The Position of Japanese Women Employees In Post-bubble Era - Essay Example

Swarna1 Word Count 1865 Order 532635 d 4th May THE POSITION OF JAPANESE WOMEN EMPLOYEES POST BUBBLE Introduction The contribution of women to the total workforce has not been quite satisfactory since time immemorial. It varies widely between the regions, countries and nature of industry etc. In nations like Japan, women involvement in employment was poor as the local tradition supported their services mainly at looking after the domestic activities (McNaughtan, 2009). It was reported that the number of females who worked in well paying jobs increased considerably during the period between 1920 and 1980 (Broadbent, 2003). Though Japan passed its equal opportunity law in the beginning year of bubble phase i.e. 1986, women still find lot of difficulty on continuing their working career due to inability of managing domestic and office work simultaneously (Fackler, 2007). Globalization played significant role in enhancing the employment prospects of women in different sectors by opening the economy to the outside world and by making people highly aware about the employment laws and acts (Bishop, 2002). They were mainly employed in factories, construction sites and automobile industry. However, with the advancement of time, the technological changes in general and computerization in particular made the structure of employment completely different from the earlier period. This holds good with the advent of globalization. Let us analyze the status of women employment in post bubble phase and current period. The position of Japanese women employees in the post bubble era The percentage of paid women workers has increased significantly during post bubble period. The number of female employees accounted for 39.6% of all paid employees by 1998 (Japanese Institute of Worker’s Evolution, 2007). Another interesting trend noticed was in the form of increased number of female employees aged 35 years accounting for 60.2% of the total number of female employees. At the same time, the average age of female employees also witnesses a significant jump to 37.3 % in 1997. Similarly, the percentage of married working women out of the grand total of female employees (non-agriculture and forestry) has been on increasing trend. However, compared to the employment status of women in other Asian nations like Taiwan, Japan lags far behind even during post bubble phase. It was noticed that new changes associated with globalization have enhanced the prospects of women employment and political representation in Japan (Strange, 1996). At the same time in post bubble and post globalization era, the scope for enhancing the international profile of womens rights and to take the advantage international laws for women empowerment has increased considerably (Ariffin, 1999; Costa, 1999). Now the tertiary sector or service sector dominates the primary sector or agriculture and secondary sector or industry and women percentage of total employees is on increasing trend in services sector. Like several other nations, Japan also undergone financial revolution in the period from 1986 to 1991 which is considered as bubble era. It couldn’t sustain for more than five years and later things got stabilized. Though technological advances might have provided a favorable situation for enhancing the prospects of women employment in post bubble area, some important challenges like child care issue, part time jobs, lack of opportunity to go to top management and higher proportion of women employment in unorganized sector still pose a severe threat to women empowerment in Japan. In post bubble era, the contribution of women in Japan is mainly to services sector and majority of them prefer to have part time job so that they can balance their roles well both at home and work place. It is more true in cases of women at the time of child birth when they require to be rested at home. The employers have been feeling it as a negative factor for the organizational efficiency and hence they give least importance to women employee recruitment. After the rejoining, majority women prefer to take part in part time jobs as they can’t allocate more time for employment. Hence, child care issue is emerging as a big challenge for prospects of women employment in Japan (Blomstrom and Croix, 2006). Another big challenge to women employment in Japan is in the form of poor proportion of women in top management positions. According to the reports of United Nations and International Labour Organization, only 6.6 % of the top management jobs in Japanese companies and government was occupied by women in 1985 i.e. pre bubble phase and it is even disturbing to note that this number has increased only to 10 % in 2005 i.e. post bubble phase. It is quite poor compared to the situation of any other developed nation, for example, the percent of women representation in top management in companies or industry in United States is about 42 % in 2005. Hence, efforts must be taken sincerely to improve the situation of working women in Japan. Current Position of Japanese women in Employment Currently, the number of women employees in all paying jobs is about 39.6% of all employees in Japan (Lukacs, 2010). As discussed earlier, the issue of child care is still prevalent and poses a big threat to the challenges of women employment in Japan. It was reported that the majority women in Japan leave their jobs at the time of marriage or child birth and even if they return they join in smaller jobs with out any considerable benefits and job