Monthly Archives: May 2016

WOMEN IN JAPAN: THEY ARE NOT EQUAL TO MEN

In Kamakura era, which was from 1185 to 1333, the ideal image of women was one who stayed home, did chores, and supported her husband who was working outside. Then time passed, as part social developments, the government promoted women’s participation in society. Now in 2016, men and women are treated equally at least superficially. However, the reality is that women are still in a lower position in the society and suffers from discrimination and harassment. This paper analyzes women’s discrimination at work-place and its cause, while considering what Japanese society should do to close the gender gap between men and women.

In 1999, one law named Danjo Kyoudou Sankaku Shakai Kihon Hou was promulgated and enforced in Japan. This law aims to create a society in which both men and women can enjoy the social, political, and economical benefits while also sharing responsibilities equally. Under this law, women are regarded as equal members of society, ensuring their right to participate in activities in any field. However, according to a report issued by the World Economic Forum, the score of equality between men and women in Japan was 0.6530 in 2012, ranking in the 101th position among of about 140 countries.[1] This evaluation is relative to other countries, but the rank of Japan is very low when looking from world’s perspective. Why does Japan rank so low? Focusing on women’s working condition, the answer will come to light.

There is a law named Danjo Koyoukikai Kintou Hou in Japan. According to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare in Japan, this law ensures women’s rights in the work-place for example by banning companies from discriminating based on sex while recruiting or by giving employees reasonable wage based on their achievement, not on the sex.[2] This is based on the belief that sexual discrimination and harassment in the work-place is an unforgiveable deed that impairs individual dignity unreasonably and prevents workers from performing tasks effectively, affecting the social reputation of businesses.[3] According to a survey conducted in 2009, the proportion of women who work in management positions has been increasing since 2000, but the ratio is still small compared to men: women only represent 11.1 % of managers, 5 % of section managers, and 3.1 % of department managers.[4] Interestingly, this proportion declines as the size of the business becomes bigger. For example, the proportion of general manager of women is 5.1 % in businesses with 30 – 99 workers. On the other hand, the proportion of women at the same level is only 1.2 % in companies with over 5000 workers.

There are several reasons why the number of women working at the management level is small. In 2011, when asked why companies have a few women managers, the companies supplied the following responses to a survey conducted by the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare in Japan in 2011[5]:

 

  1. 54.2 % There are few women who have good judgment and essential knowledge or experience.
  2. 22.2 % There are potential women who will take management positions, but they haven’t worked for the necessary years to be managers.
  3. 19.6 % The successive working terms are short, and women quit jobs before they become managers.
  4. 17.3 % Women don’t hope to become managers.
  5. 11.6 % Due to heavy house work, women cannot work as hard as men.
  6. 8.9 % Management level jobs are too hard for women.

 

As far as 1, the possible reason why there is few women meeting the qualification for higher position is caused by Japanese job hunting system. Different from American society, except for some professions such as doctor, lawyer, or teacher, most Japanese companies basically accept any students from any majors. In Japan, during the selection, companies tend to focus more on entrance examination, student’s personality, and school’s name rather than their major and experiences. Therefore, for example, student majoring in music or art can enter large business company specializing international trade. Also, almost all Japanese college students do job hunting and go into companies right after the graduation, so they don’t have any working experiences related to their expected job in the company, and students cannot judge if their ability meets the working qualification or not beforehand. Some companies accept internship to give students working experience, but the internship is not common among students in Japan, so most students don’t experience that. Even if there are available internships, Japanese internship is totally different from American’s one: many internships last only for several days, not for three months like America, so students can see only superficial things that the companies do, and cannot try their ability to conduct the tasks. Additionally, the number of women who major in business or economics is small compared to men: popular majors for women in Japan are human studies, education, and nursing.[6] Also, it is difficult to change their original majors to new ones in Japan, and so if students realized what they really want to pursue during the school life, there is no way but studying their first major until they graduate. For these reasons, mismatch between companies’ specializations and students’ abilities occurs frequently, and so Japanese businesses lack of women who can act as manager. Regarding to 2 and 3, compared to average men’s successive working term of 13.2 years at a company in 2012, women’s working term at the same year was 8.9 years.[7]

These gaps about the position between men and women lead to new problem: that is wage gap.

A report conducted by Risona bank, a Japanese big bank, describes that the wage gap between men and women has been closing, but still wide. According to the report, when looking at men’s wage as 100, the wage of women was 59.7 and 67.8 in 1986 and 2008 respectively.[8] The wage gap in Western countries is about 80 % ~ 90 %[9], so it can be said the wage gap in Japan is considerably large. At company level, each industry has been trying to reduce the gap for example by allocating jobs to suitable workers based not on sex but on their abilities or introducing flex-time system to secure working hour while supporting workers’ life. However, the gap still exists. It’s because the low wage has the close relationship with the positions in companies: in general, the more employees work at higher position, the more salary he/she can receive. Therefore, even if companies try to close the wage gap, it is difficult to fill the gap unless women work at higher positions.

