Tokyo widower files for pension payments, claims gender-specific law unconstitutional

TOKYO — A 54-year-old resident of the capital has filed for survivor’s pension payments with a local labor inspection office after his wife died of overwork, claiming that the fact he isn’t entitled to the payments due to his gender violates Article 14 of the Constitution which guarantees equality under law.

According to the man and his attorney Hiroshi Kawahito, who held a news conference on Nov. 7, the man’s wife worked at the Japan Workers’ Cooperative Union center organization, overseeing the operations of day cares and senior care centers. Following a spell of leaving early in the morning and coming home late at night, she died of a subarachnoid hemorrhage in June 2019. The Hachioji Labor Standards Inspection Office recognized her death as work-related in March this year, admitting that she had worked long hours before she died.

Under Japan’s Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance Act, however, there is an age restriction to receive survivor’s pension payments for widowers, and they have to be at least 55 years old, or living with disabilities, to be eligible. The man was 49 at the time of his wife’s death, meaning he was not eligible for the payments. Under the same circumstances, a widow would receive survivor’s pension payments. The couple’s youngest son, who was under the age of 18 at the time, was the only member out of the surviving family — the father and three children — eligible for the pension payments.

The man, who filed the petition dated Nov. 6, told the news conference, “Families like us, with double income and shared responsibilities of household chores and raising children, are growing in numbers. I don’t think it’s right that there are different requirements for husbands and wives in receiving benefits.” He is considering filing for a review or lawsuit if his petition is declined.

(Japanese original by Haruna Okuyama, Lifestyle, Science & Environment News Department)