Opaque Future for Working Women

Supposedly trying to cover negative elements of his economic policy, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe insists on introducing women power in every aspect of Japanese economy. Receiving request from Abe administration, the Diet passed in August a law to urge Japanese women being involved in society, which was named Active Woman Promoting Act. Without any binding goal, the law is becoming a slogan for bureaucrats who are in charge of women policy.

Concerning weak labor force caused by demographic decline, Active Woman Promoting Act was legislated for creating environment for women to work longer with more job opportunities and promotion in the business ranking. The law requires national and local governments or private firm with 301 or more employees to research gender gap in length of daily work and years of service, or preference in employment and share of women in administrative posts.

However, the law is too weak to change the situation of working women. Those public or private offices have to set numeric target and make action plan for at least one category to improve environment of working women by April 1^st next year. There is no mandate to set penalty for failure in implementation. More disappointing for women, the law will die in 2025. If this was about climate change, the requirement is something like setting emission target for preferable one of six greenhouse gasses free from deadline or penalty. Who in the world will abide by such a slogan?

The law does not cover temporary workers or part-timers, which occupy 60% of all women workers. In other words, the law actually is Highly Educated and Careered Active Women Promotion Act. If a company simply tries to raise the share of women in new employment, it may increase women temporary workers with cheap salary and deteriorated working condition.

Abe administration introduced new target to increase nurseries for working women to drop their kids in daytime. But, it does not solve the problem of raising kids, which requires as more time for a child to be with parent as possible. Japanese employers still insist on long 9-to-5 labor shift. As long as working time does not get shorter and husbands do not recover wife’s role in family, Japanese women cannot be active in society.

Unfortunately, it is unlikely for Japanese Prime Minister to realize that. “In terms of demographic issue, we need to do something for women being active before accepting refugees,” told Abe in a press conference to a question about policy for refugees from Syria. For him, woman policy is simply something more important than refugee issue.