The Asia-Pacific Journal | Japan Focus Volume 12 | Issue 45 | Number 2 | Article ID 4211 | Nov 03, 2014

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Gender Equality in Japan: The Equal Employment OpportunityLaw Revisited 日本における男女平等　雇用機会均等法再考

Stephanie Assmann

In 2010, Rina Bovrisse, then a 36-year oldsenior retail manager of Prada Japan, lost herjob at the Italian fashion company after sheaccused the company of harassment anddiscrimination based on age and physicalappearance. After a two-year trial in the TokyoDistrict Court which ended in October 2012,she a l so l os t her c la im to f inanc ia lcompensation of 58 million yen on the groundsof sexual harassment (Asien Spiegel, 2013).Bovrisse, who was in charge of approximately500 employees working in Prada stores inJapan, Guam, and Saipan at that time, was toldby Prada Japan Senior Human ResourcesManager Takahashi Hiroyuki that she neededto lose weight in order to represent the fashioncompany. Furthermore, Takahashi hadtransferred thirteen managers and shopassistants, who were considered “old, fat, ugly”or simply did not have “the Prada look”, toremote locations (Matsutani, 2010). In court,Judge Morioka Reiko ruled that - givenBovrisse’s visible position in the fashioncompany - her employer had every right to tellher to improve her physical appearance, andthat this was not a sufficient reason forclaiming financial compensation.

Bovrisse’s outspokenness about her experienceof harassment reinitiated a discussion aboutdiscriminatory employment practices and theeffectiveness of gender equality policies inJapan. Despite decades of efforts and theexistence of the legal framework of an EqualEmployment Opportunity Law (EEOL),implementing gender equality in the workplacehas not succeeded in Japan. I argue that twoparticular forces are undermining theeffectiveness of the EEOL. On one hand there

are structural reasons, such as a genderedhigher-education system, a gendered job-entrance system, and gendered wagediscrepancies rooted in male dominance inmanagement positions, both of which impedethe successful implementation of genderequality. On the other hand there are culturalreasons, such as Japan’s corporate culturecoupled with the fact that mothers remainsolely responsible for raising children underthe age of three, which contributes to manywomen deciding to withdraw from the workforce after starting a family.

Gender Equality in Japan in InternationalContext

While the Bovrisse case was before the courts,in 2011 Japan marked the 25th anniversary ofthe enactment of the Equal EmploymentOpportunity Law (EEOL). After Japan ratifiedthe Convention on the Elimination of All Formsof Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in1980 (Mae, 2008: 219), this law becameJapan ’ s ma jor l ega l f ramework fo rimplementing gender equality in privatecompanies. However, gender equality in theworkplace has yet to be fully implemented.

A strong emphasis on gender equality hasrecently become a key plank of “Abenomics”,with Prime Minister Abe touting support forwomen in the workplace as one part of hismultidimensional growth strategy (Taguchi2013: 37). In his recent General AssemblyAddress to the United Nations in September2013, Abe advocated “building a society inwhich women can shine” (josei ga kagayakushakai o tsukuru). In this context, Abe pledged

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to appoint women to a third of all seniormanagement positions in governmentalagencies and promised to encourage privatecorporations to recruit and promote morewomen. Abe also intends to increase thenumber of women in the workforce by 530,000women within one year (Kurtenbach 2014).Furthermore, Abe has promised to improve theprecarious day care shortage through creating200,000 new day care spots for children by2015 and 200,000 more by March 2018 (Otake2014).

This strategy of empowering women has beendubbed “womenomics”. Abe himself started toimplement “womenomics” by appointing fivefemale ministers in his recent cabinet reshuffleon 3rd September 2014.

Womenomics in Japan: Five femaleministers were appointed in the recentcabinet reshuffle in September 2014, butwithin a month two were forced to resign.(Japan Times)

However, his effort backfired as within a monthtwo of the women were caught up in scandalsand had to resign. On 20th October 2014, justiceminister Matsushima Midori had to step downafter being accused of distributing handheldfans with her image to potential voters, whichis considered an act of bribery. On the sameday, Obuchi Yuko, minister of economy, trade

and industry resigned over an alleged misuse ofpolitical funds (Aoki and Yoshida, 2014). Thepromotion of women to more powerful politicalpositions is only slowly progressing.

Shiomura Ayaka was harassed by a fellowmember of the Tokyo MetropolitanAssembly while speaking on genderequality and maternity support (JapanTimes)

While political scandals do not specificallyconcern women but also men, the environmentin politics is still dominated by conservatism, asthe recent example of lawmaker ShiomuraAyaka shows. Shiomura had been publiclyharassed for not being married and havingchildren. She faced aggressive criticism from afellow member of the Tokyo MetropolitanAssembly while she was giving a speech on theimplementation of gender equality andmaternity support to the Assembly on 18th June2014. Despite the fact that the LDP lawmakerresponsible, Suzuki Akihiro, later publiclyapologized to Shiomura for his sexist remarks,the incident clearly shows that women in Japanhave a long way to go before they will beacknowledged as equal members in society(Kameda and Nagata, 2014).

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Against that background, this article assessesthe effectiveness of the EEOL as a tool forimplementing gender equality in Japan. I alsoreflect on the meaning of gender equality incontemporary Japan in light of demographicchanges that will ultimately alter Japanesesociety. Despite the enactment of various legalframeworks, gender equality in the workplaceis lagging behind in Japan. However, thedegree of gender equality in Japan is assesseddifferently by various indexes that measuregender equality worldwide. I therefore begin bydiscussing three indexes of global genderequality that yield different results concerningthe progress of gender equality in Japan.

UNDP’s Gender Inequality Index (GII)

The Gender Inequality Index (GII) examinesgender inequality in the three broad areas:reproductive health, empowerment, andeconomic activity. Specific categories are: 1)maternal mortality ratio, 2) adolescent fertilityrate, 3) seats in national parliament, 4)population with at least secondary education(female and male), 5) labor force participationrate (female and male). The GII provides dataon altogether 187 countries worldwide anddifferentiates between four categories: 1)countries that have a very high humandevelopment, 2) countries that exhibit a highhuman development, followed by 3) countriesthat show medium human development, andfinally 4) countries whose human developmentis low. According to the Gender InequalityIndex (GII) published by the United NationsDevelopment Programme (UNDP), Japan ranksseventeenth among the 49 countries that havea very high level of human development and ofgender equality.1 The higher the values of theGender Inequality Index (GII), the greater thedisparities between men and women. An indexof 0 indicates complete gender equality in allthree areas investigated, whereas an index of 1signifies complete gender inequality.2

Table 1 - Gender Inequality Indexes 2013 by

International Comparison

Source: Adapted from data provided by theUnited Nations Development Programme,G e n d e r I n e q u a l i t y I n d e x(http://hdr.undp.org/en/content/table-4-gender-inequality-index), accessed on18th October 2014.

