Interview

In a roundtable discussion featuring fathers in research positions at Hokkaido University—specifically focusing on male researchers raising children—four men in their 30s who are raising children while working as teachers or researchers at Hokkaido University shared their experiences balancing marriage, pregnancy, childbirth, childcare, and work, as well as how they chose their career paths.

*Due to scheduling constraints, we interviewed A, B, and C in a roundtable format, while D was interviewed individually on the same topic. This article summarizes what all four participants said, organized by theme.

Part 1: Marriage and the division of household chores with your partner
Part 2: Everyone's Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Childcare ←This is where we are this time
Third installment: How to balance work and family life...?

When your partner gets pregnant and gives birth, what does the dad do?

Where to give birth, how to spend the pregnancy and postpartum period—everyone considers a variety of options based on their individual circumstances and their partner's wishes.

--- What was it like when your partner became pregnant and gave birth?

Ms. C : My partner had severe morning sickness, so it was especially difficult for him to cook meals, and I needed to help out by taking the kids to and from school, cooking and feeding them. So, I would go home around 3 pm, wait until things had settled down (with the housework and childcare), and then head back to university to finish up the last things.

I took paternity leave from March until the end of May. My wife wanted me to extend it by another month. She wanted me to help out until our child was about two and a half months old. I kept in contact with my students during my leave, and before I left, I left each student a list of things I wanted them to do during my two-month break. However, there are some things that you can only understand by working with the students, so I realized that it would be difficult to do everything through email or web-based meetings alone.

My own research wasn't completely on hold. I was receiving support from assistant personnel at the Diversity (Research Environment) Promotion Office.^[1]The Diversity Research Environment Promotion Office is implementing the following:Support for personnel to help balance research activities and life events" This refers to...Because they did that for me, I reached out to some students with similar research topics and asked if they could help out a little, saying that I would pay them for the part-time work, so I didn't completely stop them. Apparently, it was the first time a male researcher had used it. It's still rare for men to take paternity leave. The reason I decided to take paternity leave was because my wife had a hard time with breastfeeding and other things after the birth of our first child. With our first child, (Mr. C)'s workplace was close to his wife's parents' home, so he was able to get support. So it was okay for me to go to work during the day, but with our second child, we were in Sapporo (far from her parents' home), and although she could have given birth in Sapporo, that would have been difficult. So my wife went back to her parents' home to give birth. We also have an older child, so we needed even more help. That's why I thought I wanted to take (paternity leave). I wanted to take it to support her.

―Do you think that the male researchers around you should take more courses?

C : I don't know about that. I think research work is kind of like being a self-employed individual. So, it's not about having a stable position or anything like that, and you have to produce results, so it's all about producing results. So, I think how you use your time is different for each person. I'm glad I took paternity leave. I think I'll take it again when my third child is born.

Mr. B : After hearing Mr. C's story, I'm starting to think that if we were to have our second child here (in Sapporo), I should take paternity leave. I hadn't even considered paternity leave before. With COVID-2, online meetings have increased considerably, and compared to before, I'm able to work (from home) to a certain extent. I've gotten used to communicating with others to keep the (research) running at a minimum, so in that sense, paternity leave seems like a viable option.

Ms. C : The important thing is that we've gotten used to online meetings. We've also established a foundation for how to conduct meetings with students, so it's become easier.

Mr. B : My wife returned from giving birth at her parents' home after about three months. Since her father is a doctor, she was actually able to focus on her work with peace of mind during that time. However, it's not always possible to ask for help, so I think parental leave is really important.

Mr. AThose two are so great that it almost makes me feel embarrassed (laughs).
My wife didn't experience any morning sickness at all, and everything was fine. However, with our first child, she was in poor health due to threatened premature labor, so (since we were outside Hokkaido at the time) she chose to return to Sapporo for the birth. I was in the Kanto region at the time, thinking about applying for an assistant professor position at Hokkaido University. With our second child, although my wife's parents lived nearby, we realized we couldn't rely on them much for help, so for about a month before and after the birth, I took our older child to and from daycare, and for a while after the birth, I took care of the older child at home. I didn't have too much trouble balancing my work and research. Right now, I think two children are enough, but I'm quite worried about what to do with a third child. I feel that how big the group of students I supervise gets will greatly affect how easy it is for me to take time off.

Mr. DMy wife didn't go back to her hometown to give birth; she gave birth in Sapporo. When she gave birth, her mother came to stay for about a month. She also came when our second child was born.
(Regarding taking parental leave) I wasn't able to take it, and I didn't think it was very realistic to take a complete break. I could adjust my research schedule, but I couldn't miss classes.

Continued on the next page!
How do you manage university tasks when you're busy with childcare?