B. Gender roles, relations and (in)equality

Japan Ranks 120th in 2021 Gender Gap Report This very brief summary, reports that Japan rose just one place from the time of the last report to rank 120th out of 156 countries in 2021. Nippon.com, 15 Apr 2021.

Japan's powerful patriarchy often sidelines women. Fixing that won't be easy This article looks at the ideas and attitudes that support patriarchy and inequality in Japan in areas such as work and political leadership, and also at changing ideas and challenges to traditional thinking especially amongst the younger generation. CNN, 10 Apr 2021.

Japan ranks 120th in 2021 gender gap report, worst among G-7 The WEF report said that although Japan fully closed its gender gap in primary education, the country ranked 147th in political empowerment and 117th in economic participation and opportunity. Kyodo News, 31 Mar 2021.

Statistics paint picture of gender inequality in Japan This articles looks at data on various aspects of gender equality in Japan including at work and in politics. It reports that Japan is currently 121st in Global Gender Gap rankings. Zenbird, 29 Mar 2021.

Expert says Japanese leaders aren't doing enough for gender equality A recent ranking of countries based on the quality of work environment for women placed Japan second to last. One expert says this should come as no surprise and that the country must embrace a more comprehensive understanding of "gender equality." NHK World, 10 Mar 2021.

女性のライフイベントfrom Waffle –Power point resource about women’s life events & careers.

Japanese women face discrimination, victim blaming, harassment as they seek equal rights This article suggests a number of areas in which Japanese women face discrimination. Japan Today, 21 Mar 2020.

How to narrow Japan’s widening gender gap World Economic Forum, 08 Mar 2020.

Mind the 100 Year Gap: the 2020 Global Gender Gap Report You can read an overview of the reprot here and download the full report as a pdf file (the data on Japan is on pages 201-202). World Economic Forum, 19 Dec, 2019.

Survey says more than 70% of Japanese people think gender inequality exists in Japan A report of a survey by BiGlobe on differnet aspects of gender inequality in Japan. Sora News 24 / Japan Today, 26 Jan 2020.

Women Outperform Men After Medical Schools in Japan Stop Rigging Test Scores Thousands of women could have been denied a career in medicine. Global Citizen, 29 Jun 2019.

The success of “Womenomics” in Japan masks its growing gender gap This article looks at continuing gender inequality in work and especially in politics, despite the increase in women's workforce participation recently. Quartz, 2 Nov 2017.

Most Japanese believe gender inequality remains entrenched, but increasingly support greater equality This article by Tobias Harris looks at how Japanese people see gender equality, changing ideas about it, and the need for more female politicians. Sasakawa Foundation, 2 Dec 2017.

Japanese Women Face Tough Reality in Work and Marriage This article looks at two reasons for the gender gap at work in Japan, traditional ideas about the role of husband and wife and corporate discrimination, as well as at gender participation in the workforce, unequal pay, and changing attitudes to marriage. Nippon.com 20 Aug 2015.

How can we improve gender equality in Japan? A short article by Naomi Koshi, Mayor, Otsu City, Japan which has useful information about the current state of gender inequality in Japan, World Economic Forum, 21 April 2015

Working Women in Japan: Low-Status Jobs, Lack of Opportunities, Wasted Education, Few Female Executives A website that looks at various aspects of gender inequality, and policies and laws on gender equality, in Japan, updated Jan 2014. Facts and Details

Are Women Really Shining in Japan? Compares the gender gap in Japan with the situation in China and Korea. World Economic Forum, 17 July 2014.

Expansion of Women's Participation in Policy and Decision-making Processes in All Fields in Society Summarizes the current % of women in leadership positions in politics, local and national government, the private sector (companies) and education and research, as well as the Government's target of "increasing the share of women in leadership positions to at least 30% by 2020 in all fields in society”, Japanese Government Gender Equality Bureau

Five ways to finally close the gender gap in Japan A short article that identifies the three main areas of gender equality in which Japan is falling behind and five ways to improve the situation. World Economic Forum, 5 Jun, 2014

Womenomics: Trump Card for Japan’s Resurrection? A presentation with lots of information and data on gender roles and inequality in Japan, by Yoko Ishikura, Graduate School of Media Design, Keio University, 10 May 2013

Japanese women at a crossroads A video and article which discusses why few women work full-time in Japan despite this being a goal of Abenomics, looking at the attitudes of women and corporate culture in Japan as reasons, BBC News, 10 Mar, 2015

Japan: The worst developed country for working mothers? This article discusses reasons why returning to work is so difficult for Japanese mothers and looks at economist Kathy Matsui's arguments about the economic need for Japan to enable more women to enter the workforce. BBC News, 22 Mar 2013

Breaking out of Japan's male-dominated workplace "When it comes to gender equality, Japan ranks 104th out of 142 nations, according to the World Economic Forum, significantly behind other advanced economies. The BBC's Mariko Oi set out to discover what working life is like for five women in Tokyo". BBC News, 9 Oct, 2015

Is Japan's plan for more women in the workplace failing? A discussion of whether the Government's plan for more women leaders in the corporate and political worlds is failing. Includes some useful data on gender inequality in Japan. See also: The drive for gender equality in corporate Japan A video about Calbee's policies on gender equality were female managers have tripled since 2009, that also asks about government policy and the action of other Japanese companies in these areas, BBC News, 29 March, 2016.