The Gender Inequality Index reveals that Japanranks high with respect to reproductive healthand secondary education, but low in terms ofparticipation in the National Parliament andmed ium in te rms o f the l abor fo rceparticipation rate. Countries that exhibit alower labor force participation rate among the49 countr ies with a very high humandevelopment are for example Croatia (44.8),Bahrain (39.4), United Arab Emirates (46.6),Italy (39.4), and Belgium (46.9). The data forJapan contrast with the Philippines, where ahigher maternal mortality ratio and a higheradolescent fertility rate prevail, but morewomen are active in politics and on the labormarket.

The World Economic Forum’s Gender GapIndex

The Gender Gap Index, which was introducedby the World Economic Forum in 2006 as “aframework for capturing the magnitude andscope of gender-based disparities and trackingtheir progress” yields very different results.According to the Gender Gap Index, genderequality in Japan is low. Japan ranks 105 out of

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136 countries; Japan’s gender gap indexdropped from rank 101 in 2012 to rank 105 in2013 (The Global Gender Gap Report 2013:236-237). In contrast, India moved from rank105 in 2012 to rank 101 in 2013. The GenderGap Index examines the gap between men andwomen in four categories or sub-indexes: 1)economic participation and opportunity, 2)educational attainment, 3) health and survival,and 4) political empowerment. The Gender GapIndex ranges from 0 (signifying completegender inequality) to 1 (signifying completeequality). For the year 2013, Japan’s GenderGap Index received a 0.650 rating. Japanscored a 1.00, or complete equality, in theareas of literacy and enrollment in primary andsecondary education. In terms of labor forceparticipation, Japan had a gender gap index of0.74, and in terms of wage equality the indexwas 0.62. The lowest rated sub-indexes werethose related to political empowerment: interms of women in parliament, the country wasrated 0.09; and the women in ministerialpositions sub-index received a rating of 0.13(The Global Gender Gap Report 2013:236-237). Countries such as Iceland andFinland, which rated highly in terms of genderequality, had greater economic participation ofwomen, in particular greater labor forceparticipation. They also demonstrated higherpolitical empowerment of women, especiallywith regard to women in ministerial positions.Higher economic participation and higherpolitical empowerment are also characteristicof a number of Asian countries such as thePhilippines, the nation leading the Asiangender equality table as measured by theGender Gap Index.

Table 2 - The Gender Gap Index 2013 byInternational Comparison

Source: Table adapted from data providedby the World Economic Forum: The GlobalG e n d e r R e p o r t 2 0 1 3(http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GenderGap_Report_2013.pdf), accessed onOctober 19, 2014.pol

The Social Watch Organization’s GenderEquity Index (GEI)

Social Watch, a network of civil organizationsthat aims to eliminate poverty and attain anequal distribution of wealth, publishes the thirdgender-related index discussed in this article,the Gender Equity Index (GEI). This measuresthe gap between men and women along thethree dimensions of education, economicactivity and political empowerment. Like theGender Gap Index, the GEI is the average ofthe various dimensions and ranges on a scalefrom 0 (meaning the greatest possibleinequality) to 1 (signifying complete genderequality).

In the area of education, the GEI measures thegender gap in literacy and in enrolment at alleducational levels; in the field of economicactivity, it measures the gaps in income andemployment; and in the field of politicalempowerment, the GEI measures the gaps inhighly qualified jobs, parliament and seniorexecutive positions. The GEI is evaluated on ayearly basis and provides information aboutgender gaps by region and by country. For theyear 2012, Social Watch computed a GEI of

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0.57 for Japan. While the GEI for education isvery high at 0.93, Japan’s GEI for politicalempowerment only stands at 0.14. The GEI foreconomic activity stands at 0.65 for Japan,which ranks 105 out of 147 countries. Byinternational comparison, the data collected forthe Gender Equity Index confirm the data ofthe Gender Gap Index: Norway and Finlandshow the highest Gender Equity Index inEurope with high levels of education,empowerment and economic activity of women.New Zealand displays the highest genderequality in the Pacific Rim, and the Philippinesis the leading country in Asia with regard toempowerment and economic activity of women.

In summary, the various gender indexes(despite their differences) all show that Japanhas a high degree of gender equality withrespect to education, and the Gender InequalityIndex (GII) also shows good results in the areaof reproductive health, but it is clear from allthree indexes that gender equality in economicparticipation and political empowerment is lessadvanced.

Table 3 - The Gender Equity Index (GEI) 2013by International Comparison

Adapted from: Social Watch. PowerEradication and Gender Justice (2013),Measuring Gender Inequity: The 2012G e n d e r E q u i t y I n d e x(http://www.socialwatch.org/node/14365),accessed on 8th April 2013.

Policy Responses to Persisting GenderInequality: An Overview of Legal Measures

Feminist theory defines gender as culturallyand socially constructed sex (shakaitekibunkateki seibetsu) and assesses the gender-specific allocation of tasks (Mae, 2008). As wellas drawing a distinction between biological sexand socially constructed gender, feministtheory has paid particular attention to socialinequalities that derive from the division oflabor and include intersections with race,ethnicity, and social status. Feminist theoristsidentify social inequalities that producedisadvantages in health, educat ion,professional opportunities, and women’s self-realization in particular. It is only when thesesocial inequalities are reduced and eventuallyeliminated that women may be able to realizetheir potential. Feminist theory seeks toestablish gender equality.

Recent governmental efforts to implementgender equality in Japan, on the other hand,are driven less by feminist ideals than by amore utilitarian approach which derives fromthe economic need to make greater use ofwomen’s potential given the demographicchanges.i Political scientist Leonard J. Schopparemarks that no nation in modern history hasever aged as rapidly as Japan (Schoppa, 2001:80). Low birthrates and high life expectancieshave led to the graying of society. This could beoffset by welcoming migrants to Japan. Againstthe background of an ageing society, theJapanese government has recognized the needto welcome migrants but so far has limitedthese efforts to highly skilled foreignprofessionals. In 2012, Japan reformed itsimmigration policy and introduced a pointssystem for highly skilled foreign professionalson the basis of age, work experience, academicqualifications, annual wages and Japaneselanguage skills (Nakatani, 2013). A significantsolution would also be to make better use ofwomen’s potential. As Schoppa observes:

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T o c o m b a t t h e i m m i n e n tcontraction of its working-agepopulation, Japan should doeverything it can to make it easierfor the one group that has beenunderrepresented in its paid laborforce (women with children) tocontinue working. Only half ofworking-age Japanese womencurrently hold paying jobs, and theproportion is even lower formothers. Many of these womenlook at Japan’s employmentsystem, which offers limitedchildcare, inadequate parentalleave, inflexible schedules, andlong hours, and choose work orchildren, not both. … If Japan is tocope w i th the ag ing o f i t spopulation, it needs many morewomen to choose both work andchildren.” (Schoppa, 2001: 80/81)

The Japanese government has reacted todemographic changes through severalinitiatives that aim for an equal contribution tosociety by both men and women. The EEOL, theBasic Act for a Gender-Equal Society, and theThird Basic Plan for Gender Equality andtogether form a comprehensive governmentalpolicy framework towards the implementationof gender equality. These three intertwinedpolicies will be discussed in more detail.

