Japanese women in the workforce

[Ma Cherie]

This is something that's been on my mind since I've been interested in Japan. Women are entering the workforce alot more, especially after WWII. However, even with some major improvments Japan sort of falls behind in gender equality sector, in the work force in particular. A report Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development telling Japan to raise it's employment rate for women.

The report pointed out that 70% of women retire permantly from the labor force due to the reality that after staying home to raise their families for several years. The only work that's available is low-paying part time work.

Japan also has a huge gender gap, 95% of male graduates are employed while only 65% of female graduates. Could this account for the fact that Japan is still very sexist? And if so, what can Japan do to change this?

http://www.fpcj.jp/e/mres/publication/jp/society/women_main.html

 

[Revenant]

The old thinking goes that a woman should find a husband at her workplace (she then has some understanding of the pressures her husband faces everyday). After she has a child, she should stay at home and take care of the children, after which, with all the changes that go on within the workforce, new computer skills, new technologies, etc, she is then not as good a canditate for a job than one just fresh out of school.

My wife was an office worker at Misawa, but it would be hard for her to find a new job at the same level. She would have to get training in computer software, and perhaps other stuff to have a vaild chance at getting that kind of job again.

The salaries for men and women are quite different, but then so are the expectations. A women doesn't have to work overtime quite so often, she doesn't need to follow the bosses precedence of not taking her paid holidays, and when co-workers go out for lunch or to the pub, she never has to pay (the male co-workers, and especially any older males pay).

Still, that doesn't seem to make things equal, as the man's starting salary is as I understand it 250 000, and a woman's is 140 000.

Some women also complain that even when they are better than a male co-worker, they get passed up on promotion.

 

[Bibinbahell]

I've also heard that once a woman takes maternal leave and quits her job, she's not counted as part of the workforce anymore. Thus, the unempoyment rate of Japan is held artificially low.

 

[Mars Man]

I was just talking about this with my female private students tonight; three single, working women. I kind of got two different opinions, and will discuss that in a later post. Please forgive me but I don't have the time required to do it much good here and now. MM

 

[pipokun]

Do you have staying home mom's benefits in the states or other countries?
Such as national pension/health insulance/resident tax free, or company benefit from husband's company.

The benefits are being criticised by young working women as well.

 

[Mars Man]

Eiko Shirafuji (age 55; as of April of this year) graduated from highschool in 1969 and started working for Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd. Men who joined the firm in that same year (at her level of skill and general position, it can be deduced) were promoted to sub-section chiefs in their 30s and were given jobs with greater responsibilites than Shirafuji. She was only entrusted with clerical tasks; all the while the wage gap opening up between her and her male colleagues.

In 1995 she filed suit for (it seems) sexual discrimination. (The Equal Employment Opportunity Law went into effect in April of '86, and the concept of 'advancement of women in society' began to spread.) After nine years in the courts, the company, through a court-meditated settlement, agreed to promote her to subsection chief and to compensate her for having delayed that promotion--along with some other reasons. In January of this year she was promoted.

The report in The Daily Yomiuri (April 4, '06) from which this information also comes, pointed out some quotes that show that there are a number of women who do not sit for promotion exams, even when encouraged to do so, due to perhaps shrinking back from the hours that a promotion would entail. One woman stated, "...basically men work too much..." This is where the tie-in with the fall in the birth rate comes in. Those women who do move on up at their work places are often unmarried or do not have children.

The idea of being able to raise children and maintain a balanced work load without losing position or credibility is slowing starting to be taken into consideration, it seems.

 

[Ma Cherie]

Japan's corporate world is still very male dominant. But I was wondering, since Japan's population seems to be dwidling and the fertility rate is low, hiring and promoting more women could tackle their labor problem. Not just give women jobs that are short term and only allow women to perform clerical tasks. It's just my opinion that if Japan wanted to solve this problem but seem reluctant to do that with immigration, why not go ahead and hire more women and promote them more?

Though, I am taking into account that Japanese women aren't as quick to get married these days and not having kids, which is a factor.

 

[MajideSaiaku]

Japan's work life and family life just havnt managed to get a comfortable balance yet, working in japan i think still seems to make it hard for family life, as a westerner i know im probably a bit bias but i would find it hard to work long hours and forsaking seeing my kids just to earn money for them.

In Britain were argued to have the most stupid work hours of the continent, and yeah, were a nation of workaholics, yet if i compare that to Japan britain looks like a soft touch!.

 

[pipokun]

In Japan -> women & young part-timers
In other countries -> immigrants, legal or illegal

 

[epigene]

Japan's corporate world is still very male dominant. But I was wondering, since Japan's population seems to be dwidling and the fertility rate is low, hiring and promoting more women could tackle their labor problem. Not just give women jobs that are short term and only allow women to perform clerical tasks. It's just my opinion that if Japan wanted to solve this problem but seem reluctant to do that with immigration, why not go ahead and hire more women and promote them more?
Though, I am taking into account that Japanese women aren't as quick to get married these days and not having kids, which is a factor.

Your idea of making use of the female workforce is what the Japanese government is pushing for. Although male dominance still dies hard in the corporate world, there are more women who are willing to break the "glass ceiling" in many areas of business and professional (specialist) careers.

The movement is not advancing as expected because of the lack of infrastructure that helps women pursue careers. Child care services are not as developed as in Western nations, with almost every public child care centers filled to capacity and with very long waiting lists. Private child care exists, but the cost is very high--so high that it becomes meaningless for women to work outside, with most of the money they earn to be spent on child care fees. It's only the lucky ones--either with parents and in-laws willing to take care of the child(ren) or who are enjoying very lucrative careers--who can do it now. The government is working on creating better child care services, but it's not progressing quickly.

