Population and Society

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Population and society
Japan’s aging population in relation to the women population
Currently, Japan’s ageing population has been on the rise and growing faster than that of any other country. In fact, Japan is faster in terms of aging as compared to any other country world wide with the elderly being 65 years and above, leading in number as compared to the young adults and the middle-aged adults. In the future, the country will have more old people and children born at that time will experience a nation that is at a risk of growing older and smaller. Analysts have wondered whether the labor productivity available will be enough to even support the young ones in their old age and whether the nation itself will be in a position to produce the required savings since a lot of income will be geared towards retirement benefit schemes, constructing of more health facilities and more homes for the elderly. What about the security and defense mechanisms. These will be affected since it means that, more men are actually dying at an early age than the women who tend to live for long years that is 80 years and over. So the riddle remains as to who will take care of these elderly women who are considered as the weaker sex.
Sadly, it has been noted that as more men are dying and more women are aging, the population rates are also being affected. There has been a population decline since women cannot give birth past their menopause age which is 45 years and there has been a population ageing where women are fewer than their counterpart males. In addition, this has caused a major dilemma to the Japanese government since they have had difficulties about how to distribute their finances towards health schemes and pension schemes. The constant prolongation of life expectancy and an instant decrease in its birthrate is what has attributed to the increase in aging ratio among women as opposed to the men. This paper, discusses the issues of an aging population in Japan in relation to Japan’s extraordinary longevity of women and its causes and consequences to the society. Also it, evaluates the Japanese government policies and some of the measures it is taking in order to ensure that these problems are solved.
Causes of extraordinary longevity of women in Japan
When the social contract in Japan frayed, it caused the lifetime employment for young men to elapse. Therefore, men feared to commit themselves to marriages because of their financial uncertainties and lack of stability in jobs. Men often wondered how they could simply take care of a family when their income on the other hand was not satisfying. Women on the other hand, could not keep up with a man whose income was unstable. As a result very fewer men engage themselves in marital affairs and fewer women get married. This also meant that, the rate of child bearing also decreased and this led to the Japanese government to persuade the mid-aged adults to get married.
The Japanese women’s values changed as a majority of women opted to pursue high levels of education and this later changed their perception and expectations of marriage and life as well. Studies have shown that, the more educated a woman becomes the less chances of her to concentrate in areas of marriage and child bearing there are (Oki 42). Sadly, this trend tends to persist up to old age and that is when a woman realizes that she can no longer bear children.
Currently, professional women in the working industry do not essentially need a husband for their comfort and survival. Marriage in the Japanese nation has today become a lifestyle choice for most women. According to some Japanese women, marriage is a liability and not an asset, since they can always survive without being pushed by someone else. Women nowadays have an obligation as to whether they want to get married or not. In addition, most Japanese women argue that, they cannot trace spouses who can meet their expectations. Others claim that, they find it amusing to live a life of a housewife and raise up children with an absentee father. Therefore the value system of women with regards to childbirth, work and marriage has had a complete turnover. To most women, marriage is an option whereas keeping fit and staying in shape is considered of more importance.
Consequently, the birthrate of Japan as a nation is declining given that the traditional values of both men and women in the society have drastically changed. Moreover, the rate of co-residency among elderly women has always being increasing at a high pace as compared to that of men and it becomes more evident as women grow older and this is the reason why women live longer than men and have older spouses than themselves. Unlike men, women prefer to live with their children or live alone than to live with their spouses. Japanese women always look for ways to avoid unnecessary conflicts with their mothers-in –law. Therefore, they would prefer to work outside their traditional intergenerational households.
Japan has the world’s most rapidly growing aging population because of the combination of low fertility rate (Li 24). On a demographic scale, Japanese has been ranked the lowest .This is because the ratio of the elderly population is more than one in four. Therefore, it makes it difficult for couples to consider ways on how to bear children.
The low mortality rate in Japan is not a strange phenomenon in the Japanese community. Very few people are experiencing death and a majority of them constitute women. Women are in the least bracket of dying as compared to men. It is said that, women in Japan live longer because they have low calories in their bodies, their bodies are in good shape as compared to the male species. Most men die early because of exposures from factory emissions and industrial chemicals as opposed to women who confine themselves in homes and avoid exposure to radiations.
Currently, the country is experiencing a shortage of young workers and there is a need for the government to allow immigrants to work in these sectors. The slow immigration has greatly resulted to a rapid aging growing population since re retirees are increasing (Jeung-Kun 20). The world keeps on changing and so does the lifestyles of people in any given country. This is very true in a region like Japan where modernization has taken a center stage. Modernization has affected the traditional family values by changing roles of a woman over that of his male counterpart. It has also changed women’s perspective on raising children, work and education. Most women have enrolled in health fitness classes in order to keep fit and live longer, while others have enrolled in karate classes as away of attaining skills to keep them protected.
Consequences
Japanese’s household savings rate and income earnings are likely to be affected. It will slowly decline because more finances will be needed to take care of health related problems affecting the aged. Basic needs will no longer be a priority because the elderly simply exhaust their once accumulated savings after they have retired in order to take care of their own personal needs.
The elderly tend to place a huge burden on the extended family. Japanese virtues which involve co-residency arrangements of living (where the elderly live with their married children families) are becoming a hard culture sustain. However, family traditions require that a couple from the extended family take care of the elderly ones in their household. Such arrangements and conditions result to great stress upon the immediate family. Much burden however rests on the married woman because it deprives her of her independence. In addition, when the economy and health of the elderly starts to deteriorate, it now becomes a marital b...