Marriage Rate Bar To Job Prospects

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31230, 30 November 1966, Page 2

Marriage Rate Bar To Job Prospects

Japanese women college and university graduates have difficulty finding work. Because many women marry after working only a short time, employers do not want them, according to Miss Hideko Yoshikawa, of Tokyo, who is visiting Christchurch.

Miss Yoshikawa, reporter and photographer for the ‘‘Mainichi Daily News” is spending three weeks in the South Pacific looking for “unique features of the people in different places.” She is sponsored by Qantas. A husband and family was still the goal of every Japanese girl, a goal which would not be changed for a long time, said Miss Yoshikawa. She has no immediate marriage plans and lives with her parents. She has worked for the paper for 10 years. Miss Yoshikawa said she had no interests outside her work. It would be hard for her to find the time, for she works about 10 hours a day six days a week. However she never works after 10 p.m. as Japanese law forbids that women other than actresses, nurses and telephone operators work after this hour. Miss Yoshikawa considers that the law hinders equality for women, although she receives equal pay for equal work.

Asked what Japanese women did after they married and had families, Miss Yoshikawa said they stayed at home and took up hobbies. More women were becoming interested in sport, and played golf, volley ball and other sports.

Cheese Exports.—Norway will have exported 12,000 tons of cheese this year, according to official estimates made in Oslo. The cheese is sent to 15 countries, among whom Japan and Britain are the biggest customers.—Reuter.