Japanese Women Now

Present Situation of the Employment of Women in Japan

By KANATANI, Chieko
Representative, Women's Initiative for Advancement in Japan

The ratio of women in the Japanese workforce is 39.7% (1999), which is not high according to international standards. Working women in Japan continue to form an M-shaped employment pattern based on age groups, and it is predicted that the situation where women leave the workplace because of marriage, childbirth, or child rearing will not improve by 2020. The fact that women cannot continue to work throughout their life is very different from the situation in advanced capitalist countries where working women reflect a trapezoidal employment pattern. As result, it is difficult to claim that the working environment has improved for Japanese women. Among the 23 OECD member countries Japan ranked 19th on the index for "degree of work ease for women," which is a drop from 16th place in 1990.

Women's enthusiasm to continue working, however, has actually increased each year. For female university graduates, preference for "continuous employment" represents 57.1% and far exceeds "leave work due to marriage or childbirth" at 28.7% (source: Questionnaire on Women with Higher Academic Backgrounds and Employment" by the Japan Labor Research Organization in 1998). Therefore, measures to provide childcare that allow women to work continuously, as well as measures to eliminate salary disparities, are urgent issues.

Low ratio of women in managerial positions

When looking at the ratio of women in Japan in overall managerial positions based on titles, only 1.6% of working women hold a position equivalent to director (1.2% in 1998), while 2.6% hold a position equivalent to section chef (2.4% in 1998). These figures reflect a slight increase in the number of women in such positions, while the number of women in the position of team leader dropped to 7.7% from 7.8% (FY2000 Women Employment Management Basic Survey by Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare).

The reasons accounting for the lower number of women in managerial positions are as follows: "women do not have the knowledge, experience, or analytical abilities essential for the position" and "women work a shorter years and retire before reaching the managerial level." This situation has not changed in the 17 years since the enactment of the Equal Employment Opportunity Law. In addition, in a survey on how companies utilize women's labor, it was revealed that 88.6% of companies "do nothing" to appoint women to higher positions. Companies that "have not established a plan to utilize women's labor" also represented 89.3% of the survey respondents, while 84.7% "do not educate middle managerial staff and male employees on the importance of utilizing women's labor." It seems that companies are doing little to place women in managerial positions, and such inaction is a clear problem.

One ILO survey (1995) showed the ratio of female managerial workers in Japan to be the lowest among 21 surveyed countries, and from this result, it can be said that the number of women with work responsibility is very low in Japan.

Will women continue to work part-time within the framework of the tax exemption for spouses?

In the latter half of the 1960s, employment classifications based on gender role sharing became clearer in Japan. Gender role sharing refers to a man working fulltime, and a woman working part-time (temporary work, contract employee) and performing domestic chores and raising children. Part-time work, however, features difficulties specific to Japan and not seen in other countries. Part-time work in Japan has a set "employment period," and part-time workers generally continue to work by renewing their employment contract at the end of each employment period. As a result, we often see what is referred to as "stop hiring," meaning a work contract is terminated without renewal upon expiry of the employment period. Because 70% of part-time workers are married women, their position as workers as well as their husbands' dependents is unique. The limit for income tax exemption is 1.03 million yen, which is also the maximum tax deduction on a husband's income and the exemption for the spouse residential tax. Thus many part-time employees work within the income range called the "wall of 1.03 million yen." Workers with an annual income of 1.3 million yen or less are classified as class 3 insured in the national pension plan (exempt from pension premiums when the husband subscribes to the employee's pension plan). These social systems only encourage the low wage structure for part-time workers.

At present, the government is drafting a plan to revise the public pension system in 2004, and part-time workers with an annual income of 650,000 yen or higher will be required to subscribe to the employee's pension plan. Married women are increasingly unwilling to accept discrimination in "working status," that is, working in poor conditions under the framework of the tax exemption for spouses. The common perception that discrimination against part-time workers is a form of "indirect discrimination" should be established as soon as possible.

Looking at Part-time Workers in Holland

With changes in the industrial structure centered on part-time workers resulting from the "Holland model," many people have taken note of the economic recovery in Holland, which is now referred to as the EU's "excellent student." The foundation of the Holland model is the "Wassenaar Agreement" concluded among the government (Prime Minister), the labor union (FNV), and employers (Holland Economic Federation VNO). Within the agreement, employers take the initiative to ensure employment, the labor union agrees to voluntary wage restrictions, and the government (Prime Minister) restricts financial spending and reduces taxation. In addition, the law prohibiting discrimination was revised in 1996, at which time discrimination based on working hours was clearly prohibited and part-time employment was established as a system. Wage disparities between fulltime and part-time workers have been reduced (maximum of 5%), and discrimination in the social security system is said to have been eliminated.

Examination of the Holland model has begun in Japan, but stress is generally placed on corporate cost-cutting measures, instead of "prohibiting discrimination" and improving the treatment of part-time workers. This is a problem.

Beginning of the Positive Action Policy

With the United Nations' adoption of the treaty to abolish racial discrimination in 1965, active equalization policies were implemented under the Quarter System (Northern Europe), Positive Action (EU countries), and Affirmative Action (United States, Canada, and Oceanic countries) during the latter half of the 1960s. Different countries around the world have introduced these types of systems with the increasing recognition that activation in all areas, including business, is impossible without permitting women to display their abilities.

Thirty years later, the introduction of Positive Action was finally made possible through the revised Equal Employment Opportunity Law (1999) and Basic Law for a Gender-Equal Society (1999). Yet despite this progress, companies remain basically unaware of this situation.

Women and Leadership

In the 21st century, measures to promote women will become more active in constructing a new corporate culture and affluent economic society. Future issues include increasing motivation and improving work skills through providing information such as career upgrading and counseling for women. At the same time, a significant increase in the number of managerial positions for women as a role model will be an important issue. In Japan, Women's Initiative (WIAJ) has begun holding seminars and workshops to promote the utilization of women's labor at companies.

KANATANI, Chieko: Representative of Women's Initiative for Advancement in Japan. Director of the Women and Work Research Center, which has been active for more than 10 years and became an NPO two years ago. Majored in labor law and labor economics, Kanatani is a researcher actively involved in her field.. She has lectured on women's studies at 10 universities for more than 20 years.

Women's Initiative for Advancement in Japan (WIAJ): Women are now playing a more active role in the business world, but the know-how and training to promote women at Japanese companies, which remain unenthusiastic about this issue, are yet to be established. For more than 20 years, the United States has developed the know-how and training to advance women in the workplace since the early 1980s. In particular, the NPO named Catalyst (established in 1962, based in New York) has contributed to reform of the corporate culture by conducting corporate surveys and giving awards for the best corporate practices. While learning from the examples of Catalyst, WIAJ is working to promote women in the workplace in Japan. WIAJ also empowers female employees and offers consultation to companies.

Related Links
Women's Initiative for Advancement in Japan

Josei to shigoto kenkyujo (Women and Work Research Center)
*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.