AJISS-Commentary
The Association of Japanese Institutes of Strategic Studies
IIPSRIPSInstitute for International

The Japan Institute ofResearch Institute for

Policy Studies

International Affairs

Peace and Security

Editorial Advisory Board:

No. 207

Akio Watanabe (Chair)
Masashi Nishihara
Yoshiji Nogami
Taizo Yakushiji

16 December 2014

Editorial Committee:
Taizo Yakushiji
Hisayoshi Ina
Tsutomu Kikuchi
Shujiro Urata andToshiro Iijima
Editor & Online Publisher:

JAPANESE COMPANIES FINALLY BEGIN
TAKING STEPS TO ENSURE ACTIVEROLES FOR WOMEN

Kimie Iwata

Yoshji Nogami
President, JIIA・ Japanese companies lag far behind global
standards in ensuring active roles for women
・ Women have for the most part achieved abalance between work and childcare, and thekey issue going forward is career advancement
・ It is essential that long working hours be
reduced and numerical targets be set.

The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and should
not be attributed to The Association of Japanese Institutes ofStrategic Studies.

AJISS-Commentary
The Association of Japanese Institutes of Strategic Studies

The Abe administration has positioned active roles for women at the coreof its growth strategy, after vigorous discussions about an increased presencefor women from the human rights’ perspective of gender equality and fromexpectations that greater female participation will help curb the decline inJapan’s labor force. Company managers, too, are beginning to assert that activeroles for women will revitalize companies and lead to overall economic growth.
Let us begin with a look at current circumstances in Japan. The
differences in the employment situations of Japanese women and theircounterparts overseas are astounding. For one thing, 60% of women in Japan
quit working after giving birth to their first child, while very few women in othercountries completely give up work to raise their children. For another thing, thepercentage of managerial positions occupied by women (10%) and thepercentage of company directors who are women (1%) put Japan in the bottom
class worldwide. Japan thus lags far behind its global competition in offering
more opportunities to women.
Promoting active roles for women will entail addressing administrative
issues (establishing daycare centers, clubs for after school activities for children,and other facilities) as well as household issues (such as men who do notcommit themselves to housework or childcare), but in this paper I would like todiscuss a few issues that companies should strive to resolve.
Women must be able both to continue working while raising their children
and to advance their careers if they are to take on more responsible positions incompanies. Until just recently, Japanese companies considered it a matter ofcourse for women to quit their jobs once they had children, but major
corporations are now introducing support measures that enable working mothers
to keep their jobs even as they raise their children. To make it possible forwomen not just to continue working but also to advance their careers, threeissues must be addressed.
(1) Changing the direction of support for working mothers
Support for working mothers heretofore has consisted primarily of
exempting women from work through childcare leave and shorter
working hours. This approach, however, leaves women without

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AJISS-Commentary
The Association of Japanese Institutes of Strategic Studies

significant work responsibilities and thus unable to advance theircareers. Companies should regard work waivers as a bare minimum,
opting instead to change course toward greater flexibility in work
styles. Permitting flex time and at-home work, for instance, wouldenable women to perform their jobs while raising their children. Somecompanies that have been competing for female employees withlonger childcare leave and extended periods of shorter working hours
have realized their mistake and begun altering their approach.
(2) Reducing long working hours
The conventional wisdom among Japanese companies that sees
overtime as an integral part of work must be changed to allow working
mothers to advance their careers and men to engage in raisingchildren. The prevailing view has favored a work style sustainable bymen only because they enjoyed the support of a wife and full-time
homemaker, a work style that suits neither women nor working
couples. The key to reducing overtime is finding ways of working thatoffer high productivity per unit of time. This is a difficult issue, but there
are companies that have begun taking steps to reduce overtime toalmost zero.
(3) Establishing numerical targets and action plans
Eliminating real gender disparities solely by guaranteeing equal
opportunities will take a frighteningly long time. I believe thatnumerical targets would be effective for shrinking these disparities
morequickly.

Ratherthanquotas,

Iwouldrecommend

agoal-and-timetable approach in which companies would set targets
suited to their own circumstances and then undertake action plans(empowering women by assigning them more responsible andchallenging work or positions) to achieve these targets. Major
corporations and certain other companies last year began announcing
numerical targets on their own initiative.
As we have seen, Japanese companies are beginning to change. Thischange has been mostly limited to major corporations in the Tokyo metropolitan

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AJISS-Commentary
The Association of Japanese Institutes of Strategic Studies

area, however, and has not been readily apparent among companies outside
this area or among small and medium-sized enterprises. A bill mandating thatcompanies establish their own numerical targets, something I have encouraged
for many years, was submitted to the extraordinary Diet session that started inautumn 2014 but, with the Diet subsequently dissolved to clear the way for ageneral election, the bill was not passed. I look forward to passage of this bill in
the Diet’s 2015 ordinary session to change the mindsets of business managers
at companies outside Tokyo and at smaller firms.

Kimie Iwata is President of Japan Institute of Women’s Empowerment andDiversity Management as well as Director at Japan Airlines and Audit &Supervisory Board Member at Kirin Holdings Company. Her past experiences
include Director-General of the Equal Employment, Children and Families Bureauof the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare and Representative Director /Executive Vice President of Shiseido.

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