Moving from “childcare leave” to “childcare work”

At a summit held on June 29 in support of childcare leave, it was announced that the nickname for childcare leave would be “childcare work.” The TMG was looking for a nickname to replace “childcare leave” because there were opinions that childcare leave is seen as taking time off from work, and is therefore difficult to take. “Childcare work” was selected from a total of 8,825 suggestions.
Governor Koike said, “Childcare leave is never a ‘vacation.’ Raising children is an important and precious task that nurtures the children who hold the future in their hands. I would like to create a society where people can proudly say that they are doing childcare work instead of apologetically requesting childcare leave.”

One of the attendees who has taken childcare leave three times is Yoshihisa Aono, CEO and president Cybozu, Inc., who said, “At first, I was deceived by the phrase ‘childcare leave’ and thought that childcare would be easier than working, and that everything would be fine because I had worked hard. However, I was surprised to find that this was not the case. Babies cannot communicate, cannot say that they want to rest because they are tired, and their lives depend on their parents. Raising a child is not done alone, but with your partner and society. As an executive, I think me taking part in childcare significantly impacted those in the company, since the president was suddenly leaving at 16:00 to pick up his kids. I think it has made it easier for employees who once used to apologize when needing to leave.”

Mr. Aono participated online to talk about his childrearing experience

Commemorative photo of attendees