Japan upholds rule that married couples must have same surname Court decision is a setback for campaigners who argued 19th-century law violates civil rights and in practice forces women to take their husband’s name. Guardian, 16 Dec, 2015.

Update discriminatory Civil Code A married couple can use the wife’s maiden name, but in most cases the surname of the husband is used. The Japan Times, 4 Mar 2015.

A woman’s lowly place in Japan, mirrored in its language Language reveals the judgments and biases of the group; it specifies how they see the world and how they want it to be — and, in doing so, shapes that very world. Given that so many demeaning and negative words related to women endure, is it any surprise that sexism is still rife in Japan? Japan Times, 30 Japan 2017.

Gender Equality in Japan: The Equal Employment Opportunity Law Revisited 日本における男女平等 雇用機会均等法再考 by Stephanie Assmann which discusses gender equality in Japan in international context, different surveys of gender equality in Japan, legal measures on gender equality including the Equal Opportunity Law and the effects of those laws in different aspects of women's lives. The Asia Pacific Journal, Japan Focus, 3 Nov, 2014.

Gender Norms and Discrimination in Everyday Life: How they developed, (lack of) awareness of them, challenging them

New section added 2 May 2020

A Tokyo medical school rigged exam results to favour men. But Japan's sexism problem runs even deeper This article looks at how discriminatory attitudes to women, amongst both politicians and ordinary people, have changed little. By Hiroka Shoji, Amnesty International, 29 August 2018.

Gender-based dress codes run deep in Japan firms, unveil discrimination: survey "Some 60% of respondents to a recent survey about workplace fashion by the Japanese Trade Union Confederation, known as Rengo, said they are bound by company dress codes, exposing gender-based rules on clothing at many companies. Mainichi Japan, 19 Nov 2019.

Lifting the lid on Japan's harassment problem "New research from Japan has highlighted how much sexual harassment there is affecting the lives of ordinary people. Seventy percent of women responding to a survey say they have been targeted in some way in public." NHK World, 31 Jan 2019.

Sexual harassment policies unchanged at most firms in Japan, despite growing awareness amid global Me Too movement: poll "Three-quarters of Japanese companies have made no changes to sexual harassment policies over the last year and don’t plan to do so, a recent poll found, though awareness of harassment is on the rise." Japan Times, 25 May 2018.

Sexual harassment and the problem of gender inequality in Japan This article looks at the effect of sexual harassment, and changing awareness of that, on women's employment opportunities in Japan, and compares the MeToo movement in Japan with that of Korea. University of Nottingham Asian Research Institute, 6 Sep 2018.

Gender gaps deeply ingrained in Japan society: U.N. official "Gender gaps remain significant in Japan as traditional roles for men and women are strongly reinforced in the society and through mass media, leaving many women accustomed to restrictive norms and limited opportunities, according to a senior U.N. official." Kyodo News, 6 Mar 2020.

Dividing the Sexes: The Modern Evolution of Japanese Gender Roles in Marriage Family Society Japan has a deep-rooted belief that husbands should be breadwinners and wives should stay at home and look after the children. But when did this view arise, and is it a realistic model for the modern age? In this article, we consider these issues as we investigate the history of marriage in Japan. Nippon.com. Dec 6, 2018.

Parental gender attitudes associated with Japanese girls' reduced university participation A group of University of Tokyo researchers and their colleagues suggest that stereotypical gender role attitudes and negative images of STEM fields of Japanese parents may be associated with girls' reduced university participation. EurekAlert, 16 Oct 2019.

How Japan's #KuToo fights pressure to wear high heels "Yumi Ishikawa became the leader of a movement after tweeting about the pain from the heels she had to wear to work". In this video, she talks about how the movement came into being and ends by saying there is so much discrimination in in society, especially in Japan, and much is not solved because people are unaware of it so she wants people to notice these things. (Japanese video with English subtitles). BBC Worklife 101, 31 Jul 2019.

Policies and Action

Japan Struggles With Women in the Workforce Japan has one of the largest gender gaps in the world. What can it do to fix it? The Diplomat,10 Dec, 2013.

