Women Rights Issue In Japan

Current Issues
Japan is one of the worlds 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 worlds 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 Japans 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.