The 1986 Equal Employment OpportunityLaw and its Subsequent

In her book Refugees, Women, Weapons:International Norm Adoption and Compliancein Japan (2009), political scientist PetriceFlowers considers gender equality andwomen’s employment as one example of theconflict between international and domesticnorms in the Japanese context. She argues thatJapan’s rapid industrialization coupled with thecountry’s need to globalize has resulted in astrict division of gender roles within the ie

system (the family system introduced in theMeiji period 1868-1912) as well as a distinctunderstanding of gender. However, despitedomestic norms that foster the gender divisionof labor in which men work outside the homeand women work inside the home, the influenceof international gender-equality norms didresult in the adoption and ratification ofCEDAW. The ratification of CEDAW was alsodue to the efforts of domestic advocates, one ofwhich was an NGO network created by theprominent feminist Ichikawa Fusae, consistingof two million women who strongly supportedthe CEDAW’s ratification (Flowers, 2009: 78).2

Since the enactment of the EEOL in 1986, ithas gone through two major revisions in 1997and 2006/2007. The first revision of the EEOLin 1997 targeted discrimination in all stages ofemployment such as recruiting, hiring, jobplacement, and promotion. The second revisionof the EEOL in 2006/07 required employers totake measures against sexual harassment.Finally, positive action policies also came intoeffect (Weathers, 2005: 77-8).

Positive action is the Japanese equivalent ofaffirmative action. In Japanese, the term iseither expressed as “pojitibu akushon”, or isaddressed as “career advancement of womenemployees” (josei shain no katsuyaku suishin).One of the aims of positive action policies is toachieve numerical targets regarding therecruitment and promotion of women. The

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Cabinet Office is aiming to attain the target of“30% by 2020”. This means that in accordancewith the Third Plan for Gender Equality(discussed below), the Cabinet Office seeks toimplement a range of measures in order toraise the number of recruitments andpromot ions o f women in a l l areas o fprofessional life such as in parliament, inprivate corporations, in academia, and inagriculture.3

The following two examples – one example ofacademia and another one of a privatecorporation – illustrate the implementation ofpositive action policies. In 2009, the Ministry ofEducation, Culture, Sports, Science andTechnology (MEXT), initiated a five-yearprogram entitled “Supporting PositiveActivities for Female Researchers” with the aimto increase the number of female researchersin science, engineering and agriculture.Altogether twelve national universities adoptedthis program, among them Kyushu University,which has practiced a female-only recruitmentstrategy in order to raise the share of femaleresearchers to 13 percent within ten years.Kyushu University is one of the seven imperialnational universities. The university is locatedin Fukuoka and consists of 16 faculties andmore than 2,300 faculty members.

The recruitment of female researchers is oftentied to benefits such as the provision ofadditional research funds or funds for hiring orpromoting personnel (Jotaki, 2014), but in thecase of Kyushu University, a lack of newlyrecru i t ed f ema le academics l ed t odisadvantages such as the reduction ofresearch funds. The neglect of positive actionmeasures was followed by sanctions. Thisfemale-only recruitment strategy wasaugmented by additional supportive measuressuch as the provision of childcare facilities atKyushu University, financial incentives forcareer advancement and skill-building seminarsto strengthen language skills, leadership andthe application for research grants. Jotaki

(2014) concludes that the implementation ofpositive action measures did yield positiveresults. Between 2009 and 2013, altogether 34female faculty members were appointed in thefields of science, engineering, agriculture,social science and humanities and medicine(Jotaki 2014). However, despite thisimprovement, the share of female facultymembers remains at 11 percent, which is stillconsidered low and requires furtherimplementation of positive action measures.

Another example of the implementation ofpositive action is the case of IBM Japan. As aleading international IT corporation IBM hasbeen mak ing every e f for t to show acommitment to diversity management. Theimplementation of positive action measures ispart of diversity management. Positive actionmeasures were implemented at IBM Japan in1998 and yielded positive results. The share offemale employees increased from 13 percent in1998 to 15.7 percent in 2003. In the same timeperiod, the promotion of women also madeprogress. Between 1998 and 2003, 290assistant managers, 67 deputy managers, 85division managers and 3 female executivemembers were appointed. Finally, IBM Japanmade efforts to improve the retention rate offemale employees, which was successful. In2003, 90 percent of women who had beenworking for IBM for five years, were still inemployment. The share of women whocontinued working for IBM for more than tenyears, stood at 50.9 percent (MHLW 2004a).

However, the EEOL has always been aguideline for private companies rather than apolicy enforced by law. Companies that areactively encouraging hiring and promotingwomen are pra ised publ ic ly by suchorganizations as the Women’s Data Yearbook,which lists corporations that have implementedpositive action (Women’s Yearbook 2007, p.30-4). But no penalties are imposed when theguideline is not obeyed. This poses a majorproblem for effective implementation. Japanese

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companies have regularly evaded the EEOL byestablishing a dual career track which dividesall job applicants into two categories: a clericaltrack (ippan-shoku), for which mostly womenapply, and a management track (sogo-shoku),for career-oriented predominantly maleemployees who are willing to accept a mobilityclause and rotational training on the job uponentry a company. This dual career-track systemcontinues to be practiced in order to maintaingender-specific employment conditions,without openly declaring a gender bias.

The revised version of the EEOL in 2006/07,which forbids indirect discrimination,challenges the dual track system. Jobadvertisements must not contain hiringconditions such as height, weight or the needto possess physical strength. Furthermore,mobility clauses that were part of the “careertrack” (sogo shoku) can no longer be acondition for hiring. The same is true fornational transfer experience, which cannot nowbe a condition for further career advancement(MHLW, 2007: 20-22; see also Imano, 2006: 43and 45). Indirect discrimination is defined asfollows: “1) An employer seemingly adoptsgender-neutral conditions or criteria andapplies these equally to both men and women,but 2) these conditions or criteria result inbeing disadvantageous for one gender(predominantly for women), and 3) theseconditions lack reason or justification, are notbased on rational grounds, and are not relatedto the specific needs of a company” (Shibata,2007: 179). Another major change introducedby the second revision is the fact that the EEOLnow applies to both genders, whereas theEEOL was originally designed to protect therights of women. Sexual harassment of bothgenders is now illegal. Layoff of femaleemployees during pregnancy or within one yearafter the child is born is also illegal. It is theresponsibility of the company to prove thatpregnancy or childbirth was not the reason fordiscontinuing employment (Imano, 2006: 46).

