JAPAN: Wives Delay Divorce to Get Husband's Retirement Package

TOKYO (Inter Press News Report), February 3, 2006: Japanese wives are delaying divorce procedures to benefit from their husbands' retirement packages. In an increasingly individualistic and affluent society, homemakers are more open about their personal material ambitions. After years cooking and cleaning while their husbands pursued self-fulfilling careers, homemakers feel they should be financially compensated for their efforts. Divorce rates are up for older Japanese women. Many Japanese homemakers are waiting for their husbands to retire to receive part of their retirement package before divorcing them. The practice 'hesokuri', meaning close the navel, is age-old. In charge of the family home, women used to keep personal savings hidden from their husbands for emergencies or personal spending. According to a survey by Sompo Life Insurance, homemakers have accumulated an average yen 4 million (30 000 €) by their fifties. Baby-boomers, women in their forties, are also Japan's greatest spenders. Today home-owners are entitled to a portion of their husband's retirement allowances. Many women deem that their life cooking, cleaning and taking care of the home should be financially compensated. A proportion of women are prepared to wait for their husband's retirement before divorcing them. Indeed though divorce rates are low in Japan (270 000 cases in 2004), more and more older women are choosing to divorce their husbands. This trend reflects the women's present search for material fulfilment according to Takayo Yamamoto, an expert on the rising power of women. In an increasingly individualistic and affluent society, homemakers are more open about their desire to share in their husband's profit.