Japanese Cultural Analysis: Patterns of Employment in the Japanese Workplace - Essay Example

Japanese cultural analysis: Patterns of employment in the Japanese workplace have changed dramatically over the last few decades Introduction The last few decades have seen dramatic change in the patterns of employment in the Japanese work place. This has a direct impact of the changes in economic patterns and also cultural and social norms. If we look at the history of Japan, women have always taken a backseat while the men enjoyed supremacy. This became the base of further development of patterns in the work place that became totally male dominated. Over the last few decades there has been tremendous growth and industrialization that has impacted the social structure and also the structure of the family. With more liberal attitude towards the masculine power, the acceptance of women in the work force has grown. The changes in employment structures have given rise to temporary and part time employment and it has led to an over representation of women in the work place. There are differences in theories behind it. The concept of masculinity in Japan Japan is considered as a successful industrialist-capitalist country of the twentieth century. But on closer examination, there are many disparities that raise a question mark as to is it actually as powerful and stable as it is presumed to be. When we examine the socio cultural scene in Japan, and check out the status of workingmen, we come across the concept of masculinity. Most of the patriarchal societies are based on the concept of masculinity. This term has many social, economic, cultural and political aspects attached to it. In some countries, it is not just being a man that gives you the power but being a white man coming from middle class and who is hetro-sexual has more power than the non-white, working class, and may be non-heterosexual. So, there may be finer definitions of masculinity based on the norms set by the society. Although it may not seem to be of much relevance with the patriarchal industrial capitalism, but it has great influence on it. Whenever a cross-section of any working class is studied, it has some striking uniformity in terms of appearance. In fact this common threads in many fields like behaviour, sexuality, speech, deportment etc. those men who do not match the set criteria, do not get a place in the work force normally. In a patriarchal society where men seem to be in power are in power only if the conform to the definition of masculinity apart from being a good worker. There is a special word in Japan for such men – ‘salary man’. The changing image The ‘salary man’ had an image of masculine power in the late nineteenth century. In this era, the prime work force consisted of men and women were confined to the houses as wives and mothers, helping to raise the family. This does not mean that women did not participate in the labour force. But somehow, men seemed to have an image of the breadwinner. The prime white-collar jobs were limited to a very small segment of men but the powerful image of men working in those positions, spilt over to all men folk. The concept of the ‘salary man’ can be linked to Japan’s industrialization process, although it has roots going back in history. In the 1950’s there was a rapid growth of industrialization. That resulted in expansion of white-collar jobs. There was an increase in urbanization and that affected the land prices in the urban areas. As a result, homes became further away from the workplaces. The structure of family became smaller. This found more and more women in the homes raising children while men were seen working out. Within all these contexts, the corporate male emerged. This was a middle-class, university-educated male, normally in his twenties. He was a loyal worker and got benefits of lifetime employment security, the increase in salary and status were linked to the length of service. The concept of patriarchy extended in the organization and they patronized him like a patriarch. The same was seen in the family too. In many families, women also worked but their income was just the additional bit where as the man was still the breadwinner. In the late 90’s the work force that joined after high school or junior college were predominantly females and those who joined after university or post-graduate qualifications or technical degrees were predominantly males. There was a disparity in the training provided to both these groups. The emphasis on correct conduct and dealing with customers or superiors at work were same for both the groups. But there was more importance given to training of the post-graduate, university, male group. And it carried the image of the ‘salary man’. But gradually this image has moved away from the powerful position to a very vulnerable position. It becomes very visible when the image of the ‘salary man’ is used as a caricature. With this shift in the image, the men also want to distance themselves from that image. In today’s world, the earlier held ideas of gender and sexuality are changing. Emergence of late-capitalism has been instrumental for this. The rise of consumerism has changed men’s sexuality and he is participating more in the sphere of consumption that was earlier supposed to be ‘feminine’. The traditional ‘salary man’ is slowly fading away. The presence of females in the work force is becoming more and more visible and definitely audible. Emergence of women in the work force With the emergence of extensive use of the audio systems, the female voice has found a prominent place. Women have been part of the work force all the time but their participation was overlooked because of doing unpaid work or doing insignificant work. But today they are more visible in the supermarkets. Many of them are working part-time. This reflects the emergence of feminism and also casualisation