The second revision of the EEOL indicates ashift from the EEOL as a tool to protect womenfrom arbitrary dismissals and biased treatment,towards a law which features true genderequality. However, the revisions of the EEOLalso need to be seen in the context of aderegulation of the labor market. Since the1990s, the Japanese labor market haswitnessed profound changes. Firstly, paymentschemes that are based on individualperformance (seikashugi) as opposed toseniority and length of service have gainedgreater significance. Secondly, neoliberalemployment policies such as the reforms of theLabor Dispatch Law (Rodosha haken-ho) haveled to an increase of temporary workers whoare employed on limited contracts and paid onan hourly basis. Part-time employment is alsorising in Japan. In 2010, the overall rate of part-time employees in Japan amounted to 34.3percent, compared to 16.4 percent in 1985 and32.6 percent in 2005 (MHLW, 2013: 2).4

The Basic Act for a Gender-Equal Society

The 1999 Basic Act for a Gender-Equal Society(Danjo Kyodo Sankaku Shakai Kihon-Ho),emphasizes the significance of gender equalityand sharing of responsibilities, and is designedas a guideline for creating a society in whichboth men and women participate on an equalbasis (Gender Equality in Japan Report, 2007).A gender-equal society under the Basic Act fora Gender-equal Society is very broadly definedas follows:

a ‘society in which both men andwomen, as equal members, havethe opportunity to participate in allkinds of social activities at will,equally enjoy political, economicaland cultural benefits, and shareresponsibilities.’ In such a society,the human rights of men andwomen are equally respected.Women who desire an active rolein society may participate in

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activities of their own choosing,while men could enjoy a fulfillinghome and community l i fe. Agender-equal society is a societybuilt by men and women as equalpartners.5

Whereas concrete legal measures such as theEqual Employment Opportunity Law target therecruitment and promotion of both genders inthe workplace, the Basic Act for a Gender-equalSociety broadly encourages the equally sharedparticipation of both genders in all areas of life,including family and professional life.

The Third Basic Plan for Gender Equality

In contrast to the Basic Act for a Gender-EqualSociety, the 2010 Third Basic Plan for GenderEquality concretely responds to women’s lowparticipation rates in faculty and leadershippositions, and in other professional roles thatrequire decision making. The Democratic Partygovernment initiated this plan with the aim ofraising the participation of women inleadership positions to 30 percent by 2020through the implementation of positive actionprograms. The Third Basic Plan – which followsthe 1996 Vision of Gender Equality and the2000 Plan for Gender Equality – pursues threeobjectives. Firstly, the Third Basic Plan seeks toestablish specific numerical targets anddeadlines and will monitor the progresstowards these targets. Secondly, it aims toeradicate social structures that perpetuatestereotypical assumptions about gender rolesand encourages government-wide agencies towork on policies such as work-life balance,child-rearing support, and child and youthsupport. The third objective of the plan is toimplement gender equality measures inaccordance with international expectations.6

In accordance with this plan, from 2000 to2010, national universities throughout Japanstarted to operate offices for gender equality.The Gender Equality Bureau Cabinet Office

(Naikaku-fu danjo kyodo sankaku-kyoku)provides statistical data on the implementationof gender equality, the promotion of positiveaction (the Japanese equivalent of affirmativeaction), and the prevention of domesticviolence. Their website also offers an overviewof policies related to gender equality and work-life balance, in addition to general statistics onthe population, data on employment of men andwomen in Japan.7 In 2009, the University ofTokyo announced the “Declaration of GenderEquality Acceleration” following the “U7 JointDeclaration on Gender Equality”. The U7Declaration was endorsed by Japan’s sevenimperial universities. The Tokyo Universitydeclaration had the objective of ensuring that25% of all newly hired academic employeeswere women by 2010. To this end, theUniversity of Tokyo implemented the TodaiModel Support Plan “10 Years to Establish aCareer”.8 However, a look at the data that theUniversity of Tokyo shows that, as of May 1,2011, only 62 full professors were womencompared with 1,258 male full professors.Overall, out of 3,920 academic staff (whichincludes professors, associate professors,lecturers, researchers and teachers at affiliatedschools) only 10.76 percent (422 persons) werewomen.9 These data emphasize the dominanceof the male academic workforce.

Gender Specific Characteristics of theJapanese Labor Market

Employment and Career Paths of Men andWomen

As of August 2014, 63.34 million Japanese menand women were active in the labor market.36.35 million men compared to 27.28 millionw o m e n b e t w e e n 1 5 a n d 6 5 w e r e i nemployment . As of August 2014, theemployment rate of men stood at 72.8 percent,whereas the employment rate of women stoodat 63.3 percent (Statistics Bureau, August2014).

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Table 4 - Employment Rates of Men andWomen By Age Group [Nenrei kaikyu-betsurodoryoku jinko], Data of June 2014

S o u r c e : S o(http://www.stat.go.jp/data/roudou/sokuhou/tsuki/index.htm)musho Tokei-kyoku(http://www.stat.go.jp/data/roudou/sokuhou/tsuki/index.htm) [Statistics Bureau,Minis try o f Internal Af fa i rs andCommunications], Rodoryoku chosa(Kihon shukei) Heisei 26nen (2014 nen) 6gatsu bun [Labour Force Survey (BasicData), June 2014], accessed on August 6,2014.

Kuba Yoshiko (2011) summarizes currentconcerns regarding CEDAW and theimplementation of gender equality, and pointsout that the employment rate of women hasindeed risen from 37 percent in 1985 to 43.5percent in 2008, and currently stands at 63.3percent. At first sight, this appears to be a stepforward. But according to statistical datacompiled by the Ministry of Internal Affairs andCommunications, employment rates in all agegroups remain lower for women than for men. Furthermore, Kuba (2011) emphasizes thatwage discrepancies between men and womenprevail despite the legal abolition of indirectdiscrimination. She also discusses the rise ofprecarious low-wage part-time employment ofwomen as a consequence of deregulation

measures since the beginning of the 1990s thatinclude more flexible working hours and adiversification of employment patterns(discussed below). Her argument is that theabolition of protectionist measures in thesecond revision of the EEOL resulted in the factthat women and men alike are forced to adjustto the neoliberal mechanisms of the labormarket (Kuba, 2011: 11).

Despite the diverse legal measures, the variousgender-related indexes discussed earlier makeit clear that women’s participation inleadership positions, particularly, is still farbelow international averages. A special featureby the magazine Toyo Keizai Online entitled“Naze josei ha shussei shinai no ka?” [Why arewomen not advancing in their careers?], whichwas published in October 2011, presents thefindings of a survey conducted by the JapanProductivity Center among 3,000 companies.Seventy percent of the companies thatparticipated in the survey replied that women’sown attitudes contributed to their lack ofcareer advancement. Even though chances forprofessional advancement exist, many womendo not consider career advancement and/orremaining in employment an attractive orviable option. Many women do not apply forqualified management track positions (sogo-shoku) and instead continue applying forclerical positions (ippan shoku). These positionsmake it difficult to acquire the necessaryknowledge and qualifications for advancing intomanagement positions.

