Trading tradition for teamwork as the answer to the falling birthrate?

Something I hear often living here is the chatter about the falling birthrate. It comes up in the news, in government policies, and sometimes even in casual conversations I have with friends or neighbors. The usual narrative is that us women are waiting too long to marry or that we're prioritizing careers over family. However, a recent paper by Nobel Prize winning economist Claudia Goldin really struck me, because it flipped the focus onto men.

Her research showed that birthrates rise when men and women share housework and childcare more equally, and where that balance is missing, fertility drops. Here in Japan, women do on average three hours more household work per day than men, and I think that you can feel that expectation in daily life. Friends of mine have admitted they hesitate to start families because they know it will almost automatically mean giving up career progress or personal time.

Meanwhile, in places like Sweden (where men spend nearly as much time on household duties as women), birthrates are noticeably higher. Goldin's takeaway is pretty clear, that upping the birthrate isn't about urging women to become more traditional, but about encouraging men to step up at home.

From where I sit as a parent of two in Japan, that rings true. I feel that if men here embraced a bigger share of childcare and domestic life, the idea of raising kids might feel a lot less daunting for many women.

Research info: https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2025/01/need-to-boost-population-encourage-dads-to-step-up-at-home/