Hello! I am Shihoko, a grad student in Women’s Studies. I’m happy to tell you about the recent victory of single mothers in Japan.

 Single mothers succeeded in stopping the reduction of the Dependent Children’s Allowance (DCA)! DCA is an income-limited cash grant. It supports mothers with dependent minor children who do not have a husband or other sources of support. It has been the major source of support for single mothers since its establishment in 1962.

 The average annual income of families headed by single mothers in Japan has been low. It is ¥2.13 million ($17,750). That is 38% of the average household income, in 2006. Japan’s welfare “reform” in 2002 reduced the amount of DCA. And it decreased the income ceiling to receive the full amount. It also proposed reducing the amount of DCA to one half if a mom had received DCA for five-years after 2003. This part would be started in 2008.

 The government introduced welfare-to-work strategies. But that made no sense because the employment rate of single mothers in Japan was already high (84.5% in 2006). And most moms stretch their money to the limit by adding DCA to their wages. DCA is the last resort for them. However, the amount of DCA is not so high. It is a sliding scale by income, ranging from ¥41,720 ($347) to ¥9,800 ($82) a month (for a mother and one child). About 260,000 families would be subject to the five-year time limit.

 Many organizations carried out a campaign against this reduction. Over one million signatures were collected and presented to the Congress. Single Mothers’ Forum in Tokyo organized a lobbying campaign, organized single mothers’ actions, and encouraged the media to take up this issue. Their ordinary activities included organizing many meetings and workshops for single mothers and publishing their surveys about single mothers’ daily lives.

 I have enclosed a picture of the single mothers’ action in Tokyo in fall 07. About 30 families came to insist on “the right of the children of families headed by single mothers to live happily.” The participants claimed: “I will have to work two jobs if the allowance is reduced, because I have a child who will go to high school next year.”

 “I tried to use work support systems to get the certificate to become a child care provider. But my local government did not have the systems. So I could only use the systems in the last half year. And it brought me a tuition debt.”

 “My monthly income from a part-time job is only ¥5-60,000 ($417-500) and I have two children. The DCA is the last resort.”

 “The five-year time limit does not make sense, especially for women who suffered from

domestic violence. Many could not start working immediately because of PTSD.” (Single Mothers’ Forum’s News, 63-102, p.11).

 Those efforts made Congress members change their mind. The five-year reduction was rejected. Congress adopted the amendment bill in winter 07. There are still many problems which single mothers suffer from. (There is a decline in the number of shelters for families headed by single mothers. And there are poor work support systems.) But I am really happy to hear news of this victory.

 Single mothers themselves made it happen. And it is a very rare case where things that should be done actually come to realization!  

 I want to end with the words of Chieko Akaishi (the organizer of Single Mothers’ Forum).

 “The allowances of 260,000 households will not be reduced. I am very happy about that and so relieved. I also think it is great that our participant mothers are growing to steadfastly insist on their claims. They spoke their opinions with dignity in front of the TV cameras and at meetings. I was also glad that when I told my son--who grew up with this allowance--about the victory that stopped the reduction, he said, “That’s great!”

Shihoko Nakagawa

Toronto, Canada