Why Such Few Women in Leadership Positions in Japan?

Download or read book Why Such Few Women in Leadership Positions in Japan? written by Kohei Asao and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2024-07 with total page 20 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The share of women in managerial and leadership roles in Japan – in both the public and private sector – are among the lowest across the globe. This paper empirically examines what drives these large gender gaps in leadership in Japan, using the SVAR model. Results suggest — (i) cultural norms where women take up significantly more burden of household and childcare work; (ii) Japan’s unique employment practices (non-regular employment, long in-person working hours); and (iii) the availability of childcare facilities — are the key drivers. Further progress on workstyle reforms, more flexible labor markets, improving the quality of childcare facilities, and raising paternity leave usage will help close these gaps.