Reality of non-regular part-time homemakers～Book review: "Japan, a society where women cannot shine"

 

While more than half of the female workers are non-regular employees in Japan, people seem to be overly excited about women playing active roles at workplaces, focusing only on the regular and career-track female workers of big companies. Of course, you need not work for the country, but all female workers are already playing important roles everywhere, just without being recognized. Most female non-regular workers are part time employees, and they support their companies as core labor forces. Statistics and surveys conducted by “specialists,” however, don’t show the reality of these workers because researchers see them only as the subjects of a quantitative research. This book answers to that frustration. I was excited to see the first headline, “We need more ‘advanced-level researchers’ who can think deeply about ‘non-regular worker problems.’” The author explains that an advanced-level researcher needs a good intuition and that the specialist knowledge might even be an obstacle. (WATANABE Teruko)

非正規・主婦パートの現実を見よ～書評『女性活躍「不可能」社会ニッポン』

女性労働者の半分以上が非正規であるにも関わらず、世間はもっぱら大企業の総合職

正社員の女性だけを「活躍」のメインに据えてはしゃいでいるように思えるのは私だ

けだろうか。もとより国のために「活躍」する必要はないし、既にどの女性労働者も

活躍はしているが、それに見合った評価を得ていないだけなのだというのに。 女性

の非正規労働者の大半はパートだ。基幹労働力として主要な戦力となっている。しか

し、「専門家」は統計調査や、当事者である労働者を量的調査の対象としかとらえて

おらず、実態、リアリティが見えてこない。その苛立ちに応えてくれたのが本書だ。

冒頭の「『非正規労働問題』を深く考えられる『上級者』を増やせ」の見出しに心が

躍る。著者は「上級者」になるには専門知識が足かせになるかもしれず、センスが必

要だと説く。（渡辺照子）

Equal treatment now! – Court proceeding starts for postal workers

On July 3, 2014, the first oral proceeding on the so-called “Lawsuit over Article 20 of the Labor Contract Act”, which prohibits irrational working conditions, was held at the Tokyo District Court. Part-time postal workers, despite their same duties and responsibility as full-time counterparts, get only approximately a third of wages earned by the full-timers and are excluded from most benefits enjoyed by the full-time employees. ASAKAWA Kiyoshi, one of the plaintiffs, told the judges, “In preparation for this lawsuit, many have been astonished to know the considerable gap from which part-time employees suffer despite working in the same way as full-time ones. This lawsuit is very important to realize equal pay for equal jobs”. (NIWA Yoshiko)

* Photo: Plaintiffs entering the court

均等待遇が当たり前の社会を！～郵政「労働契約法20条裁判」第一回開かれる

7 月3日、郵政の、所謂「労働契約法20条裁判」の第一回口頭弁論が東京地裁527号法廷で開かれました。郵政の非正規社員は、正社員と同じ業務を担い、責任も同等に負わされながら、賃金は約三分の一、また、外務業務手当など10項目の手当につき、なし、または、格差がつけられています。原告の一人の浅川喜義さんは、「この裁判を準備するなかで、正社員と全く同一に働く期間雇用社員と正社員との待遇格差がこんなにあると気付いて愕然となった人がたくさんいます。改正労働契約法を活用して、同一労働同一賃金、均等待遇が当たり前の社会を実現する上で大変重要な裁判だと認識しております。適正な判断をいただきますよう切に願います」と陳述しました。（丹羽良子）