Why, despite policy efforts, does Japan’s gender wage gap remain so large? The reasons lie in a nexus of structural and cultural barriers that continue to impede gender equality in the workplace. Understanding these barriers is crucial to formulating effective solutions. Key challenges include:
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Work-Family Balance and Childcare: One of the most significant hurdles is the difficulty of balancing a career with family responsibilities in Japan. Culturally, there has been an expectation that women will become the primary caregivers for children and elderly relatives. Although this is changing, the lack of accessible childcare has long been a pain point – the notorious “childcare waiting lists” (待機児童) meant many mothers could not return to work even if they wanted to. The government has expanded daycare facilities in recent years, yet demand still often outstrips supply in urban areas. Moreover, the school day and after-school care system can make it hard for two full-time working parents to manage (school often ends early afternoon, and many Japanese employers expect overtime or evening work). The result: women frequently reduce working hours or quit jobs when they have young children, leading to the M-shaped labor force participation curve (women’s participation dips in their 30s, then rises later). Men, on the other hand, rarely take extended leave – as noted, only a tiny percentage of new fathers take parental leave in practice – which leaves the burden on mothers. This dynamic directly feeds the wage gap: interrupted careers and part-time roles mean lower lifetime earnings for women. Until affordable childcare is universally available and men share more of the caregiving, this barrier will persist.
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Long Working Hours and Rigid Employment Practices: Japan’s work culture is infamous for its long hours and expectation of dedication (even to the point of karoshi, or death by overwork, in extreme cases). While this affects all workers, it has a disproportionate impact on women. A culture that prizes late-night work or unplanned overtime inherently penalizes those who need flexibility – often working mothers. Many women who might otherwise climb the career ladder opt out of management track jobs because those roles are seen as all-consuming. Additionally, Japan’s traditional employment system (the seishain or lifetime employment model) is somewhat inflexible: employees are often rotated across positions or locations over their career, which can be disruptive to family life (e.g., transfers to another city). Women, more constrained by family ties on average, may decline such opportunities, affecting their advancement. Instead, they might choose “irregular” employment with more stability or shorter hours, at the cost of lower pay and security. Essentially, Japan’s workplace structures were designed in an era when the male breadwinner, female homemaker model was presumed; they have not fully adapted to a dual-earner society. This misfit creates structural barriers for gender equality.
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Unpaid Domestic Work: The division of labor at home remains unequal in Japan. Surveys consistently show Japanese women spend far more hours on housework and caregiving than men. One estimate valued the unpaid household work done by Japanese women at ¥111 trillion (about $760 billion) annually, over three times the unpaid work done by men. This gap in unpaid labor means women effectively have a “second shift” after their paid job. It limits the time and energy they can invest in career development (such as putting in overtime, networking, or training). The government’s data indicates that the time women spend on unpaid care is among the highest in the OECD. Until domestic duties are more evenly shared, women will continue to face a time poverty that hampers their career progression and earnings. Culturally, though attitudes among younger men are slowly changing, many women still report that they carry the mental load of managing household affairs. Policies like encouraging men’s use of leave and promoting workplace hour reductions can help, but a broader cultural shift in gender norms at home is needed to relieve this burden.
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Underrepresentation in Leadership (“Glass Ceiling”): A glaring manifestation of the above barriers is the low representation of women in management and executive positions in Japan. As mentioned, only ~10% of managerial posts in companies are held by women. Corporate Japan remains heavily male-dominated at the top, which can perpetuate a cycle: with few women at the table, policies and norms may continue to cater to the male-breadwinner paradigm. There is also evidence of a “glass ceiling” and perhaps a “sticky floor” – women are not promoted at the same rates, even controlling for experience. Whether due to conscious bias or structural impediments (like those breaks in service), the result is a dearth of female role models and mentors for younger women, which can dampen aspirations. It also means decisions about workplace policies are being made without women’s perspectives. The government has set a goal to increase women in leadership to 30% by 2030, but progress is slow (up from around 5% a decade ago to ~11% now in management). This barrier is partly cultural – deep-seated notions that leadership is a male domain – and partly institutional – lack of career support systems for women, and sometimes outright discriminatory practices (e.g., women being passed over for promotions or stereotyped as less committed to careers). Breaking the glass ceiling will require both policy intervention and corporate cultural change.
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Legal and Policy Gaps: While Japan does have an Equal Employment Opportunity Act and recently mandated gender pay gap disclosures, enforcement mechanisms can be weak. Companies may comply formally with reporting or anti-discrimination laws but still engage in subtle unequal practices (like channeling women into clerical “general” tracks vs men into career “management” tracks – a common dual-track hiring system in Japan). Until recently, discussing or comparing salaries was taboo, which helped conceal wage discrepancies. There’s also the matter of the spousal tax deduction that existed (and still exists in modified form) – a tax benefit for families where the secondary earner (usually the wife) earns below a certain threshold (~1.3 million yen). This incentivized some women to limit their work hours to stay under the threshold, reinforcing part-time work norms. Although the ceiling was raised and reforms made, the legacy of this system still influences behavior. In short, some policy structures inadvertently discouraged full female labor participation or equal earnings. Removing remaining disincentives and strengthening labor laws (for example, stricter penalties for wage discrimination or requirements for companies to formulate action plans on gender equality) could further chip away at these structural issues.
In combination, these barriers form a reinforcing web: cultural expectations lead to policy choices (or lack thereof) that structure the labor market in a way that disadvantages women, which in turn keeps the cultural expectations in place. Yet, there are signs of change. Younger generations of Japanese women (and men) increasingly support gender equality, and the government as well as some companies are experimenting with reforms (e.g., “telework” and flex-time became more accepted during the COVID-19 pandemic, which could help mothers; some firms are actively mentoring women for leadership). The new requirement for large companies to publicly disclose their gender pay gap is also shining a light on the issue and could motivate employers to address disparities. Overcoming the structural and cultural barriers will take sustained effort, but it is a necessary step if Japan is to close its wage gap and reap the economic benefits.
References (APA style & Hyperlinked):
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Aki Tanaka & Thelma Akpan (2023, September 12). Japan Addresses the Wage Gap by Requiring Gender Pay Gap Disclosure. Japan Society.
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Kyodo News (2024, September 8). Women’s wages 70-80% of men’s in Japan as gender gap remains. Kyodo News.
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OECD (2023). Gender equality and work: Key messages. OECD.org.
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OECD (2024). Employment Outlook 2024 – Japan Country Note. OECD.
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Voronoi/Visual Capitalist (2024, Mar 31). The Largest Gender Pay Gaps in OECD Countries.
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CFR – Council on Foreign Relations (n.d.). Spotlight on Japan: Growing Economies Through Gender Parity.
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International Monetary Fund (2023, Nov 13). Japan’s Economy Would Gain With More Women in Science and Technology. IMF News.
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Nikolka, T. (2013). The Gender Wage Gap in OECD Countries. CESifo DICE Report, 11(1), 69-72.
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Urabe, E. (2023, Sep 4). Women in Japan Do Over Half a Trillion Dollars More of Unpaid Housework Than Men. TIME/Bloomberg.
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OECD (2012). OECD Employment Outlook 2012 – Gender wage gap data. (Referenced in Nikolka, 2013).
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World Economic Forum (2023). Global Gender Gap Report 2023. (Used for contextual understanding of rankings).
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Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Japan (2023). Basic Survey on Wage Structure. (Data referenced via Kyodo News 2024).
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Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Japan (various years). Labour Force Survey. (Participation rates data referenced via IMF 2023).