Womenomics

Q: Why do 68% of Japanese women stop working after getting married or having kids?

• working hours

• flexibility

• drinking with coworkers

• type of job many women have

• equal treatment

Answers:

• long working hours

• no flexibility for mothers

• in the past drinking after work with coworkers was common

• women often held boring jobs with no career progression

• they weren’t treated as equals by male colleagues
  
  
  

In 2013 Prime Minister Abe launched his “Womenomics” program. What were the goals / policies of Womenomics?

• 30% of leaders

• daycares

• improve the working style so women want to rejoin workforce. - How?

• maternity leave

• paternity leave - 育メン

• tax rates

Answers:

1. Women will be in 30% of leadership positions by 2020

2. increase the number of daycares

3. improve the company working style so mothers want to rejoin the workforce

   • flexible hours

   • career progression opportunities

4. better paid and longer maternity leave for women

5. encourage men to take paternity leave and be more involved in raising kids

6. lower tax rates for married women

Q: Do you think womenomics was successful?

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• labor force participation has increased

• 30% more women go back to work after having children

Q: What does this graph show us?

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Japan now has a higher percentage of women working than the US

Congratulations! Does Japan have more gender equality than the US?

• what kind of jobs do women in Japan often have?

• do women and men get equal pay?

Answers:

• More women are working now but many of the new jobs are part-time positions

• the gender income gap is 2nd in the world

Other reasons that more women are working:

• marriage age is changing

• cost of living

Answers:

• There are fewer married women and women wait longer to get married

• The cost of living is higher - one income isn’t enough for married couples (research shows women’s participation is inversely related to husband’s salaries)

The future looks bright:

This graph shows that in the past many Japanese women stopped working after getting married or having kids. Later they returned the work force when they were older

Problem: loss of career progression and experience compared to male colleagues

Now fewer women stop working after getting married or to have kids

Sources:

• https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/what-is-womenomics-and-is-it-working-for-japan/2018/09/19/558a5b12-bc3e-11e8-8243-f3ae9c99658a_story.html

• https://www.brookings.edu/research/lessons-from-the-rise-of-womens-labor-force-participation-in-japan/#:~:text=In%202000%2C%20Japan's%20prime%2Dage,76.3%20percent%20(figure%201).