No CrossRef data available.
Article contents
Womenomics for Japan: is the Abe policy for gendered employment viable in an era of precarity?
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 March 2025
Extract
Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.
Womenomics is a theory that advocates the empowerment of women, arguing that enabling women to have access to equal participation in an economy and society will result in economic benefits and social progress. The need for Japan to implement womenomics was first advocated by Kathy Matsui in 1999, and since 2013 Prime Minister Abe's government has pledged to promote womenomics as policy. In theory, womenomics is a viable policy for Japan. I argue, however, that gendered norms and practices in Japanese society act as a strong impediment to its realization. In addition, the approach being taken by the Abe government is flawed by underlying gender bias. This article outlines the historical context of current womenomics policy, provides a critical analysis of implementation strategies discussing progress and socio-structural obstacles, and concludes with an assessment of the viability of womenomics for Japan.
- Type
- Research Article
- Information
- Creative Commons
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.- Copyright
- Copyright © The Authors 2015
References
Notes
1 Kathy Matsui published her first report on womenomics in August 1999. The latest report is: Matsui, Kathy et.al (2014) Japan: Portfolio Strategy womenomics 4.0: Time to Walk the Talk, Goldman Sachs, May 30, 2014
2 Abe, Shinzō (2014). Unleasing the Power of ‘womenomics’, The Wall Street Journal, September 25, 2013
3 Lagarde, Christine, The Economic Power of Women's Empowerment, September 12, 2014, Tokyo.
4 For an insight into the reception of Abe's womenomics policy in Japan see, for example, the following: Tsunoda Yukiko, Mienai josei sabetsu to josei ga kagayaku shakai, gekkan shakai kyōiku, 2014.12 AERA, Hataraku josei wa Abe no mōsō, 2014, 12:22 Asahi Shinsho, Abe shushō no mōsō-teki josei seisaku kimochi warui furēzu dake ga odori kuruu akumu, 2014.
5 A regular employee (seishain) is one who is hired directly by an employer on an open-ended and full-time contract. This makes them eligible not only for public insurance schemes but also for corporate pension and welfare programmes including bonus payments. While there is no legal definition of a regular employee it remains difficult to terminate their employment under legislation. On the other hand, there are a range of non-regular (hiseishain) employment categories under prescribed contracts that essentially limit their eligibility for the status and benefits of regular employment. For a discussion of how ‘permanent’ regular employment in Japan is, see: Matanle, P. and Matsui, K. 2011, Lifetime employment in 21st century Japan: stability and resilience under pressure in the Japanese management system, in S. A. Horn (ed.) Emerging perspectives in Japanese human resource management, Berlin: Peter Lang.
6 Kano Ayako and Vera Mackie, The gender fault-line in Japan, East Asia Forum, 3 November 2012
7 The Japan Institute for Labor Policy and Training (JILPT) Labor Situation in Japan and Its Analysis, 2013/2014
8 Calculated from JILPT, 2013/2014, p.200
9 Vital Statistics of Japan, Ministry of Health Labor and Welfare, 2014
10 Vital Statistics of Japan, Ministry of Health Labor and Welfare, 2014
11 Average number of births per woman has declined from 4.54 in 1947 to 2.22 in 1950 and 1.41 in 2012. Ministry of Health Labor and Welfare (MHLW), Jinkō Dōtai Tōkei, 2013
12 OECD (2013) OECD Employment Outlook: How does Japan compare?, July 2013
13 Allison, Anne, Precarious Japan, Duke University Press, 2013.
14 An entrusted worker typically refers to a senior regular employee who is re-hired on a non-regular contract at lower wages after mandatory retirement age. Freeter is a term used to describe those aged 15-34 years who are working in non-regular jobs after graduation from educational institutions, while arubaito is a term for temporary or casual work done by those who primarily have other responsibilities in addition to employment such as housewives or students. The classification of the increased range of categories of non-regular work in Japan is complex, but a common point is that they are all defined as not regular (seishain) employees.
15 Statistics Bureau, Japan
16 There is a legal framework for gender equality including: Equal Employment Opportunities Legislation (EEOL, 1986 & 1999), Basic Law for a Gender-Equal Society (1999) and Childcare and Family Care Leave Law (1995 & 1999) which is available to both sexes.
