I. Introduction
I started to be interested in this topic because Japan is often recognized as one of the countries in which “sexism” (sexual discrimination especially against women) is a problem. Through globalization, many countries such as England and America have discussed and promoted gender equality. However, some nations including Japan still cannot achieve it and continue to have serious gender gaps, especially in the workplace. Wondering why Japanese society has such a serious problem, I tried to research the reasons why Japan has gender gaps within its society and also to consider possible solutions about that issue. Some specific questions that I looked at are: Do the historical issues connect with gender inequality?; What actions do companies and organizations actually take to promote gender equality?; and What are effective solutions for gender inequality in modern Japanese society?
In this report, I will describe the current gender situation in Japanese society, especially about workingwomen. Then I explain the reasons why Japan still has serious gender gap. This includes various reasons related to history of Japan or its modern social system. I will also explain the methods to solve this problem, which are acted by national government and some companies such as Mitsukoshi Isetan HD and Shiseido. I will also report on discussion about this topic with my classmates.
II. The Current Gender Situation in Japan
Although the number of workingwomen is increasing year by year, there is still great inequality between males and females. According to the reports from Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare in Japan in 2014, Japanese women have received 30% percent less pay than men since 2012 on average. The number of female managers in local companies is also quite small (only about 11.6% of whole managers are women) (Yoshiaki, 2015).
Moreover, “Gender Gap Index 2015” from World Economic Forum (2015) claims how backward Japan is in the field of gender equality. The report says Japan ranks 101st of 135 countries in global gender gap index. It means that Japan has a bigger gender gap than other developed country such as China and United States. Especially, wage inequality for similar work is a big problem in Japan. As a result of these factors, it is necessary for Japanese society to change the gender inequality environment.
III. Reasons for the Gender Gap in Japan
The reasons why Japan still has serious gender gap are related to the modern social system that had continued for a few hundred years. The first reason is the difficulty of achieving success in both business work and childcare. In fact, about 40% of workingwomen tend to leave their job after marriage or childbirth whilst some choose not to bear children and to focus on their work because of the difficulty in their time management (Heather, 2014). It shows Japanese women might find it impossible to return to their work after childcare.
The second reason is traditional customs in Japan, which lead to the separation of male and female roles. This created an “old habit”: men go outside for work and women stay and do housework. It is unsuitable for modern global standards and may make gender gap bigger in Japanese society. Within this custom, historical factors would play important roles. Since Edo-period, “patriarchal authority (家父長制)” has been recognized as main idea of family structure. In patriarchal authority, “Father” was the highest position within family members and only eldest son could be inherited his mother’s social status (シャジニナ, 2007). In this thought, women (mothers and daughters) were recognized as lower status than them. Samurai activities such as “alternate attendance (参勤交代)”, which is the policy for samurais in Edo-period, also strengthened patriarchal idea because while men went out to work, women had to stay home to protect their children (SO-NET, 2014). The old historical rules might keep the subjection of women in Japan and restrict their choice in the future.
IV. Solutions for this Problem
In this poor environment for working women, some actors have tried to solve the problems. The Government of Japan enforced policies which are friendly for women in companies. These new policies such as “the Equal Employment Opportunity Law” in 1985 have made parental leave longer and supported women to return to their workplace after childcare more easily (人口問題研究所, 2010). For example, the new childcare leave system in japan since 2000s could create the environment to take parental leave easily and increased the percentage of women who return to their work to 60%. Although more women continue to work, there are a still high percentage of women who give up their work. Therefore, national government thinks that Women now need not only more maternity leave but also longer paternity leave (人口問題研究所, 2010). Government should promote more housework for men by enforcing more policies to promote dads who stay home (it is often called “ikumen-policy”). Many men don’t join childcare because of the lack of idea about ikumen, which can be related the “old habit”; it didn’t expect stay-at-home dads. This movement can be the key to eliminate patriarchal authority.
Local companies in Japan also make efforts to achieve gender equality within their workplace. For instance, Mitsukoshi Isetan HD (三越伊勢丹HD) promotes women employment and their parental leave by making new employment system within it. In order to keep women’s high motivation for their work, Mitsukoshi have raised the percentage of women’s managerial position to 22.9% (岸本, 2015). Moreover, its workers can take childcare leave for 3 years, which is longer than other companies. These activities could increase the number of great human resources within the company because women do not need to give up their job after childbirth. Another company called Shiseido (資生堂) also makes confortable environment not only for mothers but also fathers. It makes the community in which women employees and workingwomen are able to share information about childcare. It would be useful to reduce their anxiety for child rearing. Shiseido also holds ikumen lunchtime where workingmen who have children can share the information about male childcare and their awareness (岸本, 2015). The percentage both of maternity and paternity leave is increasing because of those actions within the company. Those actors show the possibility to achieve greater gender equality in workplace. Although some companies have tried to make better environment for workingwomen, it is the fact that many companies cannot do enough support to promote gender equality because of the long-term economic unrest in Japan. In order to achieve gender equality in all workplaces, each of them should get financial basis to supply the system for workingwomen.
V. Discussion with Classmates
After our presentation on this topic, we discussed better solutions for gender equality in Japanese society. One classmate claimed that national government should provide childcare allowance to employees who take parental leave. Due to the concerns of the pay during childcare leaves, many parents cannot stop their work easily. Therefore, salary support would be important to promote women’s social progress with their children. Another classmate suggested change of working pattern in companies. In modern Japanese society, people often do overtime and it would be the pressure for parents. It might be essential to make working time structure better for parents with babies.
VI. Conclusion
I have talked about the presentation of gender gaps within companies. From the research, I considered the necessity of more financial supports from national government. By this help, many companies will be able to promote women’s employment and parental leave with change their working systems. It would be important in the future because many global companies have already achieved gender equality (Japan is so late about this field). Moreover, it also would be essential to reduce all stereotypes to women, such as an idea from patriarchal authority. The more people change their mind about this, the more companies will try to achieve gender equality.
VII. References
Yoshiaki, N (2015) A Pay Gap Persists as Even More Japanese Women Join the Workforce
Heather, T (2014) “Work-life balance” is an empty slogan for many women in Japan
Marnie, S, A. (2016) Women in modern Japanese history
World Economic Forum (2015) The Global Gender Gap Report 2015
初公開！｢女性が働きやすい｣トップ300社 (2015) 岸本 吉浩
第１４回出生動向基本調査 —結婚と出産に関する全国調査、夫婦調査の結果概要— (2010) 国立社会保障・人口問題研究所
江戸時代における身分の差別とは？士農工商、低い女性の地位 (2014) SO-NET
日本女性の社会地位に関する歴史的研究 (2007) シャジニナ・ハンナ