Husband Sues Over Housework, Japanese Court Sides With Wife

TOKYO — A Japanese court has ruled in favor of a 33-year-old woman who divorced her husband after he demanded that every day she cook him breakfast, press his pants and clean the house. The woman worked full time, but the husband said it was the wife’s job to do all the housework.

The husband, a 35-year-old public servant, filed a lawsuit demanding that his wife pay him about $38,000 in damages because she did not live up to her end of the marriage arrangement.

The Tokyo District Court on Thursday rejected the husband’s demand for damages but did ask the woman to return her wedding rings and a cash gift of $8,000.

The case was applauded by women’s groups and seen as a sign of the rising resistance among women to traditional Japanese men who refuse to help with cooking and cleaning and even expect their wives to draw their baths.

“Maybe it will start some kind of union for victims of housework,” said journalist Mariko Kuyama.

Increasingly, young women delay marriage or even refuse to get married because of the long-established expectations that women alone should raise the children and take care of the housework. Surveys show the average age at which Japanse women marry has risen to 27, with an increasing number now deciding not to tie the knot at all.