More Husbands Follow Working Wives Abroad

Tokyo, March 7 (Jiji Press)–With more and more women, including those working as diplomats and trading company employees, taking posts outside their home countries, many of their husbands are opting to move abroad with their spouses. Johanna Lindquist, 49, minister counsellor at the Swedish Embassy in Tokyo, took up her current post in 2023. Japan is the third foreign country for her to work, after Brazil and the United States. Her husband, David Gren, 49, has switched to become a teacher while taking care of the couple’s three children. Previously, Gren worked for a private-sector company in Sweden. He started preparing to become a teacher before moving to Brazil in 2011. Recalling the situation at the time, Gren said he thought that it would be a good idea to choose a job he could easily find again when he went back to Sweden. He continued studying while raising the children. In Brazil, he had some chances to work as a substitute teacher at an international school in Brasilia, the capital of the South American nation. The family moved to the United States later and returned to Sweden in 2020. He found a job soon and worked as a teacher in his home country for three years before moving to Tokyo. Gren said the longer he lives abroad, the more anxious he becomes about whether he would be able to find a job when he goes back home. Still, he said, “Family is the priority.” He added that moving abroad with his wife was something that he himself chose, and that he is happy about what they have achieved together. Theressa de Haan, 54, first secretary for political affairs at the Canadian Embassy in Tokyo, and her husband, Benoy Shama, 65, have lived in five countries including the Philippines and Tanzania. The husband, who is from India, has worked as a freelance consultant while doing housework and raising two children. De Haan remembers the time when one of her family members said something negative about the pay gap between her and her husband as well as the time when a sister of Shama told her that it was “terrible” for her to turn him into “a stay-at-home dad.” But Shama’s grandmother, who was seen to have a conservative view, backed the couple, saying that they can choose their roles in family on their own and that they can live however they want. The stereotype for men to be the breadwinner is changing gradually in India, Shama said. “I have been quite flexible with my work and pretty open-minded,” he added. The couple say that everyone needs to choose the life he or she wants, without being bound by social norms and preconceptions. “Never limit yourself based on what you perceive society may be thinking.” END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]