trends in the retail industry. With more women seen at the retail outlets as workers, but mostly as a part-time worker, still keeps them at the second rung as compared to their male counterparts. The part-time worker is not entitled to lifetime employment benefits, no access to training and promotions. These privileges still lie with the major full time work force of men. Female labour was encouraged in 1980’s when there was a shortage of labour. But most of them found work as part time workers. The survey done in 1997( Patotaima no Fittai) has classified the part-time workers in to two groups: - 1.part-time workers and 2. sono ta or others. The sono ta workers are found to be working almost as much as the regular workers. It was found in the survey that 95.4% of sono ta and 76% of the part-time workers worked approximately 35 hours per week. 67% of the part-time workers worked 5 to 8 hours per day and 92.1% of sono ta worked more than 7 hours per day. Although there may be variations in the surveys conducted and the results obtained but one thing remains the same in all these surveys and that is most of the women who are in their mid 40’s to 50’s are working on very low wages, in poor employment conditions. Although they work long hours, they are not entitled for most of the benefits and have no employment security. Over-representation and part time work In the post war period, the proportion of women in Japanese work force has not changed much but the composition has definitely undergone major change. In 1993, 57.6% of the female workers were married women. ( Rodosho, Fujinkyoku Hataraku Fosei no Fitsujo, Tokyo,1996, appendix 29.) If we look at the prominent super markets, we find an overrepresentation of women in part-time work. The ‘teiji shain(permanent part-time workers)’ and other part-time workers work almost the same hours as the regular workers but they do not get the same employment conditions, status and security and benefits. The concept of ‘life time’ employment means continuous employment by one employer till retirement. This practice is now limited to approximately 20% of the work force. This has excluded not only women but also most of the men also from this category. In 1990’s many companies went for restructuring and many of their regular male employees were excluded from the future of lifetime employment practices. Women are the worst hit in this area. They are regarded as marginal worker and they are valued much lesser in status and conditions as compared to the male workers who are supposed to have more work experience. Most of the employers find themselves justified in doing so by referring to women’s earnings as additional and not for supporting the family. In the past decade the number of part time female work force has gone up dramatically. One of the theories to explain this is the need of hiring and firing nature of labour. Another theory is the assumptions related to roles of women. These assumptions create a segmented labour market for them. While Barron and Norris (Barron, R.D. and Norris, G.M., Sexual divisions and dual labour market, in Dependence and exploitation in work and Marriage, 1976) agree with this, Edwards, Gordon and Reich find sex, age, and race and ethnic origin all together responsible for the segmented labour market. (Richard, E, Reich, M. and Gordon D. Labour market Segmentation, 1975) This is a characteristic of the capitalistic environment where creating segments of workers on lower wages increases productivity and profitability. Atkinson’s logic is that if the firms have a small skilled core group and a large peripheral group, the profitability can be maintained or increased by controlling the size and the cost of the periphery group. (Atkinson, J. Manpower Strategies for Flexible Organizations, 1984, pp 28-32.) All these theories become more relevant when we examine the gender based division of labour within the household. In the domestic sphere, women do not play the decision making part. The family also largely governs their choice of work. They are still seen as primarily mothers and wives. Part-time work seems the best option for them to balance family and career. And for the job market they do not become a threat to the male dominance. Changes in the work place Gradually part time (female) workers are filling up managerial type responsible posts. They are getting involved in budget making and stock ordering. In 2002 the section on the Equal Opportunity Law was given a Tokyo District Court Ruling to say that sogo shoku and ippan shoku which is dividing male workers and female workers, contravenes the principle of equality defined by the Japanese Constitution. Although women are still in minority at high positions but the number of female parliamentarians has gone up from 2.3% in 1994 to 10.2% in 2001. Women are also working at the municipal legislatures. They are working as lawyers and presidents in universities as well. Conclusion Although the current situation of the Japanese work force may not look ideal, but when we go back to the history and see the changes coming in gradually, it seems to progress. From total unpaid work at home the women slowly came up as part time workers in the paid work force. This was partly due to economical developments and partly due to social changes. They were still the second-class workers with lesser wages and even lesser benefits. They grew to the stage of overrepresentation and gradually the laws started becoming more equality oriented. Today the Japanese work force seems to have better representation of male and female work force and is getting uniformly distributed in all posts and positions. Still there are few gaps but if the graph keeps growing in the same direction, a more balanced and fair growth can be predicted. Reference: Intersections review: An introduction to Japanese Society; http://wwwsshe.murdoch.edu.au/intersections/ Read More