Study on Challenges and Support Needs of Women in the Process of Divorce－Interview Survey of Single Mothers and Pre-single Mothers－Junko MIYASAKA*Summary
Women who are practically a single mother due to living separately from their husband and areabout to get divorced are referred to as pre-single mothers This study aims to clarify the lifestylechallenges and need for support of pre-single mothers in the process of divorce, and to
examine effective support measures.
According to the 2016 fact-finding report on single-parent households by the Ministry of Health,Labour and Welfare, about 80% of single motherhood results from divorce, and more than 80% of
the mothers hold custody of all of their children after divorce.

In Japan, there have been

numerous research studies on the lifestyle difficulties of single mothers after divorce.

This issue

is also deeply related to child poverty and is widely regarded as a societal issue that must beimproved.
However, pre-single mothers, who are in a stage directly before single motherhood, are notregarded as single parents because they are still legally married.

Hence, many of them do not

qualify for public single-parent support and the household-based social security system.

Many

pre-single mothers are forced to become self-reliant and raise their children without public support.
They can be regarded as single mothers in the most severe condition.

However, there are no

official statistics on them nor prior research on their actual situations.
Therefore, in this study, we held an in-depth interview with 38 single divorced mothers and 2
pre-single mothers and investigated in detail their lifestyle conditions while they lived separatelyfrom their husband prior to divorce.
that support single parents.

We also conducted a hearing survey on two private NPOs

We found that during the divorce process, many of the survey

respondents experienced severe livelihood insecurity while having to overcome various challenges
including intense divorce negotiations with their husband without any time to prepare for theirpost-divorce life and without receiving public support.
The lifestyle challenges faced by pre-single mothers from this study can be summarized into thefollowing five points. (1) There are not any nearby comprehensive consultation services withwhich pre-single mothers facing complex challenges can easily consult.

Pre-single mothers also

sometimes lack access to appropriate public information because they are not qualified for publicsupport.

(2) Many survey respondents had retired from work after marrying or giving birth, andhad no choice but to endure harsh realities without public support after separating from theirhusband. More than half of the respondents in this study stayed with their parents and received* Research Fellow, Institute of Women’s Culture, Showa Women’s University1some support from their relatives during their separation.
faced even harsher reality.

Those without such support system

Some of them rushed the divorce process while accepting unfavorable

conditions to become eligible for public single-parent support.

(3) The issues of the divorce

system in Japan have been significantly impacting on the life of pre-single mothers.

Currently,

90% of divorces fall under the category of prolonged mediation system or divorce by consent.
This has been making it difficult to shorten the separation duration or ensure support such as
marital and child support.

(4) Regardless of their level of financial independence, most of themwere anxious about raising children on their own and balancing work and child rearing.
Domestic violence (DV) accounts for a high percentage of the causes of divorce.

(5)

However, at themoment, DV victims cannot receive public support if the DV damage cannot be proven.

Also, asthere are also no countermeasures against perpetrators, the only option the victims have is toescape.

Therefore, most cases including many of the respondents of this survey had to conceal

their address or abandon their right to claim marital and child support.
suffered the dilemma of career suspension or severe PTSD.

Some of them also

Therefore, we urgently need effective

countermeasures against DV, which can be said to be the greatest human rights violation and crime.
The lifestyle challenges of pre-single mothers elucidated by this interview survey comprehensively
illustrate the social norms that promote gender inequality, etc., such as division of labor by genderrole as well as the systems that have ironically fostered these norms.
With the transformation of families and communities, society is being significantly pressed tofigure out how to solve the problems that exist between the systems and people who are facing
complex challenges. In this study, we present the following two pre-single mother support
measures.
The first is to establish practical and highly satisfactory support systems through the organic
collaboration and cooperation between municipalities, NPOs, and private NPOs, such as self-helpgroups.

There are limitations to the conventional public support framework for helping pre-single

mothers facing various challenges who are left behind by the public system.

Private NPOs

provide a wide range of support to pre-single mothers without excluding them.

We believe theircollaboration would make up for the inconsistencies in the system and ensure comprehensive
support to pre-single mothers. This requires municipalities, etc. to be flexible in their responses.
The second is to enhance public support to those who are in separation.

Although there areexceptions, pre-single parents are currently excluded from public single-parent support systems.
Pre-single parents hold severe lifestyle anxieties and do not have the time nor the energy to prepare
for an autonomous life after divorce.
One positive and timely trend is that the government is drafting proposals to allow those indivorce arbitration to also receive a child rearing allowance, which is referred to as a lifeline forsingle parents.

We expect that this would further promote the discussion on the divorce system.

It is also noteworthy that in recent years, entities such as municipalities started offering parent2

education courses to parents who are about to get divorced.
This study has provided an overview of the lifestyle challenges of pre-single mothers who havebeen neglected by the system, which have received little attention until now. In the future, it will benecessary to delve into the problems of individual issues and analyze them to design more effective
support measures.

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