Initiatives by Japanese Geoscience Societies to Support Young Researchers with Children

Parenting philosophies differ across countries and cultures; however, for married researchers raising children in Japan—particularly female researchers—participating in academic conferences while their children are young can pose significant challenges. This is because, on average, men's participation in housework and childcare in Japan is significantly lower, resulting in an uneven burden on women for child-rearing. Although the employment rate for Japanese women aged 22 to 44 is 82% (2024), women still bear the brunt of much of the household labor. For example, Japanese men spend less than one hour per day on average on housework and childcare, while women spend about four times as much, regardless of their working hours. It's a significant disparity.

The Geological Society of Japan (JGS) has provided a childcare facility at its annual meetings since 1998 to support participation by members in the child-rearing generation. The Japan Geoscience Union (JpGU) also began offering a childcare facility at its meetings around the same time.

Following a decline in the number of users, the JGS discontinued its on-site childcare facility and began referring users to nearby private childcare facilities.

Prior to the spread of COVID-19, JpGU also supported the participation of researchers with children by providing childcare rooms at conference venues and later assisted attendees from nearby childcare facilities. However, this support ceased due to the spread of COVID-19.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, men were encouraged to participate in housework, but women researchers experienced increased burdens from household labor, resulting in reduced research activity (JpGU 2020 Survey Results*1)

After the COVID-19 pandemic subsided, JpGU began offering the following support to members with children: 1) Support for online participants. Assistance with costs for hiring childcare providers or placing children in childcare facilities during online participation. 2) Setting up childcare rooms at conference venues. Furthermore, starting with the 2025 Meeting, 3) Support for after-school childcare is also provided, limited to Sundays.

To promote a shift in men's attitudes and encourage their participation in childcare in Japan, the Japanese government has set targets for increasing the rate of men taking parental leave (50% by fiscal year 2025 and 85% by fiscal year 2030). As a result, while the parental leave uptake rate in 2018 was 6.2% for men and 82% for women, the rate for men has surged to 30.1% in 2023 and 40.5% in 2024. Women consistently remain in the 80% range regardless of the fiscal year. This outcome is the result of the government's enhanced salary compensation policy for parental leave and the expansion of incentive programs for male employees taking parental leave at workplaces (which do not exist for female employees taking parental leave).

The JpGU-AGU Joint Meeting 2026 (24-29 May) offers hybrid participation for researchers unable to attend in person, and childcare services (by advance reservation) will be available at the conference venue. We strongly encourage those planning to attend JpGU while caring for children to use these services.

1*:https://sites.google.com/jpgu.org/jpgudiv/index/divevent/covid-19%E3%81%AE%E5%BD%B1%E9%9F%BF%E8%AA%BF%E6%9F%BB%E3%82%A2%E3%83%B3%E3%82%B1%E3%83%BC%E3%83%88