Japan moves to bridge workplace gender gap

Japan aims to increase the percentage of female executives in major organisations to at least 30% by 2030. In 2022, women accounted for only 11.4% of executives in major listed organisations in Japan.

The push for greater diversity was announced during a meeting on gender equality, during which officials discussed the need to offer more permanent jobs to women, many of whom are part-time employees balancing childcare and employment.

Speaking at the meeting, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida stressed that ensuring diversity in corporate leadership will boost innovation and the economy, stating, “We seek to have the ratio of women among executives at 30% or more by 2030 in organisations that are listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s Prime Market.”

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Japan has struggled to address gender gaps in leadership positions, particularly in politics and in the upper echelons of business, as well as the wage gap between male and female employees. Despite high standards of education and high levels of female representation in the workforce, Japan ranks consistently low in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap report, ranking 116th out of 146 countries in 2022.

Gender gaps in corporate leadership are a global phenomenon, with research showing that only a few countries have organisations where women make up more than 25% of senior management, reported The Japan Times.