Mika Aino worked eight years as a women's counselor for a municipality in Hiroshima Prefecture, but burned out and strapped for cash, the 54-year-old domestic abuse survivor decided to call it quits.

She became a counselor out of her strong sense of purpose to help those suffering from domestic violence as she once did, but as a nonpermanent public employee, she was only earning a little over 140,000 yen ($1,000) a month.

Not much was left after paying taxes, rent, utility bills and other expenses. And that pushed her into the gig economy.

She cleaned family restaurants and hotels at night, while working part-time jobs on weekends--all so she could work her other job.

"I did all these things to continue working as a counselor," she said.

Aino has passionately clung to her work because she knows it all too well.

She divorced her abusive husband with the help of a private shelter and became a single mother of three.

She started working as a women's counselor in summer 2013 to help other women in the same circumstances. And she was good at it.

When she placed promotional fliers and cards that had information about consultation counters in women's bathrooms at public facilities, consultation requests nearly doubled.

She always asked the women upfront whether they had been choked by their husband or partner to try to quickly assess their level of risk.

One said her partner pushed her down the stairs. Another told her that her husband had hit her and caused a fracture.

Aino faced many dark and difficult cases like these, and became ill from overwork. A doctor diagnosed her as unfit for employment on two occasions in her first three years.

But she was only given a scant amount in injury and sickness benefits, and she could not get enough rest. And it only got busier.

During the novel coronavirus pandemic, a flood of inquiries poured in from women about how to receive COVID-relief money without their husband's knowledge.

Pushed to the limit both physically and mentally, she asked the municipal government for a raise so her salary would be commensurate with her work.

But the municipality rejected her request, citing fiscal difficulties.

She decided to leave her job when she learned a male regular employee was rehired at an annual salary of more than 5 million yen. When he reached the mandatory retirement age.

Aino finally left in spring 2021.

She has since found work as a support worker for women. And because she has permanent employee status, she now receives overtime wages.

While she eventually landed on her feet, her story has become increasingly common.

Many municipal governments have dealt with their strained budgets by replacing their employees with nonregular workers like Aino. Most of them are women.

Although their jobs require expertise, many have no choice but to work under fixed-term contracts for low wages.

Local governments have come under fire for widening income gaps and producing working poor when they are supposed to be champions of eliminating gender disparity.

"Women's counselors are essential workers, and it is important for them to have expertise and experience," Aino said. "How long must they endure exploitive working conditions?"

A 53-year-old woman who works as a counselor for "hikikomori" social recluses in a municipality in the Kyushu region similarly decided to quit her job at the end of March.

She feels her one-year employment contract does not make any sense because her job duties require her to forge long-term relationships with hikikomori.

"This job involves life-or-death issues because prolonged social withdrawal can lead to mental or physical illness," she said. "Still, no one says it is OK to hire police officers and firefighters on a nonpermanent basis when they also deal with life-or-death situations."

She is paid daily and only earns 2.2 million yen in a year.

Her employer tried to persuade her not to quit.

But with the number of contract renewals limited to two, without exception, she was told by her supervisor to have the municipality organize interviews to recruit counselors from the public this year.

She said she decided to quit because she felt she could not work without dignity and pride.

PAY GAP HEAVILY GENDERED

According to a survey by the All-Japan Prefectural and Municipal Workers Union (Jichiro), the number of public servants in Japan dropped to 2.74 million in 2016 from 3.28 million in 1994.

But as that happened, the ranks of temporary and part-time employees have nearly tripled to 640,000.

Clerical workers, nursery teachers and librarians--jobs often occupied by women--have slowly been replaced by nonregular workers. Most of counseling services are also now performed by women who are nonregular staff.

A survey conducted by the internal affairs ministry in 2020 showed that woman made up the vast majority of nonregular public employees, at 75 percent.

Another survey by the National Women's Network on Non-Regular Government Employees (Hamu-Net) showed that 79 percent of nonregular public employees earn less than 2.5 million yen a year.

Of the 705 respondents to the survey, 92 percent were women.

In 2020, a new system was introduced to improve working conditions of nonregular public employees, making them eligible for bonuses and other allowances.

But it has yet to lift incomes because scores of municipalities have slashed hourly wages and working hours. And many still limit the number of contract renewals to two.

Many nonregular workers expect to see their employment terminated this spring because of these sort of labor practices.

"Women have been given no choice but to work as nonregular public employees for low wages because it is thought that they don't need to be economically independent," said Noriko Seyama, an associate professor at Saitama University's Diversity Promotion Office. “This is a structural problem.”

According to Yoji Kanbayashi, a professor at Rikkyo University and expert on issues involving nonregular public employees, the salary gap between men and women is larger in Japan on the gender-gap index, since women account for a small portion of regular public employees in the country.

"It is citizens who will eventually find themselves in trouble unless nonregular public employees become regular ones and legitimate employment opportunities are created at the initiative of local governments," he said. "Policies must be turned around immediately to create a gender-equal society."

(This article was written by Erina Ito and Etsuko Akuzawa.)