Japan’s struggling economy is a decades-old problem.
Due to an aging population and education gaps in the workforce, as of 2015, Japan has faced
its second recession in two years.
As a method of bolstering the economy Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has proposed increasing
the role of women in its male-dominated and shrinking workforce.
But women have long dealt with a traditionalist society where they are expected to grow a
family instead of entering the workforce.
In that light, what is life really like for women in Japan?
Well, Japan’s economy is built on its ‘salary-man’ culture, where workers are expected to put
in 80 hour a week in white collar jobs.
Meanwhile, career-aspiring women often end up with very little upward mobility.
In Japan, women hold less than ten percent of leadership roles in small businesses.
In 2014, the government offered a financial incentive to companies that placed women in
more senior positions.
But much of the money was returned -- unused.
In 2014, only about 66 percent of Japanese women were in the workforce -- six percent
more than 2010 – but it’s a number still far below the 80 percent of Japanese men who
are employed.
And nearly 60 percent of those working women aren’t even in full-time positions while
80 percent of working men are full-time.
Life outside the workplace isn’t much easier for women, as much of their time is spent
raising children and caretaking, dictated by a society that sees household obligations
as a woman’s domain.
A 2014 survey released by the OECD found that Japanese men do the least amount of “unpaid
work” or chores around the house, compared to most developed countries.
In Japanese society, it’s not about how feasible a work-life balance is, but rather
the social appropriateness of raising children while maintaining a full-time job.
One of the biggest reasons that women feel forced to stay home is an extreme lack of
childcare resources, so much so that there is even a Japanese word for it.
Although this problem is decades old in Japan, statistics from 2015 show that roughly 23,000
Japanese children are on waiting lists for day care.
Many argue that gender equality will not change until more women are in positions of power.
But Japan has a long way to go as only 3.5% of senior government jobs are currently held
by women.
According to the Inter-Parliamentary Union, with only 10% of Japanese Parliament, the
number of female lawmakers even falls below that of both Saudi Arabia and South Sudan.
But things do seem to be slowly changing, in 2016 Tokyo elected its first female mayor.
One labor economist noted that the Prime Minister’s plan was the first time a Japanese leader
presented the idea of working women being beneficial to economic growth.
Abe’s so-called “womenomics” movement includes a pledge to open more slots in daycare
facilities by 2018 and already requires firms to disclose the percentage of female employees
and their plans to support them.
Goldman Sachs estimates that closing the gender employment gap would lift the country’s
GDP by nearly 13 percent, adding around 7.1 million employees to the workforce.
But Japan’s female employment rate is still below the average of working women in many
other developed countries.
For Japan -- a country of strong traditional gender roles -- true equality for women in
the workplace, in politics and in society remains to be seen.
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Gender equality and the economy aren’t the only problems Japan is facing.
The country’s population is expected to cut in half over the next six decades.
So what is driving this sharp decline?
Find out in this video.
The problem has gotten so dire, the Japanese government has allocated nearly 30 million
dollars to lifting birth rates.
This is in addition to a number of work-life balance policies that foster shorter hours,
telecommuting, and parental leave.
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