Womanhood in Japan (December 2023)

“Womanhood in Japan” series column rounds up Japanese news related to women’s daily experiences of sexism here and considers what we can do to increase the pace of change.

Mayor apologizes for saying “women become women only after giving birth”

The mayor of Miyawaka City in Fukuoka Prefecture this month apologized for what he now calls an “inappropriate and inconsiderate” comment that “women become women only after giving birth.” Hidetoshi Shiokawa, who is 75 years old, is reported to have said that to a city employee in her 40s when he met her for the first time, RKB Mainichi Broadcasting reports.

The mayor is reported to be facing pressure over allegations of inappropriate use of his authority toward employees but has not yet apologized for that, so it is perhaps a good sign for gender equality that these comments were considered inappropriate enough to warrant a public apology.

His comments reflect old Japanese thinking that value women only for what they can do for others and for society, rather than for who they are. Thankfully, this thinking is now being called out in Japan, and it is important to keep doing so, because as we see in the next story, that thinking is still pervasive in society.

Japan’s extreme work culture penalizes women and society overall

Japan’s rigid requirements of workers are a key factor behind the nation’s terrible gender pay gap, the Nikkei reports. According to the report, the corporate culture that rewards employees’ compliance with companies’ expectation of overtime work and job transfers leaves out many women because their responsibility for childcare duties generally means they aren’t able to do them.

Job transfers and overtime are usually required to qualify an employee for a higher-paying managerial position, which therefore prevents women from becoming managers, but even when they do, “they are often given light responsibilities with limited power and pay,” Meiji University professor Hiromi Hara says according to the report. This contributes to Japan’s overall gender pay gap of 22%, which is far above the 12% figure for the OECD.

What’s more, typically Japanese companies order transfers onto their employees rather than proposing them. This tends to rely on the assumption that the husband is the main breadwinner, and it also maintains that thinking by forcing wives of transferred husbands to either quit their jobs, or to stay where they are and assume 100% of the care of their children.

“It is necessary to consider different ways of fostering human resources than through job transfers,” the report quotes Hidehiro Okumoto, head of the Recruit Works Institute, as saying. He adds that companies should seek employees’ consent for such changes first.　In a sign of change for the better, the report notes that Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance plans to end nonconsensual transfers as early as fiscal 2026.

As Japan’s working environment changes, the assumptions related to gender that are behind the current demanding corporate culture also need to change. The assumption that the husband is the main breadwinner places the wife in a secondary and supportive role to him.

That uneven balance between the roles of a husband and wife also plays out in the greater society, where women are viewed as playing a peripheral role to men. This is the real-life version of the storytelling that Hollywood actresses have bemoaned for years, where all female characters do is add to the story and journey of the main character, without having any of their own. This is the traditional view, for Japanese men at least, of Japanese society.

But with more and more young families requiring both parents to work to make ends meet, they are less content to let those old assumptions limit women’s roles and the families’ plans for the future.

Another underlying assumption that the Nikkei report doesn’t address is the idea that childcare is women’s work. The equation of men with work and women with home affairs has allowed companies to treat their (male) employees as workers rather than as people with families, and as Japan’s low birthrate continues to decline, it is clear that a society based overwhelmingly on corporate needs and men as their pawns has led to a society that does not value the family.

Long work hours for all employees—in which the typical work day ends at 7 p.m. and the return commute, dinner and children’s bedtimes all come after that—continue to place society’s focus on work, not on family, so the birthrate will continue to decline. This is the shift that Japan needs to make. It would happen faster if corporate and political leaders were younger and not so entrenched in outdated thinking, but it will also happen faster if workers in Japan think about how their ideal working life would look and share those ideas with their coworkers and managers. While whining about work-life imbalance is not new in any country, Japan seems to now be at a point where such ideas can be considered and deliberated as actual proposals for change. Placing women at the center of this narrative is crucial for success.

Former soldier Gonoi wins sexual assault case

This month, the Fukushima District Court found three former soldiers guilty of acts of sexual indecency against fellow former solder Rina Gonoi. The result follows Gonoi’s lengthy search for justice after her initial compliant within Japan’s Self-Defense Forces was ignored and then denied, leading her to leave the SDF and go public with her allegations with the aim of preventing other people from going through similar ordeals.

It is rare in Japan for victims of sexual assault to publicly reveal their allegations, name and face, and Gonoi says she received abuse after doing that. She also received recognition—from TIME magazine as an influential person of 2023, and from the BBC in its list of 100 inspiring and influential women.

But what is likely the most satisfying repercussion for Gonoi is that it has brought change to the SDF. In a separate case, two members of the SDF were discharged this month for allegedly engaging in indecent acts against two female colleagues, NHK reported.

Gonoi told the Associated Press that her respect for the SDF and her wish to see it reformed also motivated her to press on with her complaint.

Gonoi cites her love of wrestling as cultivating the ability to get back up and fight again after being knocked down, again. Her internal fortitude is rare in a culture where people are very sensitive and susceptible to how they are viewed by others. Her down-to-earth personality—complete with cauliflower ears from wrestling—built on the work that Shiori Ito has done in going public with her rape allegations.

In creating equality for women in Japan it is crucial to forge these basic foundations of being heard and being believed. Japan has a tendency to shy away from difficult conversations, especially when they involve accusations of wrongdoing by someone higher up the social scale, but in the long term, justice serves everyone.

Japan praises itself as a land of harmony, but tends to mistake this for conformity. Harmony only happens when all people feel that they are being treated justly, and we each have a role to play in achieving that by listening to others, seeking the truth, and having the courage to advocate for them, for each other, and for others to do better. This is true for all areas of inequality, not just gender. It’s how we look after each other and create a cohesive society; we aim to do better.

Womanhood in Japan series