Price hikes squeezing fatherless families

A 41-year-old woman, whose husband took his own life when he was 51, continues to work as a nursing-care helper to provide for her three children while taking medicine to relieve an irregular heartbeat.

The woman wrote in response to a questionnaire: "If I try to earn money, I lose time to spend with my children. I am seized with anxiety not knowing what to do."

As the prices of daily essentials go up, how are fatherless families that are socially vulnerable coping? The questionnaire was organized this spring by Ashinaga Ikueikai, a nonprofit organization that supports students in need of financial help--many of whom have lost a parent--by providing scholarships. (Ashinaga is Japanese for long legs after "Daddy-Long-Legs," the 1912 novel by American writer Jean Webster.) It asked the mothers of children who are third-grade junior high or first-grade high school students about their circumstances.

A 48-year-old woman said her "heart aches" to see her child give up going to vocational school so as to work. The woman sells insurance during the day and works at a bar at night. She does not feel well because of her tiring work schedule. "I can more than understand my child's kindness, but I feel bad because most days I find myself even unable to smile," she wrote.

Eighty-three percent of the approximately 1,000 women who responded to the questionnaire said it has become harder to make ends meet because of recent price hikes.

Thirty-one percent said that even though they are in poor health, they cannot afford to miss work. Many single mothers also blamed themselves for denying their children such activities as going to cram school, buying reference books and taking part in school trips and extracurricular activities because they could not afford them.

The average annual income of mothers who applied for Ashinaga high school scholarships for their children dropped from 2 million yen in 1998 to 1.37 million yen in 2006. Under the guise of encouraging independence, such benefits as survivor's pension and child-care allowances are being cut.

"Once I take a false step, I find myself sinking lower and lower," one mother wrote. The words are heart-rending.

Mothers work hard in an effort to overcome misfortunes while children struggle with many difficulties. Still, some families are unable to get a grip on clues to happiness. I don't want to simply dismiss this harsh reality with the word pity and let it go at that. What are the politicians doing, I asked myself as I rushed to a donation box carried by young recipients and supporters of Ashinaga scholarships in front of a train station over the weekend.

--The Asahi Shimbun, April 22(IHT/Asahi: April 23,2008)