17 Gender Equality Bureau, Danjo Kyōdō Sankaku Jihon Keikaku (Dai 2-ji), December 2005
18 Kano, Ayako, Backlash, fight back and back-pedaling: responses to state feminism in contemporary Japan, International Journal of Asian Studies, 2011, 8(1)
19 World Economic Forum, The Global Gender Gap Report 2013
20 Data is for 2012. University College Union (UCU), The position of women and BME staff in professorial roles in UK HEIs, November 2012 and Kyoto University Gender Equality Promotion Center, Strengthening Japan's Research Capacity: Women Researchers at a Glance: Japan, 2014
21 Grant Thornton, Women in business: from classroom to boardroom, Grant Thornton International Business Report, 2014
22 Pipeline theory argues that increasing the number of women in employment should lead to more equality over time in the labour market. However, in practice there can be many factors which serve to work against this and perpetuate gender inequality in employment.
23 Gender Equality Bureau, White Paper on Gender Equality 2013
24 JILPT, Labor Situation in Japan and Its Analysis, 2013/2014
25 Japanese men (with children under six years of age) spend an average 1.07 hours per day on housework including childcare, compared to 2.46 in the UK, 3.0 in Germany and 3.21 in Sweden. Gender Equality Bureau, Women and Men in Japan 2013
26 This idea emerged in the early post-war years and continues to be debated.
27 The kyoiku mama (‘education mother‘) is a post-war social construct – a mother who is dedicated to her child's educational development and achievement.
28 Roberts, Glenda, Salary Women and Family Well-Being in Urban Japan, Marriage & Family Review, 2011, 47:8
29 Maternity harassment, which refers to workplace discrimination against pregnant or childbearing women, was recently ruled illegal by the Japanese supreme court. JTUC-Rengo (2013) Shokuba no matanitiharasumento o nakusou.
30 Cook, Emma, Expectations of failure: maturity and masculinity for freeters in contemporary Japan, Social Science Japan Journal 16 (1)
31 Around half of companies with 5,000 or more employees and 45.9 % of companies with 1,000 to 4,999 employees have introduced a career tracking system. Gender Equality Bureau, 2013
32 Gender Equality Bureau, White Paper on Gender Equality 2013
33 N.Kambayashi, M. Morita and Y. Okabe, Management Education in Japan, Chandos Publishing, 2008
34 Osawa, Mari, Social Security in Contemporary Japan, Routledge 2013
35 Gender Equality Bureau, White Paper on Gender Equality 2014
36 Bloomberg Business, Japan Working Women Face Tax Blow as Their Numbers Swell, April 4, 2014
37 Lechevalier, Sébastien (2014) The 'Resegmentation“ of the Japanese labor market: Investigating the impact of industrial dynamics, Keio University, Discussion Paper Series, August, 2014
38 Akabayashi, Hideo, The labor supply of married women and spousal tax deductions in Japan-a structural estimation, Review of Economics of the Household, 2006,4(4). S. Bessho and M. Hayashi, Intensive margins, extensive margins, and spousal allowances in the Japanese system of personal income taxes: A discrete choice analysis, Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, vol 34, 2104. Haigūshakōjo oyobi haigūshatokubetsukōjo no haishi no zehi ni tsuite, Tsutomu Kaikei Jōhō Kenkyūkai Nenpō (4), 2015-01-31.
39 Matanle, Peter, Should Japan increase immigration to arrest depopulation? 5 January 2015.
40 Gender Equality Bureau, Women and Men in Japan 2013
41 Meiji Yasuda Institute of Life and Wellness (2014), 2014-Nen 20 ~ 40-dai no ren'ai to kekkon (dai 8-kai kekkon shussan ni kansuru chōsa yori).
42 Diamond Online, Nenshū 200 man-en-miman no yaku 6-bai!? 20-dai, nenshū 600 man-en ijō no dansei kikon-ritsu wa 65-pāsento, 20 November 2012.
43 Hewlett, Sylvia Ann et.al, Off-Ramps and On-Ramps Japan: Keeping Talented Women on the Road to Success, Center for Work-Life Policy, October 2011
44 For a discussion of ikumen policy see Scott North, Hiding Fatherhood in Contemporary Japan in Marcia Inorn et.al. edited Globalized Fatherhood: Emergent Forms and Possibilities in the New Millennium, Berghahn Books, 2015
45 Sempai (senior member) and kohai (junior member) are Japanese terms that reflect the hierarchal relationships between age cohorts in educational and corporate institutions.
46 Kaizen is a Japanese term commonly translated as ‘continuous improvement’. It is a philosophy that emphasises efficiency and the elimination of waste and originates from Japanese lean manufacturing processes that gained business attention in the post-war high growth decades.
47 Matanle, Ishiguro and McCann, Popular Culture and Workplace Gendering among Varieties of Capitalism: Working Women and their Representation in Japanese Manga, Gender, Work & Organization, 2014, 21:5
You have
Access
Open access