As part of a roundtable discussion among mothers in research positions at Hokkaido University—focusing on female researchers raising children—we gathered five women in their 30s and 40s who are raising children while working as teachers or researchers at Hokkaido University.
We spoke with her about balancing marriage, pregnancy, childbirth, and childcare with work, as well as the struggles she faced when choosing her career path. This will be presented in two parts.
Part 1: Marriage and the division of household chores with your partner ← This is where we are today.
Part 2: Everyone's experiences with pregnancy, childbirth, and childcare
To everyone we spoke to today
Mr. AI am a student in a science faculty. I am raising a child in the middle grades of elementary school and a one-year-old.
I live with my husband, who works in the same profession, and our two children—a family of four. Both of our parents live outside of Hokkaido.
Mr. BI am a student in the humanities faculty. I am raising a one-year-old child.
I live with my husband and daughter. Both of our parents live outside of Hokkaido.
Mr. CShe is a science major and is raising a two-year-old child.
My husband is currently working away from home, but we plan to live together sometime this fiscal year. His parents live in Sapporo, while C's parents live outside of Hokkaido.
Mr. DI am a student in the humanities faculty. I am raising a one-year-old child.
My husband is currently working away from home. Both of our parents live outside of Hokkaido.
Mr. EI'm a student in a science faculty. I'm raising two children, aged 3 and a half and 1 and a half.
My husband lives with me and is a company employee. Both of our parents live outside of Hokkaido.
Our "marriage" as university researchers
Marriage and life while considering both your partner's work and career.
When people get married, their living arrangements vary, including living together, living separately due to work assignments, and so on.
—Has getting married affected your research or work?
AIn terms of my work, nothing changed after I got married. This was partly because we were already in a long-distance marriage. However, I did think it was better to keep in frequent contact and meet at least once every two months.
DI'm pretty much the same, but what worried me was that since we were living separately, if I had a business trip on the weekend, we wouldn't see each other for a month or two... I wondered if it would work out like that. We talked on the phone every day, though.
CI had been enjoying living alone for a long time, so I exploded as soon as we started living together, and impulsively bought an apartment because I felt we had to move to a bigger place (lol).
EI'm the type of person who desperately wanted to live with my husband. About a year before we got married, my husband was transferred to another location, and I was still a student at the time. When I was wondering what kind of job I should get, I really wanted to live with him, so I looked for a job where he was. I wanted to go into academia if possible, but if that didn't work out, I was prepared to give up and become a researcher at a private company. By chance, I got a job offer in academia. Living together was my top priority.
B: Marriage and living together didn't affect my career either. I didn't really have much desire to get married to begin with, but my husband wanted to get married so we did. At the time, I hadn't secured a job yet, and my husband was living in Tokyo, so I looked for a position in Tokyo. By chance, there was a position at Hokkaido University, so I applied and got hired. I was the first to be transferred to a different city and we lived separately. My husband worked hard to get transferred to Sapporo, and we started living together again. Since I had secured a stable position first before our married life began, I didn't feel any change.
AWhen you don't have children, it doesn't make much difference if you live separately, but once you have children, you really feel that it's better to be together as a family.
EI'd like to do experiments on weekends too, but I can't with children around. If my husband were here, he could watch the kids and I could go out and do experiments for about two hours. There are limits to the experiments I can do while raising children, so I think it's better for both my work and my children if my husband lives with us.
DMy husband, who is currently working away from home, has been requesting a transfer to Sapporo for a long time, but it hasn't been granted yet. We want to have a second child, so we would like to live together as soon as possible.
Continued on the next page!
How do other people manage housework and childcare?
Did everyone have anxieties or conflicts about pursuing a doctoral degree or their life plan after becoming a university researcher?
