Japan's gender gap

• Author: Kazuo Yamaguchi
• Position: Ralph Lewis Professor of Sociology at the University of Chicago
• Pages: 27-29

PHOTO: IS TOCK / OLAS ER

J

apan is not making progress in

gender equality, at least relative to

the rest of the world. Despite the

Japanese government’s attempts

in recent years to pass legislation

promoting the economic activity of

women, Japan ranked a miserable 110 out of 149

in the World Economic Forum’s 2018 Gender

Gap Index, which benchmark s countries on their

progress toward gender parity across four major

areas. While this rank is a slight improvement

over 114 out of 146 in 2017, it remains the same

or lower than in the preceding ye ars (111 in 2016

and 101 in 2015).

Among the primar y reasons for Japan’s low rank-

ing is its large gender wage gap. At 24.5 percent

in 2018, the gender wage gap is the second largest

among Organisation for Economic Co -operation

and Development (OECD) nations, surpassed only

by South Korea.

Why is this gap so l arge in Japan? A major cause is

the large number of women who are “non-regular”

workers. “Regular” workers in Japan a re employed

on indefinite terms without specific job obligat ions

and are strongly protected from firi ngs and layoffs,

while non-regular workers—i ncluding many full-

time employees—have fixed-term contracts with

specific job obligations. Just over 53 percent of

employed women ages 20 to 65 fall into the non-

regular categ ory, compared with just 14.1 percent

of employed men in 2014.

As is true else where, Japan’s non-regular employees

have nearly uniformly low wage s, irrespective of age

and gender. For regular employees, on the other

hand, wages increase with age until the employee

reaches approximately 50 years old. is i s because in

a large majority of Japanese firms, re gular employees

receive wage premiums based on years of service.

e gender disparity in the proportion of non-

regular employees is perpe tuated by the employers’

perception that new graduates are more desirable

candidates for regu lar employment. Because employ-

ers tend to prioritize the hiring of these youn ger job

seekers for regular employment, women who leave

their jobs for childrearing and attempt to re-enter

the job market at a later date have very limited

opportunities for regula r employment.

However, my analysis of the gender wage gap

by a combination of employment types (four

categories distinguishing regular versus non-regular

employment and full-time versus part-time work)

and age categories finds t hat gender differences in

employment type—specifically the larger propor-

tion of women than men employed in non-regular

positions—explain only 36 percent of the gender

wage gap (Yamaguchi 2011). In fact, the primary

factor is actual ly the gender wage gap within fu ll-time

regular employment, which accounts for more tha n

half of the overall gender wa ge gap. e elimination

of the gender wage gap among regular workers is

therefore a more pressing issue than fi xing the over-

representation of women in non-regular employment.

Male-dominated management

A major cause of gender wage dispa rity among regular

employees in Japan is the deart h of female managers.

According to the 2016 Basic Survey on Equalit y of

Employment Opportunity by the Minist ry of Health,

Labour, and Welfare, women hold 6.4 percent of the

positions of department director or equivalent; 8.9

percent of section head or equivalent; and 14.7 percent

of task-unit supervisor or equivalent.

is same survey also asked employers with

very few female ma nagers for the possible causes

of the paucity of women in the higher rank s. e

two major reasons identified among many pre-

specified possible reasons were “at the moment,

there are no women who have the necessar y

knowledge, experience, or judgment capabil ity”

and “women retire before attainin g managerial

positions due to their short years of service.” Such

perceptions held by employers are misguided,

as my own research (Yamaguchi 2016) reveals

a very different picture.

I conducted an analysis of fi rms with 100 or more

employees and found that only 21 percent of the

gender disparity among reg ular workers in middle

Women lack the

opportunity to go

into professions

other than those

deemed suitable

for women.

March 2019 | FINANCE & DEVELOPMENT 27