The example of one of the nation’s ten regionalpower companies in Northern Japan’s Tohokuarea, which I investigated in 2007 and 2012,confirms the connection between genderdivisions in the education system and genderdivisions upon job entry. My research suggeststhat indirect discrimination in the workforce isnot the only issue to consider. Another factoraffecting women’s employment opportunities isthe lack of technical education for women,which perpetuates a highly gendered workforce

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and the dominance of male students in subjectslike engineering. This company is one of themain employers in the Tohoku region, with11,167 employees (as of January 2012). Theworkforce is extremely homogeneous. Thereare no non- Japanese employees andapproximately 90 percent of all employees arerecruited from the Tohoku area. Employment atthis company remains highly gendered. Only6.7 percent (813 employees) are women, nearlyall of whom work in clerical positions.According to a 2007 interview with thepersonnel manager, the fact that women intechnical positions are a small minority waslinked to the low number of women graduateswith degrees in engineering. The personnelmanager pointed out that the company receivesapproximately 70 or 80 applications fortechnical positions every year, but it is onlypossible to hire one or two persons. Hardly anywomen apply for technical positions.13

In short, to understand gender divisions incompanies, it is essential to consider (amongother things) the choices that young men andwomen make prior to entering the labormarket, at the entry into higher education. TheGender Equality Bureau Cabinet Office(Naikaku-fu danjo kyodo sankaku-kyoku)conducts yearly surveys on women’sparticipation in society and in the labor market.A closer look at the choice of major subjectsupon entry to university depending on genderfor the years from 1985 to 2011 reveals thatthe percentage of male students who decide tostudy engineering as their major consistentlylies between 23 percent and 27 percent,whereas female students prefer subjects likeeducation (17.9 percent in 2011), liberal arts(23.3 percent in 2011) and social sciences (26.2percent in 2011).14

Women in Academia, Law and Politics

The international indexes cited earlier confirmthat Japanese women are well represented insecondary education, but figures published by

the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports andTechnology (MEXT) show that genderdifferences become more profound inprofessional life. Women in Japan are not onlyunderrepresented in areas like engineering butalso in academia, as well as in law and politics.

These data are confirmed by an analysisconducted by Thomson Reuters in collaborationwith Times Higher Education. Based on datafor 2010, female researchers account formerely 12.7 percent at research-intensiveuniversities in Japan, which is very low byinternational comparison.15 Japan is one stepbehind Taiwan where only 21.3 percent of thefaculty of universities, are women. According tothe various gender indexes, Finland, Australiaand New Zealand show a lower gender gap:between 40 percent and 45 percent of facultymembers at universities in these countries arewomen. In the United States, Canada, Spain,France and Sweden, this number is between 35percent and 40 percent. By comparison, Turkeyshows a surprisingly low gender gap; morethan 45 percent of the university faculty arewomen.16

Data provided by MEXT show that the lowrepresentation of women in academia in Japanis part of a wider trend in the number of femaleteachers, which declines as education proceedsto higher levels. While 62 percent ofelementary school teachers are female, andalmost 50 percent of all teachers at juniorcolleges are women (MEXT 2012), only 30.3percent of teachers at high schools and 19.5percent of university faculties consist of femalelecturers, associate or full professors (GenderInformation Site, Men and Women in Japan2011 and MEXT 2012).

Furthermore, only 16.5 percent of all judgesand 16.3 percent of lawyers in Japan arewomen. Women occupy eleven percent ofmanagement positions in companies with morethan 100 employees. By internationalcomparison with economically strong countries

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in Europe, Asia and the United States, 38.7percent of administrative and managementpositions are occupied by women in France, 43percent in the United States, while in thePhilippines 52.7 percent of managers arewomen, and in Australia 36.7 percent of allmanagers are women.17

These findings reinforce those of sociologistMary Brinton who pointed out that the “rate ofhigh school graduates are virtually identical forthe sexes”, but that gender divisions becomemore prevalent in the higher education system(Brinton, 1993: 200). Brinton made theseobservations in 1993, but they are still accurateas of 2014. According to data compiled byMEXT, 98.1 percent of all female studentsadvance to high school versus 97.8 percent ofall male students. (MEXT, 2012).

But the story is very different when studentsmove from secondary to tertiary education(MEXT, 2012). The higher education system inJapan is divided into four-year universities andtwo-year universities. 50.3 percent of all malestudents, as compared to only 44.8 percent offemale students, advance to four-yearuniversities (MEXT, 2012). The percentage offemale students who enroll in two-year collegesis reported as 88 percent. However, thepercentage of both men and women whoadvance to graduate school has risen, with 7.5percent women of women graduates advancingto graduate school in 2008 versus 15.5 percentof men (MEXT, 2008). It is important todistinguish between challenges that areembedded in a highly gendered educationsystem and an equally gendered job entrancesystem, and challenges of combining family lifeand work that occur at a later stage.

Rise of Part-Time Employment

As of August 2014, the percentage of women inemployment stood at 63.6 percent (StatisticsBureau, August 2014). More than half of allwomen are active on the labor market. Butefforts to promote women’s employment

coincided with an expansion of deregulatorymeasures in the labor market, which is one ofthe most significant changes on the Japaneselabor market that affects both genders and allage groups since the 1990s. Non-regularemployment includes part-time work up to 35hours per week (Broadbent, 2005: 6),temporary work, dispatched work, contractwork and work that is done from the home. In2010, the overall rate of non-regular employees(hi-seiki shain) in Japan was 34.3 percent,compared to 16.4 percent in 1985, 32.6 percentin 2005, and 35.5 percent in 2007 (MHLW,2013a: 2).18 The Employment Status Survey ofthe Minis try o f Internal Af fa irs andCommunications revealed that the share ofnon-regular employees (out of 53,537,000employed persons) had further risen to 38percent in 2012. The share of women, who findthemselves in part-time employment, increasedfrom 51.1 percent in 2004 to 55.1 percent in2007, and further to 54.4 percent in 2012(Somusho tokei-kyoku [Ministry of InternalAffairs and Communications], 2013: 3). Incontrast, 22.2 percent were male part-timers in2012 compared to 19.8 percent in 2007 (Somusho tokei-kyoku [Ministry of InternalAffairs and Communications], 2012).

Non- regu lar employment has manydisadvantages and often results in salaries thatare as low as two million yen or even less for 60to 70 percent of women who work part-time(Kuba, 2011: 9).19 Kuba (2011) emphasizes thefact that wage discrepancies between men andwomen prevail despite the legal abolition ofindirect discrimination. She interprets the riseof precarious low-wage part-time employmentof women as a consequence of deregulationmeasures since the beginning of the 1990s thatinclude more flexible working hours and adiversification of employment patterns. Herargument is that the abolition of protectionistmeasures in the second revision of the EEOLresulted in the fact that women and men alikeare forced to adjust to the neoliberalmechanisms of the labor market (Kuba, 2011:

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11).

There are companies that choose to limit thenumber of part-time employees and temporaryemployees. A European-Japanese mail-orderhouse in Tokyo, which I investigated in 2007and 2012, in 2007 reduced the number of part-time employees significantly and abolished theindependent contract employee system inaccord with the demands of the Europeanheadquarters. 22 percent of all mangers arewomen, and the company applies a familyfriendly policy that encourages the long-termparticipation of women workers. However, thisreduction of part-time employees could only beachieved due to the fact that an in-house callcenter was relocated to Thailand, which is yetanother form of neoliberal employment policy.In 2007, the Tokyo branch of the company had400 mostly part-time operators (90 percent ofwhom were women) who worked at the callcenter for a limited number of hours. Tentemporary employees were also employed, inaddition to 30 independent contract workerswho were directly hired for specific projectssuch as designing a new catalogue. As ofJanuary 2012, the main workforce consisted of185 employees with less than 100 part-timeemployees.

