Survey reveals gender equality concerns among Japanese females

AIR Inc., a company based in Tokyo, is engaged in business such as drone industry, crowd funding and event planning. It carried out a survey related to SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) with the members of the “joshikai community” (women-only gathering) called “Kanatta”. 200 members of this community ages between 20s and 60s, who were already familiar with SDGs, were chosen to answer the questionnaire.

Through the survey, 3 goals came up as the most related to the participants’ daily lives (subjects could choose multiple answers):

1. Goal 5 Gender Equality – 123 votes;
2. Goal 8 Decent Work and Economic Growth – 116 votes; and
3. Goal 3 Good Health and Well-being – 97 votes.

More than half the members chose Goal 5 because they felt gender inequality at school, work place and from income gaps.

In Japan, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced commitment for women’s empowerment and gender equality, and hosting “WAW! (World Assembly for Women)” since 2014. In 2015, the country enacted a new law to promote the active engagement of women in society, which was revised this year. Its purpose is to mobilize the “power of women” in the society to address the challenges related to aging society and low birthrate.

According to a survey on labor force by Ministry of International Affairs and Communications, the number of women joining the workforce increased by 2.9 million between 2012 and 2018. A basic survey on wage structure by Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare also showed women in management positions in the private sector approaching 10%. Both indicates a successful progress to creating a society where “women can shine”.

Nevertheless, AIR’s survey shows many workforce women have different perspectives. As a matter of fact, in Japan, even in dual income families, many women are engaged in household activities and spending time caring for children much longer than that of men. According to a survey by the Statistic Bureau, an average married woman in Japan with a full-time job spends up to 5 hours per day on housework and caring for children, while married men spend less than an hour on average. Gender inequality may not only be a problem at work places or at school: the bottom-line problem may lie within each household.

Changing each citizen’s awareness is a tough job. However, more work is needed to bring the effect of government’s effort to every corner of the society and close the gender gap in Japan.