Column
Title：To Whom It May Concern to Raise Children
Assistant Professor Yoji Kawano, Division of Biological Science, Department of Plant Molecular Genetics
I am Assistant Professor Yoji Kono of the Shimamoto Laboratory of Bioscience and Biotechnology, and I have been given the honor of writing the first column in the Gender Equality Office. The topic given to me is "Parenting. I would like to send three messages to different people.
To those of you who are going to take on the challenge of child-rearing
I would like to convey this one message: "Parenting is fun. There is no scientific basis for this, but it must be programmed at the genetic level. As you all know, humans are lazy. It must be fun for this lazy person to perform the arduous task of raising a child.When I was young, I believed that special things or a special life would bring happiness. But I realized that this hypothesis was wrong. I realized that it is the ordinary things, the things I am familiar with, that bring me great happiness. Please experience the happiness that ordinary life brings.
For those of you who are in the process of raising children
I am in this category. I struggle daily to raise my child. The key to raising children without stress is to "praise yourself. After all, it is impossible for others (including your partner) to appreciate all your efforts. Praise yourself like a narcissist. It will make parenting much more enjoyable.。When it comes to parenting, I find that couples differ in where they need support during the parenting process. It may be a self-serving assumption, but I think that men are less mentally exhausted by parenting, while women tend to accumulate mental stress relatively easily. Perhaps the most important thing in child-rearing is to support the "heart" of the woman. The husband, who is the person closest to her (the person who understands her?), has to be the one who takes care of her. I think it is important for husbands to take good care of their children. By the way, I often get into fights with my wife because I am not able to take care of her.
I also think that the most stressful part of raising a child is when someone other than you controls your time. For example, children's illnesses, sudden changes in lab seminars or university events. These situations often cause inconvenience to others and are very stressful because you are no longer in control of your own time. It would be very helpful for those of us who are currently raising children if those around us would be a little more considerate in this regard.
About the University
As you all know, the University has been selected as a recipient of the Project to Promote a Support Model for Female Researchers (hereinafter referred to as the "Support Model") funded by the Special Coordination Fund for the Promotion of Research and Development. The purpose is to establish a system whereby the University will use the funds from the Support Model to provide support for female researchers to continue their research activities. Therefore, after the support model ends, the system must be maintained to provide support at the university's own expense. Since the university's operating subsidy is reduced every year, it will be impossible to establish a mechanism that costs money.
To change the subject slightly, unlike in the past, there are now many companies that support female researchers in research, childbirth, childcare, etc., as long as they are willing to pay for it. In this sense, there is a system of support for female researchers. However, the employment of female researchers has not been significantly promoted.
So what is missing?
It is not a lack of a mechanism, but a lack of awareness in society as a whole. It will be an important task to create a society and husbands who can support the "spirit" of female researchers. Rather than supporting women in raising their children, fostering husbands who can take the initiative in raising their own children should be the catalyst for promoting the employment of female researchers. As the number of good husbands increases, society's values will gradually change. In my experience, many wives of male researchers are researchers or former researchers. This means that there are many candidates for good husbands for female researchers at top universities. We do not need a lot of money to raise awareness and promote good husbands. A new mechanism to support female researchers can be established without spending a lot of money, and the goal of the support model can be achieved. It is very unfortunate that most of the websites of the Office for Advanced University Participation target only female researchers, and there is no approach for male researchers. Please establish a project to promote good husbands.