Gender Specific Wage Discrepancies

Deregulation has led not only to unstable workconditions but also to low salaries. As statedearlier, in 2012 Japan had a Gender Gap Index0.60 in terms of wage equality. Data for full-time employees during the year 2007 compiledby the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare(MHLW) show that men and women have fairlyequal incomes at the beginning of their worklives while they are in their early twenties, butthat income discrepancies between men andwomen increase from their mid-twenties andreach a peak around age fifty as shown by thegraph below.

Table 5 - Income Discrepancies between Men

and Women for Full-time Employees (Unit 1000yen)

Source: MHLW 2007b.

The Labor Standards Law (LSL) prohibitsgender discrimination in wages: “An employershall not practice discrimination with respect towages solely based upon the worker's sex”(Fukui Prefectural Government, 2004). Yet,according to the report about gender specificwage differences released by the MHLW,female-male wage differentials continue to existin Japan. Wage discrepancies have graduallydecreased in Japan since 1986 from 59.7percent in 1986 and to 69.8 percent in 2009(MHLW, 2010) , bu t rema in h igh byinternational comparison. According to theMHLW, women earned 80.2 percent of thewages of their male counterparts in the UnitedStates in 2007, as compared with 76.8 per centin England in 2004, and 74.1 percent in Francein 2002 (MHLW, 2008: 5). Another reason forgender-specific wage differences is the factthat fewer women than men get promoted tohigher levels of management regardless of thenumber of years in service to a company,whereas for men there is a stronger correlationbetween the number of years they have workedfor a company and the position they acquire inhigher management (MHLW, 2008: 3).

Combining Work and Childcare

Childcare poses a particular challenge towomen in the workforce. Kuba (2011) hasargued that while childcare used to be a private

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matter it is increasingly being addressed bypublic institutions. Considering the challengesto modern Japanese society, private matterssuch as reproduction, childcare, and sharedhousehold responsibilities between marriedcouples have become part of the publicdiscourse.

A survey conducted by the National Institute ofPopulation and Security Research in 2009underscored the difficulty of women continuingto work after the birth of a child. During theyears from 2005 to 2009, only 26.8 percent ofthe respondents returned to the workplaceafter the birth of the first child; 17.1 percentdid so after taking advantage of parental leave,while 9.7 percent did not use parental leave.43.9 percent discontinued working upon thebirth of the first child, whereas 24.1 percentwere not in employment before theirpregnancies began.20 According to a surveyconducted by Mitsubishi Research andConsulting in 2008, reasons for quitting workupon the birth of the first child included thewish to dedicate time to household andchildren (39 percent), while 26.1 percent ofrespondents found it difficult to combine workand family life due to unsuitable working hours,an unfavorable atmosphere in the workplacewhich did not encourage working mothers orthe lack of parental leave options. Nine percentof the respondents replied that they had beenencouraged by their employers to leave theirjobs upon the birth of a child.21

Pressures about returning to the workplacepose a particular challenge since childcarefacilities have fixed enrolment times each yearin April, with application periods ending inDecember of the previous year. Due to thesetime restrictions, returning to the workplacehas to be carefully planned. An interview whichI conducted in March 2012 with an employee inher mid-thirties who works at a mail-ordercompany in Tokyo illustrates the point. Thisinformant chose to quit working for her formeremployer, an international high-end fashion

company, who pressured employees to returnto the workplace after only two months ofchildcare leave. Before starting motherhoodshe decided to move to her current employer, amail-order company in Tokyo, which wasfounded in 1986 as a German-Japanese jointventure. The company’s emphasis is onwomen’s fashion; customers mainly consist ofwomen and so does the work fo rce .Approximately, 60 percent of all employees arewomen. In contrast to her previous employer,this employer offers more support for workingmothers by allowing for one-year childcareleave with the option to extend it for anadditional six months. This employer alsoenables mothers to enjoy shorter working hoursfrom 9:30 to 16:30 until the child is 3 years old.After a period of three years, employees areexpected to return to the standard workinghours from 9:30 until 18:00.

Fathers also struggle with balancing work andfamily life. Data compiled by the Ministry ofHealth, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) reveal thatmore than a third of all men would like to usechildcare leave (ikuji gyugyo), but the actualnumbers of fathers who actually do takechildcare leave remains low although numbershave slightly increased from 0.42 percent ofmen who took childcare leave in 1999 to 1.56percent in 2007 and to 2.63 percent in 2011.22

Furthermore, the involvement of men in dailyhousehold duties and childcare remains low.Data provided by the OECD and MHLWindicate that there are various ways of definingthe content of housework and childcare.According to data on time spent in unpaid workand leisure, figures for 2011 for Japan indicatethat men spent 31 minutes per day on routinehousework and care for household memberswhereas women spend 225 minutes per day onhousework and family care (OECD, 2011). Incontrast, data provided by the Ministry ofHealth, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) for 2011suggest that fathers of children below the ageof 6 years spent 67 minutes per day onchildcare and household work.23 Hiring a

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babysitter is not common in Japan, and due toimmigration hurdles, foreign-born nannies arerare (Tabuchi, New York Times 2013).

Some employers pledge to uphold a work-lifebalance along with the implementation ofgender equality, as the University of Tokyo hasdone by pledging to “welcome applicationsfrom women for teaching and researchpositions, proactively recruit femaleresearchers on the basis of fair assessment,and encourage work-life balance by holding noofficial meetings after 5 pm” (University ofTokyo, 2009). Moreover, mothers can takebreaks for nursing their babies, finish workearly or work flextime.

Institutionalized Childcare

Childcare in Japan is multidimensional anddivided into four main categories: 1) parentalcare, 2) private networks, 3) institutionalizedchildcare, and 4) alternative forms of childcare(Holthus, 2011: 209).

Institutionalized childcare in Japan can becategorized into a) licensed day care centers(ninka), b) non-licensed day care centers (mu-ninka) and c) kindergartens (Abe, 2010: 30).Abe (2010) points out the differences betweenlicensed and non-licensed daycare centers.These are divided between public and privateinstitutions, but all of them need to fulfill theminimum requirements by the MHLW withrespect to child-staff ratio and the number ofchildren enrolled. Only if these requirementsare met, can licensed daycare centers receivesubsidies from local governments, which is themajor difference between licensed and non-licensed childcare facilities. There aresignificant differences with regards to cost; aprogressive structure of fees enable less well-off households to pay less for licensed daycarecenters, whereas non-licensed day care centersare not subsidized, more expensive and do nottake parental income into account (Abe, 2010:31). Apart from cost, another major difficultywith regards to licensed daycare centers is the

scarcity of available places. This problem isaccurately captured with the term hokatsu –parents’ hunt for an appropriate childcarefacility. Abe (2010) observes that many parentsuse non-licensed day care facilities as atemporary solution while waiting to enroll theirchild in a licensed day care center (Abe, 2010:31).

