Japanese Job-Hunting Event ”Shukatsu” Makes a Female Student Woman; Female University Students’ Future Visions for “Marriage and Child-Rearing” and the Choice of Their Jobs

The purpose of this presentation is to examine how Japanese life event for job-hunting affect female university students’ future visions and the choice of their jobs. Since 1980s, female university students can get managerial jobs; however, the number of women holding managerial jobs has not increased. In 2016, Japan ranks 118th for economic participation and opportunity on a global inequality ranking report. Japanese women are expected to marry, produce babies, and over see the household.

Some studies on the job-hunting process point out that female university students choose secretary jobs. However, previous research overlooks how the activities affect their own future vision and the choice of their jobs during the job-hunting process. Therefore, this study investigated the mechanism of the choice of their jobs through interviews.

The mechanism is as below. First, they choose managerial jobs and don’t imagine their future to be doing housework and child-rearing. Second, in job fairs, some recruiters of personnel inform them a secretary job, on which they can continue working. And, they guess their own future vision, in which they work and do housework and child-rearing or work hard.

In result, they must choose either a secretary job or a managerial job during the job-hunting process. This choice is difficult for some students because they acknowledge they have to give up their career in Japan when they get married. In sum, female university students are compelled to decide either sacrificing their career over marriage and child-rearing or a single life during the job-hunting process in Japan.