Father's 'Parental Leave Training' Transforms Families: Increased Father Involvement Enables Mothers to Work Longer

A research group led by Professor Shintaro Yamaguchi and Associate Professor Mari Tanaka of the University of Tokyo, Associate Professor Hiroko Okudaira of Doshisha University, and Associate Professor Mariko Mecha of the University of Tsukuba, conducted a randomized controlled trial (Note 1) in collaboration with the nonprofit organization EVIDENCE STUDIO, targeting over 1,200 male employees across four Japanese organizations.

The experiment was conducted from August 2023 to March 2024, involving over 1,200 male employees from two private companies and two local government bodies. Eighty workplaces were randomly divided into two groups to compare the effectiveness of the training.

NPO Fathering Japan (Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; CEO Hirohisa Ikeda) supported this large-scale experiment and, under the guidance of Professor Shintaro Yamaguchi of the University of Tokyo, developed and delivered training programs for male employees with children and for managers. The organization's instructors delivered lectures on balancing childcare and career development for employees, and trained managers on how to support subordinates taking parental leave.

The study's results revealed that a two-hour workplace training for fathers not only increased their own involvement in childcare but also led to longer working hours for mothers who did not attend the training.

For further details, please refer to the joint press release by the University of Tokyo, Doshisha University, and the University of Tsukuba:

https://www.u-tokyo.ac.jp/content/400289752.pdf

Glossary

(Note 1) Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT)

A research method that randomly assigns participants into an intervention group and a control group to statistically verify the effect of the intervention. Widely used in medical research and increasingly adopted in social sciences. In this study, training interventions were assigned at the office level, while information interventions were assigned at the individual level.

[Comment from Hirohisa Ikeda, CEO of NPO Fathering Japan]

Our organization has been working for 20 years under the mission of 'increasing the number of smiling fathers' in Japan, where the male parental leave uptake rate was once below 1%.

We are delighted that our childcare employee and managerial training programs, which have been highly evaluated by various companies and local governments, have now demonstrated measurable outcomes through this academic research.

Although Japan's male parental leave uptake rate has risen to 40.5% (as of fiscal year 2024), there remains a significant gap with actual paternal demand. Numerous challenges persist in workplaces, households, and communities regarding work-life balance and career concerns for parenting employees.

Moving forward, we will continue our efforts toward a society where smiling fathers are everywhere in Japan, and everyone feels inspired to support them.