 34.4 years old, and dads are 34.2 years old. Notable characteristics for this generation include: home economics being a required subject for both genders in junior high and high school, and dual-income households being more common than single-income households among those in their 30s who are marrying and having children.

Furthermore, having experienced the emergence of i-mode and SNS platforms like mixi from junior high through college, they can be considered individuals with digital literacy as standard equipment.

Looking at the profiles of Even Couple Moms and Even Couple Dads, Even Couple Moms show high information sensitivity: 12.5% are "well-informed about topics on news sites and social media" (compared to 5.9% of all moms), and 22.9% "recommend things they like to others" (compared to 14.4% of all moms).

Regarding work, 50.0% (vs. 26.8% of all moms) stated "I want to work diligently outside the home," and 22.9% (vs. 9.9% of all moms) expressed a desire to "learn English conversation." This indicates they value not only family but also career and skill development.

Meanwhile, Even Couple Dads show a rational approach to balancing work and family: 36.7% ("We cooperate so work runs smoothly even when children are sick," compared to 21.3% of all dads) and 38.8% ("I have no qualms about leaving work early for my child," compared to 29.3% overall). Furthermore, 38.8% (compared to 26.0% overall) stated, "I don't view time with family as a service to them." This suggests that even on holidays, dads are enjoying time with their families rather than viewing it as a duty.

Next time, we'll delve deeper into the "even-handed couple" perspective on marriage, how they share information, and their consumption habits.

 

Mama Lab is a work tank that sincerely engages with the true feelings of moms and children, proposing solutions to challenges. We predict the future direction of moms, dads, children, and families, solving problems with real insights and realizing new business opportunities.

Guided by the concept "When moms smile, Japan smiles. When moms smile, the world smiles," we increase organic connections between moms, families, and society. Established in 2009. Expanded into the Asia-Pacific region in 2017.

[Survey Overview]
■4th MAMALAB Comprehensive Survey (1st: 2008, 2nd: 2011, 3rd: 2015)

Conducted: November 9-14, 2017

Method: Web survey
　*Web survey targeting respondents of the d-public Monitor Tunes screening survey

Regions:
【Tokyo Metropolitan Area】Tokyo, Chiba, Saitama, Kanagawa
【Hanshin Area】Osaka Prefecture, Kyoto Prefecture, Nara Prefecture, Hyogo Prefecture

Target: Married men and women aged 20-49 with children
　Respondents living with spouse and children
　Eldest child is elementary school age or younger (12 years old or younger)
　Employed (full-time/part-time/self-employed, etc.)
　Spouse also employed (dual-income household)