Japan's 'born equal' women must continue to challenge status quo

Nation's business sector has to double down on achieving gender equity

Women filled only two of the 19 roles in the cabinet of new Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba that was announced on Oct. 1, but it would be wrong to conclude that the country remains static in normalizing females taking up positions of power. On the contrary, more and more women are moving to center stage in society, although they are unevenly distributed.

For example, of the nine candidates running in last month's election for the leadership of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, two were veteran female lawmakers with high profiles: Sanae Takaichi, a former minister for economic security, and Yoko Kamikawa, who was previously foreign minister.

Takaichi, a protegee of the late Shinzo Abe, is known for her hawkish stance in foreign affairs and conservatism on societal matters. She is a polarizing politician whose right-leaning policies speak louder than her gender. The runoff between Ishiba and Takaichi was so close that the market briefly rallied in expectation of a Takaichi victory, which would have produced Japan's first female prime minister.

National politics is a notoriously male-dominated arena in Japan, where the proverbial "old boys club" traditionally rules. The crowded competition with two credible women candidates in a de facto race to become prime minister, therefore, showcases that Japan is mature enough to no longer treat women politicians as a novelty -- in the early 1990s, younger female lawmakers were sometimes referred to using the term "Madonna," and mostly noted for their appearance.

In the world of business, the imperative to put women on an equal footing with men at the apex is more advanced than in politics, and a decadelong reform of corporate governance is starting to bear fruit. Japan Airlines promoted Mitsuko Tottori, a 60-year-old woman who started her career as a cabin attendant, to CEO in April. Suntory Beverage and Food (SBF), the world's third-largest spirit maker, has been led by 64-year-old Makiko Ono since 2023. A Nikkei x Woman's survey shows that among the top 500 Prime Market firms in Japan, women account for 16.6% of the 5,080 board members, totaling 845 in 2023.

One may argue that large companies, closely watched by global investors, may be a bubble whose management best practices -- the normalization of women on all levels, for example -- cannot be extrapolated to the rest of Japan Inc. Indeed, according to?Teikoku Databank, women occupy 10.9% of managerial roles in 2024, barely entering double digits for the first time.

Where do we go from here? To forecast the pace of change, it is useful to segment Japanese working women into three generations: first are the "pioneers," who today are in their mid-50s and above, whose early careers were directly impacted by the 1986 enactment of the Equal Employment Opportunity Law, which legitimized the position of working women in Japan. Both the JAL and SBF CEOs belong to this cohort.

Even with the legislation, these pioneer women had to fight against overt sexism at work; they were often told -- out of kindness -- to work 10 times as hard as men to earn their place. Having personally interviewed 24 of these women who eventually thrived in their careers, I am amazed at their battle scars from incidents including hiding in the office bathroom at night to escape the vigilance of a well-intended employer discouraging women from working overtime.

Then there is a generation of "sandwiched strugglers," of which I am a member, between 40 and mid-50s, whose entrance into the working world coincided with the "glacier period" of employment during Japan's post-bubble stagnation.

Even though the notion of gender equity gradually evolved, this middle cohort was challenged by the economic doldrums alongside their male peers. In 2023, 54% of working women in this group (aged 45-54) are in irregular positions -- excluded from full-time employment with advancement opportunities. This is 24 percentage points higher than the national average of 30%. The average for males is 8.4%, according to data for 2023 published by the Statistics Bureau of Japan.

Although these women should be in their prime in terms of being in central, decision-making positions, our scarcity in number can be attributed to the double whammy of work-in-progress gender equity efforts and the adverse economic environment that plagued both genders, but particularly women. The smallness of this talent pool partially explains the slow pace of change, which lags the expected maturity curve of gender equity awareness.

Finally, we come to the "born equal" generation of women under 40 -- incorporating most millennials and Gen Zers. The economy they knew as young adults had somewhat recovered, albeit at a slow growth rate as labor shortages kicked in and the working population dwindled.

Gender equity at work for this group comes as naturally as the air they breathe, particularly in large cities. "Unless you have kids," my 20-something EY Japan colleague told me, "I see no difference in career opportunities between men and women." That said, the "motherhood penalty" persists as it does in other developed countries.

This pipeline signals a bright outlook for accelerated normalization of women in the workplace in Japan as the "born equal" generation prepares to take center stage in a few years -- men as well as women with an updated view on gender equity will bring a sea change in the value system of Japanese workplaces and society at large, allowing for scaling of these efforts.

At the same time, the danger is that these younger women, while becoming normalized at work, lose their edge: A collective minority position, which the pioneers and sandwiched strugglers naturally found ourselves in at the workplace, is not all about suffering disadvantage. Firstly, women, and society at large, have benefited from the silver lining of a sense of sisterhood and mutual support.

As gender equality advances globally, the gap between privileged and underprivileged women may widen, potentially reducing societal empathy toward those less fortunate. Chizuko Ueno, a prominent sociologist and a well-known feminist, criticized the self-congratulatory emphasis on academic achievements during her 2019 address to new students at the University of Tokyo. She cautioned against celebrating access to higher education without recognizing the growing inequality among women as they navigate academia and integrate into society.

Secondly, ingenuity can be driven by occupying the minority position: while interviewing pioneer women, I was often struck by their creativity in competing against men, which shaped their career. For example, one woman executive in IT who started in sales, was so annoyed with being treated as "a hostess" entertaining clients in the evening, that she invented her own hypothesis-driven approach to sales. The success of her methodology eventually propelled her ascent to management.

Whether gender-based or not, there could be many inefficiencies built into the working world, which young women (and men) can continue to raise flags about -- willingness to challenge the status quo is something these "born equal" women must never lose.

As this youngest cohort -- holding reset expectations of gender equity -- matures, I have no doubt that gender equity in Japanese society will advance in leaps and bounds over the next decade. Forced by the dwindling population and incentivized by the benefits of diversity, rejuvenation of decision-makers will only accelerate this positive change.

At 63, the average age of the Ishiba administration is the same as the previous administration of Fumio Kishida and does not advance the rejuvenation agenda at Japan's political apex. The business world, on the other hand, must double down on achieving the vision of a gender equity that Japan deserves.

This article was published by Nikkei Asia on October 25thm 2024.