In Japan, single mothers face discrimination and great danger

“I feel deprived of my dignity because I am a single mother, I receive public assistance, I do not have enough money for daily food and school, I do not have a job. » 45-year-old Mika, who only gives his last name, like all our interlocutors, is raising two children aged 3 and 7 as much as possible after a divorce. “For domestic violence”. “My ex-husband was fired from his job. He explains. I was mentally exhausted. » Suffering from prolonged Covid-19 and a chronic illness, living in a small apartment in a modest neighborhood in Tokyo, he struggles to find work. “My children want to join clubs and travel, but I can’t afford it. » Allowances are ¥2 million (€13,400) per year. Modest parents cannot help him.

At the heart of the world’s third largest economy, his case is not isolated. The average annual income of single-mother households was 3.73 million yen in 2020, less than half that of households with children and a far cry from the 6.06 million yen earned by single-father households.

“Compared to European countries, many Japanese single mothers live in poverty, even if they work. 85% of single-person households have a job, but 48.3% of them are in poverty.”, explains Yanfei Zhou from Japan Women’s University. According to the OECD, their poverty rate in France, defined as resources less than half of the average income, is 24.1%.

Government envelope

Today, Japan has 1.4 million single-parent households, 90% of which are headed by a mother. Single mothers are part of this “new poor”: those who are overlooked, overlooked, and forgotten by society.

Their uncertainty has sometimes turned into poverty during the coronavirus pandemic, with job cuts in food and other services followed by high inflation. What justifies the statement, Thursday 1^Eh In June, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced an envelope of ¥3.5 trillion over three years to protect children, a broad program that includes support for education, violence prevention, the fight against declining birth rates and poverty reduction. The revelation of the envelope follows the creation, 1^Eh April, from the Family and Children’s Agency, which Mr. Kishida hopes “will lead to the creation of a child-friendly society”.