Women Rights Issue In Japan

Current Issues

Japan is one of the world’s most industrialized countries but has always kept true to its old

traditions. In the same way, traditional gender roles have always been a source of inequality in

the world’s third largest economy. And despite anti-discrimination laws and a steadily growing

number of employed women, Japan is falling behind the rest of the world on gender equality.

Widespread discrimination continues, and has only grown more subtle over the past years.

Traditional Japanese societal norms pay emphasis that women should learn to cultivate the

Confucian ideology of a Ryousai Kenbo, meaning “good-wife, wise mother." This slogan

became popular during the Meiji period, which was in the late 19th century reform era known for

Japan's opening up to the West, as a way for the government to encourage the raising of loyal

female citizens and suppress the growing popularity of the modern working women movement.

By imposing a deliberate social policy focusing on the woman's role as mother and educator

within the home, the government dictated that the first priority for Japanese women should be the

home and family. Women experienced their peak participation in the workforce at ages 20 to 24

and then again at ages 35 to 50 as part-time workers, thereby protecting the permanent positions

of men. This phenomenon is known today as the "low cost welfare system" and is one way that

women are excluded from the core of the Japanese workforce.

In recent years, however, deeply rooted cultural norms concerning women in the workplace have

changed. Japanese youth have become more independent and less concerned about the impact of

their actions on society as a whole, and thus are not afraid to break from the stereotypes and to

entertain new ideas about the role of women in the workplace. They are less committed to the

notion that the woman's primary role is to get married and serve as a housekeeper. In fact, only

12% of junior high school students surveyed by the Japan Youth Research Institute believe that

marriage is a necessity. Similarly, only 30% of people in their twenties think that "a woman's

happiness is found in marriage." This new generation of Japanese youth may provide the liberal

thinking necessary to alter traditional views about the role of women in the workplace. For the

present, however, the law and culture of Japan still reflect decades of discriminatory thinking.

Gradually, however, legal and political changes began to favor gender equality. The passage of

the 1997 Equal Employment Opportunity Law (EEOL) and international legal pressure resulting

from Japan’s ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination

against Women (CEDAW) has made way for progressive legal changes. However, there are very

few laws in Japan that prevent subtle gender discrimination. Japan has a less fluid workforce

than that compared to many Western countries, because employees tend to stay loyal to one

company for life and that puts women at a disadvantage because they tend to take time off to

have children and are then given to lower tier jobs.

Employers continue to believe that women do not have the knowledge, experience, or analytical

abilities essential for managerial positions. Women generally still work fewer years than men

and retire before reaching managerial positions. Companies make little effort to appoint women

to higher positions in the company, and the corporate practice of subordinating women to

secretarial positions is still usually practiced. Many women in Japan are either underpaid or their

salaries are delayed. Not only that, it is also common for women to be asked by the company to

quit their job when they get married, because companies are not in favor of paying for the

expenses of maternity leaves. Additionally, at job interviews aimed at screening candidates for

the career and general clerical tracks, employers often ask women applicants questions that have

nothing to do with their professional qualifications, focusing instead on their plans for marriage.

Another good example for this is a scenario during the disaster relief, the type of tasks assigned

to citizens in helping society to recover was sexist. In the majority of cases, men were instructed

mostly to clear rubble while women were told to cook and serve food, a traditional division of

labor that reinforces traditional gender roles. Not only that, men usually received monetary

compensation of some kind for their work clearing rubble, whereas women usually did not.

However, the role of women in Japanese society will continue to evolve and it will only be a

matter of time till women start acquiring public power. The current generation of women in

Japan are in a way victims of the past, trapped by the conflicting poles of old and new. This

conflict is clearly shown by a woman trying to come to terms with her position in Japanese

society.