Women in the Workplace
The New York Times has an interesting article about how lousy it is to be a woman in the Japanese workplace, according to Entrepreneur’s small business blog. Despite the fact that 27 million women account for almost half of Japan’s work force, they only fill about 10 percent of management positions. Compare that with the percentage of American women filling managerial jobs: 42.5 percent.
Workers blame Japanese work customs that make it virtually impossible for women to have a family and a career, often causing women to quit their jobs in their late 20s and early 30s. If women do want a high-ranking position, they often feel they’re forced to stay single and not have children. But thanks to a growing population and declining birthrate, Japan may be facing a potential labor shortage. That, combined with more women quitting their jobs, could be problematic for the country. “Birthrates here are declining because of a lack of equality for women,” said Kuniko Inoguchi, a former cabinet minister in charge of gender equality. “The population shortage is forcing a change in attitudes.”
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that in ancient china if you were REALLY fat that meant you were...
omg i feel so bad for a that monkey help it some one plzzzz
It’s really stupid not to encourage women into the workforce. After all how many families can survive on one income these days.
August 8th, 2007 at 8:48 am“Birthrates here are declining because of a lack of equality for women,”
Amazing how people will claim to have the solution for anything, and the solution always just happens to be whatever they make living at by advocating. It’s pretty well established that greater equality in the workforce results in lower birth rates.
Two parents working their asses off all day just to get by, a child locked up all day with 40 others in some impersonal daycare institution, and the grandparents and extended family too far away to help out. I don’t see any easy ways around this for most people, but it still sucks if this is what we call progress.
August 8th, 2007 at 8:58 amAs an employer, it goes both ways. I have had many great, competent, and well-paid employees who have amassed a huge amount of knowledge and skills up and quit on me because they want to get married and start a family. I’ve let them know how happy we are to continue having them work for us even, y’know, when they get married, but the ideas that a “professional housewife” is a great thing for a woman to be doing are strong. In short, at least in the case of smart females who have worked for me, they’re quitting because it’s what they want to be doing, so more power to ‘em, I guess. Which doesn’t help the women who actually want to be doing something good career-wise, but can’t.
August 8th, 2007 at 9:55 amUnexpectedly, declining birthrate and potential shortage of labour force could become a major element to change the society in the future. That means, more chance of employment and better salary for women(housewives), elderly people, foreigners and handicapped people who have skills.
Before, I posted on Insensitivity about discriminations(gender, age, ethnicity, disability) in Japan. However, they are actually not much worse than many other countries.
August 8th, 2007 at 5:19 pmIt’s too easy to link declining birth-rates to work-place issues. Simply working won’t make things better – it might cause them to get worse.
What is important is the WAY people work. Flexible working hours, men getting home earlier to help out, day-care or subsidies for employees who need the money, etc. That’s how you’ll get more women to stay on and ensure couples have kids.
August 8th, 2007 at 6:39 pmI have been working at companies more than a decade(3 years in Europe) and some years at college. In the mean time I have seen that women in Japan were suffering of “lack of equality” at workplace and in the society in general. That is, lower salary and less chance of carrier making for women.
There are two major problems women are facing in Japan :
1. Most young women quit job after marriage(or some are forced to quit when they are over 35). As the result many women who are later on housewives can find job only as part timer or as non-regular employee.
2. Even if woman try to make a carrier, it’s more challenging for woman than for man.
One hand, many women themselves have to prove that they are skillful. The other hand, industry and social system have to corporate together to support women for making carrier and better(equal) salary. But it’s a long way to go. There are still many “labour discriminations” in Japan.
By the way, some male acquaintances were upset when I referred to “women’s liberation”. They began talking about women’s discrimination against men. So this theme needs to be careful.
August 8th, 2007 at 11:54 pmWent to the NYTimes article expecting to find another of Onishi’s “woe is conservative, right wing Japan” diatribes, but instead found another thoughtful article from Fackler. Sure am glad they’ve added him.
As Peter pointed out, some of it is female choice, but a lot of it is the expectations placed on workers, no matter the sex, of extremely long hours. Glad Fackler pointed that out.
Where I’ve noticed the blatant sexism is in job postings for traditionally “female” jobs. Nurses, receptionists, dental hygienists/assistants, etc. All usually specify that you need to be under 30 or 35 to apply. While it might be hard for Japanese men to get a new job once they are beyond their 20s, it sure it’s spelled out like that.
Until they add teeth to the discrimination laws, it will be hard to force change.
August 9th, 2007 at 2:31 amI could be wrong, but I sense that attempts to promote equalization between the sexes in the area of employment have been made in recent years in terms of semantics. Hence, people prefer to use the term 看護師 rather than 看護婦。I have no idea just how recent this trend is and suspect that it’s not really having much of a substantive impact.
August 9th, 2007 at 3:03 amI asked my Japanese wife, “what do you want to do with your life?”. Her answer “Shopping!”.
August 9th, 2007 at 9:25 amThis is a great thread! Go Ghoti! There is so much to be written about this topic. Yet, all the articles I’ve seen just gloss over the top of it. Japanese society is so dynamic. It is amazing how rapidly it can change. Who are really pulling the strings? It was a great place to visit and party, but I sure wouldn’t want to be a permanent member of “The Shima.” I’d probably develop “Shimaguni-Konjou.” Blah~ Blah~ Blah~ Somebody ought to write a song, “Thank God I’m not Japanese.”
I miss my Kuru-Kuru Sushi! And my once-a-year-throw-everything-I-don’t-like-away-trash day… Damn, I used to find neat stuff. Do they have flea markets in Japan nowdays? Ha! What a tangent… wait, that wasn’t a tanget. It was … Okay! I will go back to drinking my beer and reminiscing of the days of running the streets of J-town on my 1974 Honda 750 Four. Yeah, it was a long time ago~~ And damn! I got great stories~~ Seven years total, before it became hip.. or whatever you anime geeks call it now. (sighs and takes another swig)
August 9th, 2007 at 11:39 amOkay! Okay! I got something else to add to the Japanese career woman. Google Yoshie Tsukamoto. She F(&*^^ did it. True,,, maybe not with 2 kids and a husband, but she did it. She is on top of her game. .. and you know what? If she wants to and could find a supportive man, she could probably have it all. Why? Cause she applied herself. Maybe she is an anomaly… but she did, so why can’t others? Lack of fortitude?
August 9th, 2007 at 11:43 am