A major difference between day care centersand kindergartens is cost. Whereas licensedday care centers offer full-day care for workingmothers, and range from 20,000 yen to 40,000yen per month, kindergartens are available tohomemakers’ children, mainly provide part-time care, and cost up to 30,000 yen permonth. Daycare centers offer full-day care from8:30 am to 6 pm with a late night pick-up timeat 8:15 pm (some hoikuen take care of childrenunt i l as late as 10 pm.) . In contrast ,kindergartens mainly offer part-time care,usually from 9 am to 2:30 pm. Yochien careremains under the authority of the MEXT andoffers care for children between the ages ofthree and six, whereas hoikuen care (under theauthority of MHLW), offers enrollment tochildren between the ages of less than one yearold and six years (Abe 2010: 31-31, see alsoHolthus, 2011: 211).

Table 6 - Overview of Institutionalized ChildCare in Japan

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Adapted from Abe (2010), Holthus (2011),T o k y o d a i g a k u d e k o s o d a t e(http://www.iam.u-tokyo.ac.jp/hoiku/01.html) [Childcare at Tokyo University], accessedon August 6, 2014, and personal interviewsconducted in March 2012 and September2012.

A personal interview I conducted in September2012 with an academic who is employed at aprivate university in Tokyo revealed thesignificance of a combination of favorable andflexible employment conditions and privatenetworks. After completing a PhD andcommencing an academic career, thisinterviewee was able to secure tenure at age 35and became the mother of a baby boy at 41years of age. After the birth of her son, shetook eight weeks of parental leave, but with thesupport of her employer was able to combineparental leave and research through asabbatical, which followed the initial period ofparental leave. In addition to support from heremployer, she was able to balance childcareand academic research with the help of a familynetwork, including her sister and her parents-in-law living an hour away. Yet, despite a close-knit support system, this intervieweementioned the difficulties she and her husbandhad in finding a suitable childcare facility fortheir son. Earlier, mention was made of theambitious plans of Prime Minister Abe toimprove the precarious day care shortage. InSeptember 2013, the MHLW released the“Acceleration plan to resolve the situation ofwaiting children” (Taiki jido kaisho kasokukapuran) with the goal of creating 200,000 newday care places for children by 2015 and200,000 more by March 2018 (MHLW, 2013c;see also Otake 2014).

Apart from day-care centers, alternative formsof childcare include support organizations suchas a babysitter-service for working parentswhose children are sick. One particular supportorganization is run by an NGO called Florence,

which dedicates their services to childcare forsick children and to single parent households.24

This organization offers services until 9 pm atnight (byoji hoiku) and employs qualifiedchildcare professionals (hoikushi). Parents paya one-time fee of 6,000 yen or 7,000 yen. Afterpaying this basic fee, one day a month ofbabysitter service is free. Starting from thesecond day, parents can pay anywhere from10,000 yen or more per day, and can order aregistered childcare professional online thenight prior to the day that they desire service.In urgent cases, service is made immediatelyavailable for requests as sudden as 8 am thesame day.

In conclusion, Japan offers a high-qualityinstitutionalized childcare system, but there aremany pitfalls that make hokatsu - the hunt foran adequate childcare facility - difficult andtime-consuming. Licensed day care centers -the most affordable and flexible facilities - arerare, which forces parents to resort to familynetworks or to consider alternative options thatare more costly and offer only half-day care.The lack of appropriate childcare facilities, inparticular in metropolitan areas such as Tokyo,remains a particular problem for youngmothers who wish to combine childcare andwork.

The Ongoing Quest for Gender Equality

On paper, the EEOL remains a powerful tool forimplementing gender equality, in particularafter the two revisions of the law in 1997 and2006/2007 that signify a recognizable shiftfrom a focus on women to a focus on gender.However, there are significant problems withthe EEOL. One is i ts lack of effectiveimplementation. To this day, corporations thatdo not comply with the law do not have to fearsanctions. The EEOL retains the character of aguideline. So, as we have seen, structuralfactors such as gendered role divisions, agendered education system, a two-track careersystem, and gender specific wage discrepancies

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all remain in place. Childcare places are inshort supply, and maternal care, whichdominates the first years of childcare, leads tothe temporary withdrawal of women from thelabor market.

Against the background of widespread concernabout the falling birthrate, the rhetoricsurrounding gender equality has shifted from aneed to conform to international expectationsto a long-term integration of both genders intothe workplace and to managing familyresponsibilities (Huen, 2007). The positiveeffect of this utilitarian approach is the factthat a discussion of work-life balance andshared responsibilities between men andwomen in the workplace and in the family isfinally taking place. Matters that used to beprivate affairs have now become the center ofpublic attention.

But the negative side of this approach is thevisible lack of genuine effort to create agender-equal society. The sexism andconservatism women like Rina Bovrisse andShiomura Ayaka have had to endure show thatJapanese society remains deeply gender biased.This cannot be overcome by improving genderequality policies alone; the attitude towardswomen who take active roles in all levels ofsociety needs to change. So far, Abe’s effort topromote women has fallen short and is notmotivated by a long-term commitment togender equality, regardless of demographicdevelopments. A shift towards a sincereacknowledgement of gender equality isessential to bring about change. As long asgender equality is not perceived as a universalright but as a response to economic ordemographic pressures, gender equality willnot proceed successfully despite the progressof legal measures.

However, it is also essential to investigate themotivation and desire of women who work andwomen who combine work and family life. Forinstance, would women opt for a career in

management - if they had the choice - or areadministrative jobs more attractive since theyleave more time for childcare? Furtherresearch of women’s desires to combine paidwork and family responsibilities might reveal adifferent understanding of gender equalitywhich may counter the ideal of fully equallyshared participation of both genders in theworkplace and the family.

Recommended citation: Stephanie Assmann,"Gender Equality in Japan: The EqualEmployment Opportunity Law Revisited," TheAsia-Pacific Journal, Vol. 12, Issue 45, No. 2,November 10, 2014.

Acknowledgements

I am grateful to all my interview partners forthe time and information made available to me.I also wish to thank Professor Tessa Morris-Suzuki, Sebastian Maslow and Barbara Holthusfor very helpful comments on an earlier draft ofthis article. I also thank Professor Mark Seldenfor insightful comments on an earlier draft ofthe manuscript.

Stephanie Assmann is currently speciallyappointed professor in the Research Faculty ofMedia and Communication, HokkaidoUniversity. She received a Ph.D. in Sociology ofJapan from the University of Hamburg in 2003.She is the author of The Long Path towardsGender Equality in Japan: The Revision of theEqual Employment Opportunity Law and itsImplementation in Innovation and Developmentin Japanese Management and Technology(http://www.lehmanns.de/shop/wirtschaft/10944720-9780230216679-innovation-and-change-in-japanese-management). She is also the co-editor with Eric C. Rath of Japanese Foodways,P a s t a n d P r e s e n t(http://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/catalog/58gbc6aa9780252035630.html). Her researchinterests include the study of consumerbehavior, gender and work, and socialstrati f ication. She can be reached ata s s m a n n @ i m c . h o k u d a i . a c . j p

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(https://apjjf.org/mailto:assmann@imc.hokudai.ac.jp)

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Notes

1 For a critical discussion of the UNDP’sGender Inequality Index, see Inaki Permanyer(2013), “A critical assessment of UNDP’sGender Inequality Index” in: FeministEconomics 19 (2): 1-32.