security. After marriage, Japanese men’s average earnings are reported to be enhanced by 26 percent, and Japanese women’s average earnings decrease by 25 percent which reflects the pathetic situation in terms of gender treatment (Yu, 2009). However, with the introduction of Child care leave in 1992 and family care leave in 1995, the flexibility of women to take care of the balanced activities at both home and office have increased. Women representation is higher in case of unorganized sector because of which their salary structure and post retirement benefits are poorer. This also affects their employment prospects in Japan. It is really unfortunate to note that the 45.4 % of total female workforce comprise of non regular jobs where there is no scope for good salary and job security and there must be an integrated approach to reduce this number and increase the scope for enhancing women representation in organized sector and in senior management positions (Japanese Institute of Labour, 2003 and Osawa, 2001). The lack of quality education of women also plays a key role in blocking their promotional avenues to top tier of management. With strong emphasis on education for women at secondary and graduate levels, their prospects in higher management levels can also be enhanced. The most critical observation related to the status of working women indicates that their status is quite poorer compared to nations like United States. Even the report of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) suggests that the gender empowerment index was unsatisfactory compared to several other nations and placed it in 42nd rank among 75 nations studied in 2006. Japanese constitution has provided good number of protections for women in employment in the form of equal treatment of men and women at work places with out any gender discrimination (Nelson and Nelson, 2005). Several people opine that the equal opportunity law of Japan inspite of its revisions or amendments has become very ineffective due to non implementation of necessary corrective measures by the Labour ministry. The equal employment opportunity law of Japan emphasizes on vocational training as it gives lot of flexibility in adjusting to the market changes and convenience in understanding the techniques of product manufacturing. Similarly, men and women should be treated equally in the work environment by provision of different allowances and fringe benefits. It should be based on their work and target oriented performance than gender basis. In cases of any proven gender discrimination, the employers may be punished so that the equal opportunity would be protected. Some initiatives were taken in the form of Women’s and Young workers office for settling the unresolved issues as far as the implementation of Equal Employment Opportunity Law is concerned. In several occasions, the issues related to gender discrimination may be settled successfully by advisory role of office management so that the corrective measures can be taken (Douglass and Roberts, 2003). Conclusion Globalization and bubble phase led to more integration of Japanese economy with the world economy facilitating higher growth rate in education, health and infrastructure industries. Women also have higher prospects to utilize this conducive environment for better representation in employment. However, their traditional factors slowed down the growth rate as Japanese society gives higher emphasis to marriage system and women have to devote much time for their family which led to higher proportion of resignations to jobs during marriage and child birth time. The basic challenges to prospects of women employment in Japan include child care issue, lack of encouragement to enter top management, higher proportion if unorganized sector and lack of strict implementation of equal employment laws. The representation of women at top management level is quite unsatisfactory and some strong measures have to be taken to enhance this. Moreover, the child care leave has to be provided to women employees for a long duration and it should be delinked to the employment and promotional prospects. Similarly, the education level of women in Japan have to be improved for making them well represented at senior management level. Lastly, some of the employment laws for women have to be strictly implemented for their better representation in employment and they should look in to the problems of women in part time jobs and unorganized sector. Overall, these above measures, if implemented successfully, the employment prospects of women in Japan would be enormously improved. References Ariffin, R. (1999) Feminism in Malaysia: A historical and present perspective of womens struggles in Malaysia, Womens Studies International Forum, vol. 22, no. 4, pp.417-423. Bishop, B. (2002). Globalization and women’s labour activism in Japan. Electronic Journal of Contemporary Japanese Studies. First published on 6th December, 2002. Blomström, M & Croix, S. (2006). Institutional change in Japan. Delhi: Taylor & Francis Publication. Costa, L. (1999), Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development: Conference Report, Chiang Mai: APWLD. Fackler, M. (2007). Career women in Japan find a blocked path. 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People in irregular modes of employment : Are they really not subject to discrimination? Social Science Japan Journal. 4 (2) : 183-199. Yu, W. (2009). Gendered Trajectories: Women, Work, and Social Change in Japan and Taiwan. Stanford University Press, P :258. ISBN: 9780804760096. Read More