Infertility treatment hinders the careers of working women in Japan

Abstract

Aim: Women undergoing infertility treatment often need to balance work and fertility treatment. Therefore, we evaluated the quality of life (QOL) and impact of infertility treatment on Japanese working women and their careers. Methods: We conducted an online questionnaire at 18 clinics in Japan. Responses were collected from 835 women, 713 of whom were working. The participants were divided into three groups based on treatment stage. Data were collected using the FertiQoL and an original questionnaire created by the authors. The Mann-Whitney U test and a multinomial logistic analysis were used. Results: Approximately 90% of the participants felt that treatment could hinder their work and 8% had quit their jobs. Low QOL was associated with sadness and despair due to infertility and mood disorders, disruptions to life and work, and the complicated medications and procedures involved in treatment. Social isolation and the effect of fertility treatment on daily life and work strongly hindered the careers of working women in the third stage of treatment (in vitro fertilization and intracytoplasmic sperm injection). Approximately 70% of the participants required support to subsidize treatment costs and sought shorter working hours and flextime systems. Only 55% informed their workplaces about the fertility treatment, but about 70% easily gained understanding by informing them. Conclusions: For many working women, infertility treatment posed barriers to their careers, which could explain the low QOL. Urgent introduction of a support system is necessary in Japan, and understanding and social acceptance of infertility appears to be important.

Household income and medical help-seeking for fertility problems among a representative population in Japan

“…Once people sought medical help, they often discontinued fertility treatment due to the difficulty in integrating therapeutic programs with their work [ 48 ]. In Japan, 8% of working women quit their job due to fertility treatments [ 49 ]. Although our analyses were based on a cross-sectional survey and employment status was obtained at the time of the survey, employment would negatively affect seeking medical advice and receiving treatments.…”

Out-of-pocket payment and patients’ treatment choice for assisted reproductive technology by household income: a conjoint analysis using an online social research panel in Japan

“…We found that medical institutions offering consultation during nights and weekends were preferred by participants working outside the home. Since ART procedures require frequent and sometimes unpredictable visits based on the menstrual cycle [ 30 ], providing flexible clinic hours and a supportive work environment would help employees balance their fertility treatments with their work schedules [ 31 ].…”

Assisted Reproductive Technologies and Work, Employment and Society: Extending the Debate on Organisational Involvement in/Responsibilities around Fertility and Reproduction

“…This labour market movement and lack of upward mobility likely exacerbates existing gender-based occupational stratification. Early evidence from the UK, Japan, Turkey and the US (Durmazoglu and Alus Tokat, 2021;Ichikawa et al, 2020;Imai et al, 2021;Noonan, 2022;Wilkinson et al, 2022) suggests an ART-related career penalty for women similar to the 'motherhood penalty' (McIntosh et al, 2012), especially for those undergoing multiple cycles.…”