2 United Nations Development Programme(UNDP), Gender Inequality Index (GII)(http://hdr.undp.org/en/content/gender-inequality-index-gii), accessed on 13th August 2014.

3 Social Watch. Power Eradication and GenderJustice (2013), Measuring Gender Inequity: The2 0 1 2 G e n d e r E q u i t y I n d e x(http://www.socialwatch.org/node/14365),accessed on 8th April 2013.

4 For an overview of feminist theories inpolitics, see Judith Lorber (2010).

5 In her "Promotion of Positive Action: aiming toa t t a i n t h e t a r g e t o f 3 0 % b y 2 0 2 0(http://www.gender.go.jp/english_contents/pdf/ewp2011.pdf)," Tsujimura Miyoko (2011)investigates the reason for the lack of genderequality and the need for positive actionthrough international comparisons. Also KubaYoshiko (2011) on the EEOL’s 25-yearanniversary, reflects on the advancement of

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gender equality in Japan, pointing out that thepertinent issue has moved beyond the basicneed for self-actualization to become anecessity in light of pressing demographicchanges. Michiko Mae (2008) reflects ongender equality in relation to the developmentand advancement of a participatory civilsociety. Not Mae Michiko, right? Accessed on20th October 2014.

7 According to data compiled by the Ministry ofHealth, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) and theM i n i s t r y o f I n t e r n a l A f f a i r s a n dCommunications, non-regular employmentincludes part-time work, jobs (arubaito),dispatch work and contract-based work andother non-defined forms of part-t imeemployment. (Ministry of Internal Affairs andCommunications, 2013).

8 Gender Equality Bureau, Cabinet Office (Ed.),G e n d e r I n f o r m a t i o n S i t e(http://www.gender.go.jp/english_contents/index.html), accessed on 9th January 2009.

9 See the summary of the Third Basic Pan forG e n d e r E q u a l i t y(http://www.gender.go.jp/english_contents/about_danjo /whi tepaper /pdf /3rd_bpg.pdf ) ,accessed on July 14, 2014.

10 Gender Equality Bureau Cabinet Office(Naikaku-fu danjo kyodo sankaku-kyoku)(http://www.gender.go.jp/), accessed on 15thApril 2013.

11 The University of Tokyo. (2009) Declarationo f G e n d e r E q u a l i t y A c c e l e r a t i o n(http://kyodo-sankaku.u-tokyo.ac.jp/en/about/history/documents/Kasoku_leaflet_EN.pdf).Accessed on 18th October 2014.

12 University of Tokyo. (2011) University ofT o y k o s t a f f s t a t i s t i c s(http://www.u-tokyo.ac.jp/en/about/data/academic-staff.html). Accessed on 18th October2014.

13 Personal Interview with RecruitmentManager on 31st October 2007.

14 Figures for male students for these subjectsare as follows: Between 40 percent and 46percent of all male students chose socialsciences as their major subject. Between 10percent and 12 percent of all male studentschose natural sciences and agriculturalscience.

15 Gender Equality Bureau, Cabinet Office (Ed.)(2011), Women and Men in Japan 2011(http://www.gender.go.jp/english_contents/pamphlet/women-and-men11/pdf/1.pdf), page 23,last accessed on 4th December 4, 2011.

16 The analysis of the global gender index isbased on data collected for the Times HigherEducation World University Rankings. Onlycountries with four or more universities in thetop 400 universities were included. For details,see Grove, Jack (2013), Global Gender Index2 0 1 3 , T i m e s H i g h e r E d u c a t i o n(http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/feature s / g l o b a l - g e n d e r -index-2013/2003517.fullarticle), accessed onAugust 6, 2014.

17 Cabinet Office, Government of Japan."Toward Active Participation of Women as theC o r e o f G r o w t h S t r a t e g i e s(http://www.gender.go.jp/english_contents/about_danjo/whitepaper/pdf/2013-01.pdf)." WhitePaper, 2013. Accessed August 15, 2014.

18 According to data compiled by the Ministry ofHealth, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) and theM i n i s t r y o f I n t e r n a l A f f a i r s a n dCommunications, non-regular employmentincludes part-time work, jobs (arubaito),dispatch work and contract-based work andother non-defined forms of part-t imeemployment. (Somusho tokei-kyoku [Ministry ofInternal Affairs and Communications] 2013).

19 The reform of the EEOL coincides with therevision of the part-time law (tan-jikan rodosha

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no koyo kanri no kaizen-nado ni kansuruhoritsu) in June 2006. The part-time law,enacted in 1993, defines part-time work as 35working hours per week (Broadbent, 2005, p.6). The reformed part-time law stipulates thatpart-time workers who do the same work asfull-time employees must earn the same wagesand prohibits discriminatory treatment of part-time employees (sabetsuteki taigu no kinshi).The reformed law also requires the promotionof temporary employees to regular employees(sei shain-ka sokushin). There are corporationsin Japan that have adopted this principle suchas the casual wear retailer Fast Retailing thatpromoted 5,000 salespeople who had beenemployed under temporary or fixed-termcontracts to permanent positions (Worsley2007, The Nikkei Weekly, 23rd April 2007).

2 0 Kokuritsu shakai hosho jinko mondaikenkyujo [National Institute of Population andSecurity Research], Dai 14 kai shusse dokokihon chosa (fufu chosa) [14th Basic Survey onCareer Motivations (Survey on MarriedC o u p l e s ) ](http://www.ipss.go.jp/ps-doukou/j/doukou14/chapter5.html#51b), accessed on 13th August2014.

21 For detailed results of this survey, see:Mitsubishi UF Research and Consulting (ed.)

(2009), Heisei 20 nendo ryoritsu shien nikakawaru shomondai ni kansuru sogoteki chosakenkyu (kosodate-ki no danjo he no anketochosa oyobi tanjikan kinmu seido nado nikansuru kigyo intabyu chosa) [ComprehensiveResearch Survey on various problemsconcerning the support for combining work andchildcare for the year 2008 (Questionnairesurvey targeting men and women on parentalleave and interview survey on corporationsconcerning a reduced working hour system),March 2009, p. 55.

22 Kosei Rodosho (Ministry of Health, Labor andWelfare) (MHLW) (2011), Shigoto to katei noryoritsu no genjo [Present Situation ofC o m b i n i n g W o r k a n d H o u s e h o l d(http://www.mhlw.go.jp/seisakunitsuite/bunya/kodomo/shokuba_kosodate/dl/psbbwflj.pdf)],accessed on 12th August 2014.

23 Kosei Rodosho (Ministry of Health, Labor andWelfare) (MHLW) (2011), Shigoto to katei noryoritsu no genjo [Present Situation ofC o m b i n i n g W o r k a n d H o u s e h o l d ](http://www.mhlw.go.jp/seisakunitsuite/bunya/kodomo/shokuba_kosodate/dl/psbbwflj.pdf),accessed on 12th August 2014.

24 For details of the organization Florence, seetheir website (http://www.florence.or.jp/),accessed on 8th April 2013.