Gender Inequality in Japan's Labor Force

Japan is acknowledged as one of the most industrialized nations in the world; and yet, the country continues to struggle with gender inequality. In fact, in contrast to other industrialized nation which increased their female labor force participation by 25% since the 1970s, Japan was comparatively lower with only a 7% increase, implying its relatively slow progress in improving women's representation. Evidently, Japan's hierarchical and structured employment system is known for its gender discriminatory practices which has been obscured through social norms and practices.This has been historically and culturally rooted within the country’s patriarchal system that strongly enforces the public-private framework which positions men in the public-civic space, implying its active role in the labor force, also known as the 'breadwinner' whilst women have been confined within the private sphere, where they are expected to be full-time mothers or wives responsible for domestic house-hold tasks including child-care and cleaning. Essentially, the lack of choice for many women and being able to achieve a sustainable balance between work and motherhood is an inherent problem within Japanese employment. Statistically, Japanese wives have been estimated to carry out approximately 90% of the family work and Japanese men have been proven to carry out an average of only 30 minutes per day of housework despite the fact that their wives may be fully or partially employed.

Photograph of Japanese women dressed in traditional business suits.

Article 14 of the Japanese constitution states that equality of all people must be achieved under the law whereby discrimination based on ‘race, creed, sex, social status or family origin must be eliminated’; however, the extent to which equality has been achieved is in question and have been challenged by many due to the country's high rate of gender inequality. In addition, the Japanese society have long avoided discussion based on gender inequality which clearly reflects the society’s enforced ideologies of male supremacy and privilege.

The 'Glass-Ceiling’ Phenomena in Japan

The ‘glass-ceiling’ is a common phenomena in today’s modern capitalist system which reflects gender discriminatory practices in the workforce. The phenomena refers to how women experience numerous socio-economic, political, cultural and institutional barriers that prevent women from succeeding to upper-level positions in their career. In relation, the 'glass-ceiling' phenomena is applicable to contemporary Japanese society as many women have claimed that regardless of their educational and skill requirements, due to society's patriarchal bias, they have been either directly or indirectly prohibited from excelling to higher positions of power, authority and responsibilities. Whilst there are myriad factors that contribute to the ‘glass-ceiling’ phenomena, some of these factors include: structural issues within policies and regulatory frameworks, sexual harassment, maternal leave, domestic division of household labor, and society’s patriarchal values.

The Glass Ceiling Phenomena Cartoon

In the context of Japan's work force, gender discriminatory practices against women were evident across all processes including: hiring, promotion, job assignment and management processes. For instance, during the hiring process, Japanese women continue to be significantly evaluated by their physical appearance as opposed to men. Many domestic corporations have in fact set various criteria and requirements specializing in physical and visual aspects when hiring women. For e.g. some corporations have warned their recruiters to avoid 'women with glasses' or 'women who are short' for unjustifiable reasons. This inherently reflects Japan’s patriarchal system as whilst men are judged on their performance and educational qualification, women continue to be partially assessed based on their visual appearance, implying Japan's traditional view towards women as praised for their physical beauty, but incapable of working.

Japan's problematic gender discriminatory practice is also prominent during their promotion processes. Japanese women who are employed in the labor force, even those with core jobs have been proven to advance slower and are provided with fewer promotion opportunities as opposed to their male counter parts. In fact, many working women, even those with professional qualifications are at times required to perform ‘traditional female’ tasks such as serving tea and making coffee for their male colleagues. This directly implies women's inferior position as even in a working environment, women are forced to do service-related jobs for their male colleagues.

Japan’s Business Culture

Japan's business and employment culture have been recognized for normalizing gender discriminatory practices in the work force. The main components of the Japanese employment system include: the ‘shu-shin koyo’ (終身雇用) which translates to lifetime dedication and commitment to the corporation and ‘nenko-jorestu’ (年功序列) which implies that the length of time an employee serves for the corporation will determine their likelihood of getting promoted and receiving higher wages. Therefore, this indicates that the Japanese business culture highly values continued employment for career advancement and higher salary. However, this structural system of ‘shu-shin koyo’ and the ‘nenko-system’ have been heavily criticized for indirectly promoting gender inequality as the system highlights the significance of ‘life-time commitment’ which poses difficulties for women requesting maternity leave upon marriage. As women may bear more responsibilities upon marriage, the system enforces women to sacrifice family and household matters in order to maintain high paying and prestigious jobs, placing them at a structural disadvantage. The video below gives a brief overview of the difficulties of balancing career and household matters for Japanese women.

Kanematsu Dual-Track System

The Japanese employment system is also known for its 'Kanematsu dual-track system', which divides jobs between two categories: general/management or clerical jobs. However, the Kanematsu dual-track system have also been condemned for keeping women in lower paying jobs as opposed to their male counter parts. This is because the dual tracking system have created a set of professional requirements and qualifications for those who can proceed to the management paths; some of which include having an adequate professional university degree, and being able to speak multiple languages. However, due to educational constraints, many Japanese women have not been able to theoretically meet these set requirements which automatically confined men to the management path and women for the clerical path. Statistical evidence have further indicated that Japanese women occupied less than 1% of management jobs and approximately 30% of Japanese women were employed within clerical jobs which earn comparatively lower wages.Therefore, by creating two categorized career paths, the dual track system has been negatively assessed as a system which has historically evolved into a structure that is synonymous to a gender-segregated employment system.

