The revolution of minister Koizumi: two week home on paternity leave

BEIJING – Just two weeks away from the office. During which, moreover, will be able to work from home. But in Japan, where men's work is the first, second and third commandment, in which stakanovismo you die, those two weeks look like a revolution. The minister of the Environment shinjiro's Koizumi, the 38-year-old son of the former conservative prime minister Junichiro, and rising star in politics in japan, announced to his staff (and the nation) that he will take the paternity leave.

At the end of the month, after the birth of the baby who is waiting for you, with wife Christel Takigawa, a presenter of franco-japanese, he will abstain from work for a few days, pausing his duties as a government to change nappies and placate the crying at night. A choice of breaking, in a Country where paternity leave comes to an year, but very few men use them, for fear of losing face, or being penalised at work. The hope of many (especially many women) is that the choice of the young Koizumi, conservative rock, contrary to the nuclear and perpetually on the front page on the tabloids, can promote a change of mentality.

Koizumi had anticipated last summer, while announcing to the Country the marriage. The criticisms were not few, especially within his field of conservative, tied to traditional culture of the man at work and woman at home. He opted for a calculated risk: two weeks (with the phone under the eye) that will not be claimed to be too sick to work, but to be able to deliver on the promise, and to safeguard its image as an innovator. We need to change our approach, he had said at his first outing in the international Un, funny, cool, and sexy". He spoke of climate change, but also of the gerontocratica policy of japan. Many point to it as one of the possible successors to premier Shinzo Abe, the prime 65-year-old started towards the end of a long era at the top.

“I Hope that my choice to mark a path, here at the ministry, towards a style of working that allows everyone to take advantage of the paternity leave, without hesitation,” said Koizumi. The statistics say that in 2018 between private companies japanese only 6% of the employees who had the right to break the grasp, against 82% of women, and on average for just five days (compared to the maximum period of a year). Several workers have in the past complained that they were demansionati or even dismissed after paternity. On the other hand, in the oldest Country in the world, the best way to raise the birth rate is reviving the relationship between wives and husbands, and the balance between life and work. Critics say that a powerful as Koizumi is easy, are the workers of any risk big. But somewhere we must also begin.

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