Gender Equality and Women’s Pension Rights in Japan Kikuka Kobatake Thesis Submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) 2008 The London School of Economics and Political Science UMI Number: U615900 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI U615900 Published by ProQuest LLC 2014. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 F Library fBrtttSt* Library of Poiittca. anrt economic Science irs^s Declaration of Originality I, Kikuka Kobatake, confirm that the work presented in this thesis is my own. Where information has been derived from other sources, I confirm that this has been indicated in the thesis. Signature: _________________________ Date: ________________________ 2 Abstract In recent years, derived pensions for housewives have drawn criticisms in Japan as a gender bias for the male breadwinner/ female homemaker households. Many prominent feminists support measures to remove or curtail these arrangements in favour of a gender neutral pension system. Nonetheless, it is an open question whether redressing gender assumptions in the pension system can help redressing another form of gender inequality, that is, gender gap in pensions and women’s greater vulnerability to poverty in old age. The purpose of this study is to reconsider the ‘women’s pension problem’ by unravelling the ways in which it is perceived and to reffame the policy issue so that the definition of the problem can better accommodate concerns about economic security in old age for women. Building on the insights of feminist scholarship on women’s social citizenship, this study explores, firstly, why concerns about gender inequality in pension outcomes have failed to impinge on the political agenda as a primary problem to be tackled in Japan, despite increasing cries for gender equality in the nation, and secondly, what are the implications of this neglect for women’s economic welfare in old age and gender equality in outcome. In so doing, published governmental documents, deliberations in the Diet and reports from key advisory committees are closely analysed in order to examine the changes and continuities of the ‘women’s pension problem’. In the latter part of the thesis, income statistics and pension simulations are used to explore the implications of recent pension reforms for women’s equal pension rights and women’s economic welfare in old age. 3 The findings caution against the moves to remove or curtail derived benefits for dependent spouses as well as point to the need to distinguish gender neutralisation and assimilation to male gender model in the pursuit of greater gender equality. 4 Table of Contents DECLARATION OF ORIGINALITY.......................................................................................................... 2 ABSTRACT........................................................................................................................................................... 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS....................................................................................................................................5 LIST OF ACRONYMS.................................................................................................................................... 14 LIST OF ACRONYMS.................................................................................................................................... 14 USAGE FOR JAPANESE NAMES..............................................................................................................16 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT................................................................................................................................17 PART ONE...........................................................................................................................................................18 INTRODUCTION: AGEING POPULATION AND WOMEN’S OLD-AGE PENSIONS 19 CHAPTER 1 GENDER EQUALITY AND WOMEN’S SOCIAL CITIZENSHIP........................ 43 1.1 IDEAS, DISCOURSES AND POLICY CHANGES..............................................................................................................44 1.2 S t a t e w e l f a r e a n d w o m e n ’s s o c ia l citizenship ........................................................................................ 4 7 1.3 W o m e n a n d w e l f a r e s t a t e ......................................................................................................................................... 59 CHAPTER 2 RESEARCH DESIGN............................................................................................................ 75 2.1 R e s e a r c h q u e s t io n s a n d f r a m e w o r k f o r a n a l y s is ..................................................................................75 2.2 R e s e a r c h m e t h o d s............................................................................................................................................................ 76 PART TW O......................................................................................................................................................... 89 CHAPTER 3 TOWARDS INCLUSIVE SOCIAL CITIZENSHIP? ESTABLISHMENT OF THE EMPLOYEES’ PENSION INSURANCE AND NATIONAL PENSION................................ 90 3.1 M odernisation a n d st a t e w e l f a r e .....................................................................................................................90 3.2 W o m e n ’s p l a c e in t h e p o st - w a r p e n s io n s y s t e m ...................................................................................... 105 3.3 T h e f o u n d a t io n o f N a t io n a l P e n s i o n ............................................................................................................. 120 3.4 Co n c l u s io n .......................................................................................................................................................................... 129 5 CHAPTER 4 CONSOLIDATION OF GENDERED PENSION RIGHTS: THE MID-1960S TO THE 1980S..........................................................................................................................................................133 4.1 E x p a n s io n in p u b l ic p e n s io n s : f r o m t h e 19 6 0 s t o t h e e a r l y 19 7 0 s.............................................134 4 .2 P u b l ic p e n s io n s in t r a n s it io n : f r o m t h e m id-1 9 7 0 s t o t h e m id-1 9 8 0 s ...................................... 146 4.3 Co m in g o f a g e : t h e 1985 P e n s io n R e f o r m ..................................................................................................... 158 4 .4 Co n c l u s io n .......................................................................................................................................................................... 170 CHAPTER 5 GENDER EQUALITY IN THE CHILDLESS/ AGED SOCIETY ..........................173 5.1 T h e c h il d l e s s / a g e d s o c ie t y a n d p e n s io n r e f o r m s .................................................................................174 5.2 W o m e n ’s p e n s io n p r o b l e m .........................................................................................................................................185 5.3 INTERGENERATIONAL EQUITY AND GENDER EQUALITY ................................................................................... 199 Co n c l u s io n s ............................................................................................................................................................................... 2 0 6 PART THREE...................................................................................................................................................209 CHAPTER 6 EQUALITY AND ECONOMIC WELFARE IN OLD AGE IN THE 1990S....... 210 6.1 INTERGENERATIONAL TRANSFERS THROUGH THE STATE, THE MARKET AND THE FAMILY 2 1 2 6.2 INTRA-GENERATIONAL INEQUALITY..........................................................................................................................2 1 7 6.3 POVERTY IN OLD AGE AND THE SOCIAL MINIMUM..............................................................................................223 6.4 D if f e r e n c e s a m o n g w o m e n ..................................................................................................................................... 2 3 2 6.5 Co n c l u s io n ..........................................................................................................................................................................2 3 7 CHAPTER 7 WOMEN’S PROSPECTS FOR A BETTER FUTURE: SIMULATIONS............241 7.1 T h e p e n s io n s y s t e m s of B r it a in , G e r m a n y a n d Ja p a n ......................................................................... 2 4 2 7.2 M o d e l C a s e s .......................................................................................................................................................................2