Generally speaking, women who quit jobs after marriage or childbirth are able to get back into the workforce only after the children reach higher elementary or junior high school age. By then, whatever skills they have become obsolete, and they must accept jobs like part-time work at supermarkets. (Of course, there are exceptions these days of women with entrepreneurial gift who set up business and succeeed.)

As for me, I was lucky to be able to work from home when the kids were small. But, it was a huge overload of work for me, with no clear line between work hours and family life. I think I was able to deal with it only with the support of my husband (who can cook, clean, and do all household chores) and because I was young and enthusiastic for both my job and raising the kids.

Presently, I am looking forward to retiring from both...

 

[Ma Cherie]

I know that Japan is taking action to allow more women in the workforce. I think there is a law called the Anti-Sex Discrimination law which came into effect around the mid 1980's. However, my concern is the gaps that still exist within the workforce, and I don't know if companies are abiding by this law. I also heard about the Child-Care-Leave Law, but it doesn't seem to apply to all workers and they're really not enforced. :? I am also wondering if companies who do abide by these laws are doing it because they want to protect their image or is it because they feel gender discrimination is wrong?

 

[Mars Man]

I believe that first law you mentioned was the one I had talked about in my latter post, that went into effect in '86. The second one, I don't know about.

I think you did hit it off lucky, or either you very skilfully made it all happen, epigene san (husband choice and all) but congradulations on a job well done !!

I'll see if I can get anymore information on this scene in Japan. One thing here, for whatever it's worth, is a small article on a study done by Anne McMunn and her team at University college London, shows that it is possible (to use softer assertion here--because we do need to test all theories well before actually saying 'this is the way it is'...regardless of our heartfelt desire to believe that that is the 'way it is') that juggling a career along with being a mate/partner and being a parent as well, can keep women healthier.

The results of the study came out in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. They analyzed data from a study that had tracked the health of Britons born in '46 and used that along with the self-reported health records of more than 2000 women. One important comment made by McMunn was that 'it had been known for some time that women who combined employment with motherhood and partnership have better health, but it was not clear whether they were working and having children because they were healthy, or whether they were healther because they were combining the two. This study is the first to show which way that direction runs.' The healthiness came as a result of the first condition.

 

[epigene]

I know that Japan is taking action to allow more women in the workforce. I think there is a law called the Anti-Sex Discrimination law which came into effect around the mid 1980's. However, my concern is the gaps that still exist within the workforce, and I don't know if companies are abiding by this law. I also heard about the Child-Care-Leave Law, but it doesn't seem to apply to all workers and they're really not enforced. :? I am also wondering if companies who do abide by these laws are doing it because they want to protect their image or is it because they feel gender discrimination is wrong?

If I remember correctly, the first law was introduced more as a "show" of Japan's effort at equal opportunity but has become effective recently, with women emerging as much needed source of labor. The law on child care leave has been introduced, and companies have applied it in their work regulations, granting leave to female employees (and even male employees in some companies) for child care. In the 1990s when the economy was stagnant, employees did not take such leave, afraid of being pushed out the race climbing up the corporate ladder and even laid off. Today, Japan is better off economically, but business corporations have streamlined their workforces to the extent that each employee must take on more work that ever before. Still, employees are able to take child care and maternity leave but not for a long period of time. On average, women can take leave for a year after childbirth, but very few companies grant longer leave. (The most prominent exception to this is IBM Japan which offers extensive child care benefits to its employees.)

Now, what are women to do after the first birthday of the baby? That's why the child care leave law lacks the power to encourage women to work.

Disclaimer: I wrote this in a rush and hope the explanation is clear.

 

[Ma Cherie]

That was a clear explanation, epigene. Thanks.

 

[Mars Man]

I agree. That was very clear !! Thanks epigene san !!

Here is a little more input into the subject matter, though only tied-in indirectly with it.

In an article which had appeared in The Daily Yomiuri on Dec. 6, '05, a survey done by that newspaper company came up with the statistics that some 77% of those who responded felt that fathers were not doing enough in raising children. Michiyoshi Hayashi, former professor at Tokyo's Woman's Christian University, is quoted as having mentioned that, "The problem is the work atmosphere that makes it difficult for fathers to be at home. We all must start trying to improve this situation."

It would seem to me that by simultaneously taking more women into the workforce and making more 'family friendly' policies in letting both sexes take the time needed to share more equally in home matters, not only could the working conditions for women be improved, and women in higher postitions be promoted in a better light, but the family unit could be strenghtened, and the birth rate could at least be at zero population growth.

I'll share some more later.

 

[Mars Man]

A column writing by Yoko Harihara, a staff writer for The Daily Yomiuri, reports on how one company, Inos (an information technology system developer) was designated a model corporation employing flexible work practices, by the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry--a program the ministry started in 2003.

On that program, women who give birth can of course get time off for that, but then can come back and work in their original position on a shorter and more flexible work schedule. In that way a full-time employed mother with children younger than third grade elementary school level, can start work at 10 am and finish at 3:30.

A survey taken by the Ministry in 2004, of some 646 companies, showed that firms using the 'short-time system' reported postitive results, and were less worried about difficulties than businesses which had not adopted more family friendly practices.

Tetsuro Serikawa, president of Inos, said the system was beneficial to the firm,and was quoted as saying, " A company suffers if an employee it has invested time and money in training quits. Also, once word of this system got out, we started getting a lot more resumes from excellent prospective employees."

This could be one example of a manner in which to not only open the eyes of those in the corporate world in Japan towards more non-discriminatory practices in the work place, but could also serve to help in maintaining birth rates and family unity.