Main Policies on Gender Quality from the Japanese Government, Bureau of Gender Equality

The Third Basic Plan for Gender Equality 2010 [PDF:210KB] from the Japanese Government

Changing Corporate Culture Key to Closing Japan’s Gender Gap A summary of the report on Closing the Gender Gap in Japan, World Economic Forum (see the full report here)

The 6th Report of the Japanese Government to CEDAW This is the Japanese Government's Report to the Committee for the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) on its progress on gender equality, June 2008.

Japanese government releases first female empowerment guidelines Global Government Forum, 26 Jun 2015

Japan government to speed up women empowerment measures The government decided Friday to expedite law revision to prevent harassment against pregnant women in workplaces and benefit companies actively supporting their employees who struggle to balance family and career, government officials said. Nikkei Asian Review, June 26, 2015

Japan drastically lowers its goal for female managers in government and private sector The government has abandoned its aim of having women in 30 percent of management roles by 2020. On Friday it approved a new gender equality road map that slashes targets in some areas. Japan Times, Dec 25, 2015.

International Context

Global Gender Gap Report 2021 from World Economic Forum, including Key Findings. Download the pdf of the full report to find tables with the overall ranking for different countries and the ranking in different aspects of gender equality.

Sixth Periodic Report on the Implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women Japan, United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), 8 Sep 2008.

International standards of gender equality and Japan - the impact on Japan - An article by Masumi Yoneda, of Kyoto Human Rights Research Center , that looks at the impact of CEDAW on Japan, at positive aspects of gender equality in Japan since the 1980s and challenges still to be overcome. No date but probably early 2000s. Dawn Center, Osaka Prefectural Center for Youth and Gender Equality.

Japan's gender equality may be 'insufficent,' but it's surely coming An article that discusses CEDAW's 2009 assessment that efforts to end discrimination against women in Japan were insufficient. It argues that in some ways conditions for women in Japan are actually better than CEDAW acknowledges and better than in other countries. Japan Times, Oct 4, 2009.

CEDAW criticizes lack of progress in addressing gender inequality in Japan, Asia-Japan Women's Resource Center, 31 Jul, 2009.

UN Committee on Elimination of Discrimination against Women Concluding observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women This is the response of the CEDAW Committee to the Japanese Government's 6th Report.

NGO Joint Report* of Japan with regard to the consideration of the Sixth Periodic Report of Japan for the Forty-four Session of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women This is a report for CEDAW by NGOs on areas of concern and recommendations regarding women's status and rights in Japan. Japan NGO Network for CEDAW 1 June, 2009.

Japan NGO Network for CEDAW (JNNC) Follow-up Report of Japan NGO Network for CEDAW (JNNC)

Organisations Supporting Gender Equality

Japanese Government Gender Equality Bureau / 内閣府男女共同参画局

Summary of Third Basic Plan for Gender Equality (Approved by the Cabinet in December 2010), Japanese Government.

Promotion of "Positive Action": Aiming to attain the target of 30% by 2020. From the "White Paper on Gender Equality 2011, Summary. From the Government of Japan.

UN Women National Committee for Japan in Japanese and English

Japan NGO Network for CEDAW (Committee to Eliminate Discrimination Agianst Women) (JNNC)

Japan Federation of Women’s Organizations (FUDANREN) J （日本婦人団体連合会）

Project of Japan Women's & Human Rights Network (PJW) / 女性と人種全国ネトワーク This is an organisation of women to promote women's human rights, get more elected female politicians in Japan, end gender-based violence and end discrimination against sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression.

Gender Action Platform (GAP) is an NGO that advocates for gender equality and women’s empowerment, and a transformed Japanese society where both women and men exercise their own rights and decision making power to live a dignified life.

BPW Japan National Federation of Business and Professional Women's Clubs of Japan (website in Japanese and English) - non-profit, non-government organisation (Japan branch of the International Federation of Business and Professional Women)

Working Women's Network / ワーキングウィメンズネットワーク

Women's group aims to narrow wage gap The Working Women's Network (WWN), a group of female workers in Osaka, is putting together a report on sexual discrimination in the workplace for the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). The report looks at reasons for women in Japan earning only 66.9% of men's wages on average, especially a discriminatory dual track career system that keeps women out of managerial positions, and argues for a law to guarantee equal pay. Japan Times, Oct. 4, 2008. Read the WWN report to CEDAW here.

Action Center for Working Women / 動く女性の全国センター

Japan Social Services is a not-for-profit charitable organisation providing culturally relevant services in Japanese and English. It has a single mothers support group and a programme on domestic violence.

New link added 21 June 男女共同参画の視点から考える表現ガイド 埼玉県.