Japanese Women Now

Problems of the Equal Employment Opportunity Law

By SAKAI, Kazuko
Equal Treatment Action 2003

The revised Equal Employment Opportunity Law enforced in 1999 prohibits gender discrimination in every stage of working lives starting from classified advertisements, recruitment process, and employment until retirement. Within the law, articles to prevent sexual harassment and to implement positive action were established, and the protection of maternity and maternity leave was enhanced. Mediation at the public Women's and Youth Office (currently called the Equal Employment Office) can be initiated through the claim of one party. At the same time, however, regulations in the Labor Standards Law that protected women-specific needs were eliminated. As a result, regulations governing overtime, holiday work, and late-night work performed by women were abolished, and now the employment regulations protecting both men and women are considered insufficient.

Women's employment with increasing non-fulltime workers

With revision to the Equal Employment Opportunity Law, the number of non-fulltime working women has increased in Japan. According to one labor force survey, 47.9% of female workers are employed as non-fulltime workers, such as part-time workers, time-fixed workers, and temporary workers. In most of these non-fulltime cases, their employment contracts are different from those of fulltime workers. Among female non-fulltime workers, many are "part-timers in name only," meaning they are called "part-time workers" but in fact they work same or even longer hours than fulltime workers. According to the government white paper on women's labor, the number of women newly employed as part-time workers in 1999 exceeded the number of the newly employed fulltime female workers.

Many female part-time employees are engaged in ongoing, important work, much the same as fulltime workers are, but their salaries are significantly lower than the salaries paid to female fulltime workers. The disparity in salaries between female part-time workers and fulltime workers has widened, and the average salary of the female part-time worker was only 66.9% of the female fulltime worker's salary in 2000. The average salary of male employees converted to an hourly wage is 2,005 yen (about USD 15.50), while the average hourly wage of female part-time workers is only 889 yen (about USD 6.85), or 44% of the salary of male fulltime workers.

Problems of the revised Equal Employment Opportunity Law

Employment management classifications
The most serious problem of the new Equal Employment Opportunity Law is that the law does not require elimination of gender discrimination if the employment management classification is different. According to the guidelines of the new Equal Employment Opportunity Law, employment management classifications consist of "type of work, eligibility, type of employment, and type of working pattern." For time-limited employment and part-time employment, the type of employment and the type of working pattern are different from those of their full-time counterparts, and discrimination between non-fulltime and fulltime workers is not subject to elimination. When classified as a career-track worker (mainly for male) or support-track worker (mainly for female) upon fulltime employment, discrimination seen between their management classifications is not subject to elimination under the new Equal Employment Opportunity Law.

Indirect discrimination
Indirect discrimination was also specified in the new law. Indirect discrimination refers to situations where one gender is excluded or disadvantaged as a result of applying different standards, even though separate standards are not stipulated for men and women. Examples include discrimination against non-fulltime workers, such as part-time workers, short-term contracted workers, and temporary workers, for which the percentage of women is high. Employment discrimination based on different management tracks is also considered as indirect discrimination. Many private companies and public offices in Japan provide dependant family allowances and housing allowance to the "worker who is the head of the household," while most "heads of the household" are male workers. Even when women are engaged in the same work, or work with the same quality as men, women are generally not the registered household head and thus ineligible for these allowances. In addition, many companies use employee acceptance of transfer, reshuffle, overtime work, or holiday work as the standard for employment responsibility and retaining. These requirements put women at a disadvantage because women are generally responsible for taking care of the family and cannot accept those requirements. This situation can also be considered as a form of indirect discrimination. The supplementary resolution by the Diet states, "in terms of indirect discrimination, what is considered discriminatory treatment will be examined," but no progress has been made on this matter so far.

Job evaluation system
The new law does not stipulate a job evaluation system to realize "equal pay for equal work." An objective evaluation system of one's work has hardly been introduced in Japan, and the government has not taken any measures to introduce such a system. In order to eliminate discrimination and construct an equal pay system, it is essential for the Japanese government to actively propose the introduction of such an evaluation system and to take specific measures to promote the adoption of this system among employers.

Establishment of administrative organizations to correct discrimination
Independent administrative organizations (i.e., equal employment opportunity committees) have been established in the United States and England, and these organizations can issue orders to eliminate gender discrimination when deemed to have occurred in the workplace. However, this type of organization is yet to be initiated in Japan.

Goal of Equal Treatment Action 2003

As mentioned above, the new Equal Employment Opportunity Law still requires improvement in various ways. In particular, gender disparities have widened as a result of the sudden increase in the number of non-fulltime workers, but eliminating this form of discrimination is difficult under the current law. Based on this recognition, the "Equal Treatment 2000 Campaign" was initiated by 30 people, including researchers, lawyers, Diet members, and members of women's groups. The objectives of this campaign were as follows: first, the Part-time Labor Law should be revised to clearly stipulate "equal treatment"; second, forms of indirect discrimination should be corrected; and third, "equal pay for equal work" should be realized.

After a one-year campaign, the number of campaign supporters increased to 800 people. Based on this achievement, the idea to enact legislation for equal treatment by 2003 has grown stronger, and 2000 Campaign was renamed "Equal Treatment Action 2003." By cooperating with Diet members, labor unions, women's group, and working women who do not belong to particular organizations, we would like to expand this network nationwide in order to win equal treatment.

Data

Table 1 Number of employees based on type of employment

From Special survey of labor power in February 2001

Table 2 Change in hourly salary between fulltime and part-time workers based on gender

From Salary Structure Basic Statistical Survey by the Ministry of Health and Labor

SAKAI, Kazuko:Borin in 1947. The representative of Metropolitan area for "Society of study of Women's Working Life and Part-timer". A member of "Equality Action 2003". A chairperson fo "Workers Collective, AKAKABU". Ex-member of a Toshima-Ward assembly, Tokyo. Ex-co-representative of "Community Union All Japan Network".

Equality Action 2003: A group playing an active role in promoting equal treatment of female employees. Aims by 2003 to revise legislation with the objective to stipulate equal treatment in the Part-time Workers Labor Law and prohibition of indirect discrimination in the Equal Opportunity Law, as well as to realize equal pay for equal work. Initially begun by 30 Diet members, lawyers, and academics, individuals and groups agreeing with the objectives of Equality Action 2003 can become supporting members. The annual fee is 2,000 yen, and a newsletter is issued regularly.

Related Links
Equality Action 2003
*Japanese text only

WOM has been working on the initiative Japanese Women Now in order to provide information about contemporary legal/social environment surrounding Japanese women. It is our hope that information on this page help readers gain further understandings on gender issues in Japan.

Authors of articles contributed to this initiative are active and knowledgeable members of the respective fields of selected topics. The contents are based on the fact available as of late 2001, when these articles were written. The original Japanese articles are also available on our Japanese Home Page.

Topics selected in this initiative are: Domestic Violence, Compulsory Selection of a Family Name for a Married Couple, Elderly Care and Women, Women and Work, Sexual Harassment in Working Place, Sexual Harassment on Campus, Equal Employment Opportunity Law, Single Mothering, Child Abuse, Women and Medical Care, and Reproductive Health/Rights. ===＞GO to Index

This initiative was made possible by the grant from Asian Women's Fund.