Japanese employers tell women to ‘wait their turn’ to get pregnant in latest example of modern pressures that reduce birth rate
Legal experts say that forcing employees to conceive on a rota is against the law, but it has become almost inevitable at workplaces like nurseries and hospitals
Sayako had been trying to conceive a second child for two years when her boss at a Japanese day care centre suggested she stop because she had missed her “turn”.
Sayako, who spoke using a pseudonym, learned her boss had an unwritten policy that experts say is not uncommon in Japan: an informal “pregnancy rota” for employees.
“Why don’t you take a break, you already have one,” her boss said, despite knowing Sayako was so keen to get pregnant that she was seeing a fertility specialist. “I was so shocked and stunned that I couldn’t answer.”
Sayako’s boss told her that an older newlywed at her workplace now had priority when it came to having children. She quit the job and moved to another day care centre, recently giving birth to her second child.
If she had stayed, “I think I’d have said ‘I’m sorry’” instead of celebrating the birth of the baby.
They think that if you want to cling to your job, then you should wait your turn
The issue of “pregnancy rotas” hit the headlines earlier this year when a man wrote about his wife’s experience getting pregnant “out of turn”.