How to support women in navigating career paths (Japan’s case)

The number of working women in Japan reached a record high of 30 million in 2022, but it is still second last among developed countries after South Korea. Moreover, half of these women are employed on a part-time basis.

There is still a conventional expectation that mothers should stay home with children until they reach the age of three. My son went to an international kindergarten in Tokyo, and I was astonished at how the school would organize excursions on a weekday during working hours and ask one of the parents (aka moms) to accompany.

Furthermore, the tax codes provide deductions for the primary earner of the household income by JPY 380,000 (USD 2,600), if the dependent spouse makes less than JPY 1.3 million (USD 7,600) annually. A survey finds that 40 percent of married women working part-time strive to keep their income under the 1.3 million threshold.

Various official support should be available

The Cabinet Office introduces measures for women to “join and rejoin the workforce in parallel to housekeeping and childcare.” These include job banks, training sessions and guidelines for remote working arrangements. Individual support is therefore limited to information sharing in large part, while more tangible assistance, such as grants and counseling sessions, is provided through businesses promoting work-life balance measures and placement opportunities for their female employees. In fact, many of the leading firms have established diversity offices, mentoring systems, career planning workshops and networking forums, among others.

Breaking the glass ceiling, especially for women holding irregular positions and/or outside these renowned companies, remains a formidable challenge. It is not only for winning economic independence but also for finding self-respect and confidence. The international bestseller,
Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead (2013) is about women finding their voices.

Growing awareness of mutual help

The rise of femtech (“female” and “technology”) in Japan over the past few years showcases the promise of mutual help for the advancement of women. What sets apart the femtech industry – mostly involving women-led startups delivering feminine health products and services – from the government’s career support is the extent to which they seek to fulfill women’s potentials, not just their jobs.

One of these examples, amiee, sells disposable and compostable cloth sanitary pads. Its Founder and CEO, Yukie Watanabe, says: “Our company alone cannot change the social environment for women; their empowerment rests on our business partners and customers supporting our visions and views. We develop and design our products to give busy women a moment of relief to be in touch with their inner selves. In the same vein, the growth of our company cannot come at the expense of our staff time.”

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Amiee recruits female students as interns. These aspiring young women can visualize, and eventually navigate, a professional journey inspired by the women-friendly circular economy model. Such an alternative career-enabling path can make a breakthrough, if paired with tax reforms and other structural changes to transform the subordinate roles that the women have been forced into.