An annual government report looking into lifestyles calls for a society that is more friendly to working wives now that men are finding it increasingly difficult to maintain their roles as the family's main breadwinner, according to a copy of a draft obtained by Kyodo News.

According to the "White Paper on National Life for Fiscal 2001," the proportion of working wives has increased, but they are often limited to part-time jobs because they are still expected to handle household chores and child-rearing.

And while husbands remain the main income earner in each family, their employment situations have become increasingly unstable as the ongoing recession forces companies to step up restructuring, the report reckons.

Because of this, it says, Japan's social structure should be changed so that wives can work full time and play a greater role in contributing to household income. Husbands should be given shorter or more flexible working hours, the draft says, so they can spend more time on household chores and child-rearing.

And child care should be more readily available, according to the report, which recommends, for example, doubling the number of preschool children accepted at day-care centers.

Day-care centers currently accommodate 23 percent of children up to 6 years old. The draft estimates that if the figure is raised to 50 percent, the ratio of housewives with full-time jobs would increase to 19 percent, up from 11.2 percent.

It is the first time since fiscal 1983 that a white paper has taken up the family as its principal theme.

The draft, which attributes young people's tendency to put off marriage and having children to restricted freedom in married life and increased burdens related to child-rearing, says Japan's falling birthrate will accelerate further unless these problems are addressed.