Legal Framework of the Japanese Workforce

Many have condemned Japan’s legal framework for supporting gender discriminatory practices. The Japanese Standards Law, first passed in 1947 stated that all employers must be paid equally based on their workload. However, the law was heavily criticized for not being able to effectively protect women's rights as it does not address the numerous levels of discrimination that occur outside of wage considerations.

In 1975, the United Nations’ International Year of Women suggested Japanese lawmakers to start addressing the nation-wide’s extreme gender discrimination. As a response, in 1980, the government signed the United Nations’ Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, known as the CEDAW, and 5 years later the EEOA was enacted. The Equal Employment Opportunity Act (EEOA) established in 1985 was a labor policy intended to improve Japanese women’s working condition with two primary purposes: to promote gender equality in the work force, and to foster welfare for working women. However, the policy was criticized for its lack of consultation, standardization, clarity and its inability to effectively address indirect forms of gender discrimination. As a consequence, many have argued that the EEOA have failed to achieve its initial intentions.

In June 2006, due to a request by Japan's Office of Gender Equality, Japan has attempted to reconfigure the EEOA by addressing indirect forms of discrimination and to provide greater forms of protection for women. Some of the additional changes include: to offer more protection for women who request maternity leave and a shift in the framework’s focus from protectionism to equality through changes in language. However, restructuring the EEOA have in fact had limited to no positive impact due to similar problems apparent in the first framework. These include, lack of standardization, enforcement, and penalties. The lack of clear standards have allowed Japanese companies to maintain policies that are deemed as ‘gender neutral’ when in fact, these practices remain highly discriminatory. Furthermore, many have indicated that the EEOA guidelines are highly controversial as it is a product of the negotiation processes between multinational and Japanese firms, state-enterprises and labor unions which continue to strongly align with Japan's patriarchal values. Evidently, many Japanese women’s complaints have been unfiled and unrecognized.

Future Trends and Challenges

Recently, Japan’s market has trended towards a phenomenon known as ‘womenomics’ which is a political and economic strategy, implemented by Japan's current Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, to increase women’s representation in leadership and management position by 30% in 2020.

The following photograph illustrates Yuriko Koike, Tokyo's first female governor elected in 2016.

Essentially, Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe have held numerous ceremonies to give awards and benefits for Japanese companies that have allowed women to proceed towards higher positions of power. Whilst the relative effectiveness of the tactic continues to be evaluated, some have argued that 'womenomics' needs to be further improved as it does not tackle gender inequality outside the workplace.

Although gender inequality persists in Japan, it is incorrect to generalize that there has been no improvement. For e.g. the recent election of Yuriko Koike as Tokyo's first female governor have allowed many to believe that there has been slow but definite progress in Japanese women's involvement within economic, political and social institutions. The video below also focuses on the contemporary gender gap in Japan's work force.

References

1. FBS, Shaka. REAL TALK:Who is A Phenomenal Woman? 31 January 2016. http://pristinemag.com/?p=7448.
2. Feminist Majority Foundation. The Glass Ceiling: How women are blocked from getting to the top. 2014. http://www.feminist.org/research/business/ewb_glass.html. 7 December 2016.
3. Goff, Helen A. "Glass Ceilings in the Land of the Rising Sons: The Failure of Workplace Gender Discrimination Law and Policy in Japan." Law and Policy in International Business (1995): 1147.
4. Kageyama, Yuri. Tokyo elects Yuriko Koike as first female governor to lead city. 31 July 2016. https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2016/07/31/tokyo-elects-yuriko-koike-as-first-female-governor-to-lead-city.html. 7 December 2016.
5. North, Scott. "Negotiating What's 'Natural': Persistent Domestic Gender Role Inequality in Japan." Social Science Japan Journal (2009): 23-44.
6. Rafferty, Kevin. Why Abe’s ‘womenomics’ program isn’t working. 31 December 2015. http://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2015/12/31/commentary/japan-commentary/abes-womenomics-program-isnt-working/#.WEjr4bIrJdg. 7 December 2016.
7. Smith, Robert J. "Gender Inequality in Contemporary Japan." Journal of Japanese Studies (1987 ): 1-25.
8. Starich, Megan L. "The 2006 Revisions to Japan's Equal Opportunity Employment Law: A Narrow Approach to a Pervasive Problem ." Pacific Rim law & policy journal (2007): 551.
9. The Economist. The Gender Gap in Japan. 28 March 2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqhDI7bfBw0.
10. The Financial Times. Balancing Career and Family in Japan . 22 January 2013. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUjGjgAAeF8.
11. Wirthman, Lisa. Will “Womenomics” Save Japan? n.d. http://www.damemagazine.com/2013/09/27/will-womenomics-save-japan. 30 November 2016.

External Links

• Japan's EEOA, the dual track system and Women's Participation
• Journal Article on Glass Ceiling Phenomenon
• Recent News on Japanese Women's Representation in the Workforce
• More on the Dual Track System