When female nonregular workers become pregnant, employers often refuse to renew their contracts. However, a Japanese-Brazilian woman in the Tokai region stood up and joined a local labor union to protest the practice.
Currently on child-care leave, Michelle Rosa Egidio, 35, happily looks into the face of her 4-month-old daughter, Hayane, every time she moves her legs.
But Egidio, a resident of Suzuka, Mie Prefecture, and her union had to go through a long negotiating process with her employer to win child-care leave.