Japan's Gender Equality White Paper Highlights Barriers to Women's Recurrent Education

Housework, childcare and nursing care present bigger obstacles to women than to men for recurrent education, the government said in its 2026 white paper on gender equality, adopted Friday. The annual white paper said that various types of recurrent education will become increasingly important in light of rapid technological innovations such as artificial intelligence, and emphasized the need to foster an environment conducive to women's recurrent education.

According to a Cabinet Office survey of 20,000 people age 20 to 69 conducted last December, the proportion of respondents who cited housework, childcare and nursing care as the biggest barrier to recurrent education came to 14.6% for women and 7.2% for men.

This was the largest gender gap among all responses. The second-largest gender gap was seen in a response citing the inability to afford recurrent education, given by 32.7% of women and 25.4% of men. The proportion of people who said that they did not know what to study came to 19.1% for women and 13.9% for men.

Men were more likely to say that they are busy with work and have no time for recurrent education, with 20.5% of men giving that response compared with 17.2% of women. The white paper said that the tendency for women to bear heavier burdens for housework, childcare and nursing care may be impeding recurrent education, in addition to gender wage disparities.

It said that offering online courses, expanding free childcare services and promoting work-style reforms would help eliminate barriers.