【News Citation】
Onomichi City, Hiroshima Prefecture, Discontinues Distribution of Educational Flyer for Pregnant Women in Hiroshima Prefecture Following Criticism
Following a firestorm on SNS, Onomichi City in Hiroshima Prefecture announced the discontinuation of the distribution of a flier entitled “To You from a Senior Dad,” which had been distributed to pregnant women in the city.
It was a compilation of the results of a survey conducted among men raising children in the city, in which they looked back on their wives’ experiences before and after childbirth and ranked them according to themes.
In the category of “I didn’t like my wife’s attitude (or words),” the top responses were “she was frustrated for no reason” and “she got annoyed and hit me over the slightest thing,” followed by “she was too busy taking care of the baby and didn’t do enough housework.
In the item “Things that made me happy when my wife did for me,” the first place was “housework,” the second place was “childcare,” and the third place was “massage.
The article also included the “male brain/female brain” discourse, which has been criticized as having no scientific basis: “The structural differences between the brains of men and women have been raised, and it is known that men act based on theory while women act based on emotion.
This content drew a flood of criticism. Child rearing is a joint effort between husband and wife, and with the increasing number of dual-earner households today, the notion that “housework and child rearing should be wife-led” is fading. It is likely that many people felt rejected by the contents, which still strongly remind them of the division of sexual roles.
The flyer also included a reverse version, from “senior mothers” to men, in which the most common response to “This attitude (word) of my husband annoys me” was “He puts drinking and hobbies first,” and the most common response to “What I want my husband to do” was “He should take better care of the baby.
Although the questions in the survey were set basically the same for both men and women, it is women who naturally undergo major physical and mental changes during pregnancy and childbirth, and it is less incongruous to ask the women who are responsible for childcare what they were glad their husbands did for them under such burdensome circumstances. However, I feel that there may have been a problem in setting up the question itself to ask the husbands what they were happy their wives did for them, and to use it as a model for the husbands.
Various criticisms have already been raised about this matter, but the fact that the government is providing poor advice on marital relations during child-rearing, as child-rearing magazines do, is painful because it seems to reflect the reality of a country with declining child-rearing capacity.
Some of the responses on social networking sites pointed out that “suicide” is the most common cause of death among women after childbirth, and that the content of the magazine seems to exacerbate “postpartum depression,” which is thought to be a major cause of such deaths.
If we want to have more children, the key should be how the younger generation can take on the challenge of childbirth and childcare with a positive attitude, and whether there are things they can rely on, such as the government, during difficult times. However, I feel that the middle-aged and older generations still have the view that childbirth and childcare are natural hardships that must be overcome by their own efforts.
Is it my imagination or is it that the gut feeling that “the younger generation lacks effort and patience and needs to be enlightened” still prevails?
【Citation】
【Personal opinion】
The article is exactly right about pregnancy and childbirth, a matter that only women can do and that is overwhelmingly borne by women,
There is nothing wrong with asking women what they were happy their husbands did for them.
The mistake was to flip the question to the husbands.
There is no particular burden on the husband. Yet, the wife, who has a tremendous burden, was made to feel as if she had to help her husband.
To use this as an example, a husband and wife were walking down the street when they were involved in a traffic accident. The wife was miraculously unhurt, while the husband was badly injured, with a total recovery time of three months.
In such a situation, would you normally ask the couple the same question and ask them what they were happy that their husband did for them?
Why should a husband who has been completely healed for three months support his wife, who is an adult, in the first place? Everyone would think, “Why does he have to support his wife, who is an adult?
It’s no wonder that the situation has come under fire.
