2% of men and 39.8% of women are still for the idea. Surprisingly, despite the fact that Japan is such a rich country, the ratio of people affirmative to the division of labor by gender role is the highest of all OECD countries. The prime minister of Japan, Mr. Abe is conscious of this fact. He aims to make women's ratio over 30% that occupies leadership positions by 2020, said in Seicho Senryaku Speech (Growth Strategy Speech) on April 19th, 2013. He added that compared with European countries, Japan is still behind. Japanese women still have to choose children or work.
Role conflicts often happen to workingwomen who have small children especially infants and preschool kids. "When we are expected to play two conflicting roles of our two different statuses at the same time, we experience role conflict" (Thio, 37). Workingwomen have two different statuses, which are a workingwoman in a company and a mother at home. When women are working, they only have to think about their work and focus on being effective. On the other hand, once they are home, women usually have to make breakfast and dinner, wash clothes and listen to their children. .
Thio also says that usually the conflicting roles of a person do not present any particular problem because he or she plays only one role at a time (37). However, if a person tries to play both roles at a time, it could be a problem. What if a workingwoman gets a call from her child's nursery school that he feels sick and needs to go to a hospital? What if a mother has to finish work at home whereas children are waiting for dinner? Slaughter points out, "Workers who put their careers first are typically rewarded; workers who choose their families are overlooked, disabled, or accused of unprofessionalism." If a woman chooses work over children, it tends to be seen as professional, but if she chooses to see her child during work, she would be seen as unprofessional.