Another reason for the lack of women managers and the wage gap is that it is difficult for women to come back to full time positions after they resign for child rearing. According to the National Confederation of Trade Union (NCTU), women accounted for 41.6 % of all workers in Japan in 2006. However, about half of them were part-time workers, and their numbers increases every year.[10] Once they resign, in most cases, the remaining jobs for them are part-time jobs, leading to a wage gap. Due to the gap of position, successive working year, job type, the wage of women is small compared to men. Despite the fact that the Danjo Koyoukikai Kintou Hou bans companies from dealing unfairly with women who are supposed to take days off for child birth, in fact, there are many violation against it. The NTCU reports that the number of women who want to continue working after child birth has increased, but 70 % of women still quit their jobs after their first child. Actually, some companies are trying to get men to support their wives and to share the responsibility for child rearing, but men are reluctant to take days off, and long-time working as Japanese custom prevents men from taking actions, so the time men spend for house work is average only 59 minutes per day in Japan.[11]

Since the enforcement of Danjo Kyoudou Sankaku Shakai Kihon Hou, the Japanese government has been trying to secure women’s position in society. However, the concept that women should stay home and do chores is still rooted deeply in Japan. When children are small, they see that their father works outside to earn money and that the mother takes care of them or cook dishes for the family, the traditional Japanese family. Therefore, when children grow up, they think they will proceed on the same track. Those who believe this concept is correct are rampant throughout Japan, and people who promote women’s penetration into the society are minority, leading to the above problems.

One of the reasons why Japan should address the problems is that the gap between men and women at work-place could lead to the decline of GDP growth in Japan. According to a report from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), if Japan could not close the gap, the working population in Japan would decrease by 10 % over next 20 years, but if could realize the equality, it is predicted that GDP will increase by about 20 % over 20 years.[12] Gender discrimination is not only the issue at business unit, but also the social problem at a country level. Also, in moral aspect, Japan should tackle this issue because it is believed that all human rights are equal in Japan. In Japanese history, there is one famous quotation: Ten wa hitono ueni hito wo tukurazu, hitono shitani hito wo tukurazu. This is the word from Yukichi Fukuzawa, a founder of Keio University, and means that all human are equal. If people believe that the traditional concept of family style is correct, why cannot they believe the historical word that men and women are same human and have equal human right as well? Of course there is a discrepancy between the concept and the quotation in that giving equal rights to men working outside and women staying home. However, if the Japanese really values its tradition, they should esteem the history word as well. Otherwise, Japan would be regarded as a country that prioritize men over women, and would damage its reputation from international perspective. There are several solutions against the problems for example enabling students to switch their major easily and giving them opportunities to learn business area by establishing flexible major selection system like American’s one. It would be also a good way that schools incorporate internship into their curriculum to impose the completion of internship as a credit for graduation on students.

Through the research, it is revealed that Japan still has the sexual discrimination over women and the laws don’t work effectively to eliminate the discrimination from work-place. The sexual discrimination is a serious problem, but is a key to develop Japanese society at the same time if it is solved. Therefore, the Japanese government should endeavor to realize equal society more than ever.

[1] Ricardo Hausmann, Laura D. Tyson, and Saadia Zahidi, “Ranking by Indicator” in The Global Gender Gap Report 2012 (World Economic Forum)

[2] The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare in Japan, “男女雇用機会のあらまし” 8-33

[3] The Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare in Japan, “職場のセクシャルハラスメント対策はあなたの義務です”, 3

[4] Katsunori Fukase, “第35回 男女雇用機会均等法や育児・介護休業脳の運営実態を調べる” March 2012

[5] The Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare in Japan, “平成23年度雇用機会均等法基本調査の概況, July 2012, 6

[6] Gender Equality Bureau Cabinet Office, “平成26年度男女共同参画社会の形成の状況”

[7] The Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare in Japan, “平均勤続年数・管理職に占める女性割合・賃金等のデータについて” 1

[8] Risona Bank, “企業年金ノート,” March 2010

[9] Shunichi Yamaguchi, “女性登録拡大!なぜ男女の賃金格差は縮まらないのか,” November 2014

 

[10] Zenroren, “女性労働者をめぐる現状”

[11] Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, “Closing the Gender Gap ACT NOW JAPAN”

[12] Ibid.