According to recent data, Japan recorded the lowest total births in 2021 at just about 8,10,000. Japan also ranked lowest among the developed countries in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index 2022. The two statistics are connected by one factor — gender norms. Usually, we associate low gender equality with poor developing countries. However, gender inequality emanates from many sources, lack of resources being one, gender norms being the other. As a country transitions from developing to developed, the former may be taken care of, the latter is not guaranteed. With a target of transforming India into a developed country by 2047, there are some lessons we should learn from our eastern friend, Japan, the world’s fourth largest economy.
Developed, yet a low rank
Japan ranked abysmally low (at 116 out of 146 countries) in the Gender Gap Index 2022. This makes Japan the worst performer amongst the G7 group, where most of the countries ranked between 10 and 27, barring Italy at 63.
What explains this low rank for a highly developed country? Japan has a perfect score on gender equality in educational attainment. In fact, 15-year-old Japanese girls (and boys) score higher than the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) average in scientific and mathematical literacy and reading performance. Health and survival of women including healthy life expectancy also stands near a perfect score of 0.97. Japan’s overall low rank in the Gender Gap Index stems from the low presence of women in leadership roles and politics. It ranks below 130 when it comes to women in Parliament and women as senior officials and managers. Women hold a mere 10% of Japan’s parliamentary seats (as of April 2022) as compared to around 30% or more in the G7 countries. Japan has not had a female head of the state in the past 50 years.
Widespread mindset
Controversies around sexism in Parliament, company boardrooms and at leading institutions, are common. For instance, in 2021, the head of the Tokyo Olympics Committee, also a former Prime Minister, received global backlash and was forced to resign for his sexist remarks about why women should not participate in board meetings as they talk too much. In political speeches, women have been referred to as birth-giving machines (told to bear at least three children). Although such statements were later retracted with apologies after public backlash, they reflect the social mindset towards women in general. A few years ago, medical schools in Japan were reported to have rigged the entrance examination scores of female candidates, penalising them for their gender to ensure that 70% of the students enrolled were males. Why? Ostensibly because women tend to leave the medical profession later in life due to marriage and child-bearing responsibilities.
Evidence from Japan suggests that high per capita income does not guarantee gender equality as the latter is usually rooted in social and cultural norms. Japanese society is founded on, and still conforms to, very strong gender norms of what men and women should do. It is still common to refer to one’s wife as kanai, translated as the one inside the house. An office worker in Japan is often referred to as salaryman — again, a gendered term. The image of a typical salaryman is that of a family-wage earning man who works overtime including weekends. Staying at work till the boss does and then joining late evening nomikai or conversation over drinks are the expected norms in Japanese work-life. This makes it impossible for married women, usually the primary caregivers, to have strong careers. Most women, therefore, engage in part-time and low-paying jobs such as secretaries and assistants. Mothers returning to the labour market receive a ‘mommy track’ career path which involves little or no progression. Women are perceived unsuitable to be leaders which reflects in their low numbers as company heads (8%). Japan has less than 5% women in middle management and senior management in the central government. Japanese women earn about 57% that of men, making this wage gap one of the worst among OECD countries.
The socio-economic impact
What are the consequences of such gaps? This inequality explains the sharp decline in marriage rates and fertility in Japan which is amongst the worst in rich countries. Marriage rates in Japan have fallen by 50% since 1970 and fertility has fallen to 1.3 children per woman (2021). The high opportunity cost of caregiving and motherhood has made Japanese women perceive marriage and childbearing as a burden. This has created double trouble for the long-stagnant Japanese economy. Low marriage rates have led to a fall in consumption and investment as singles consume and invest less than households. For example, singles tend to rely more on rental housing rather than owning a house. Low birth rate implies a steady decline in the future workforce and a rising pension burden of an aging population on the fiscal account. The big wage gap in male-female income suppresses domestic demand as half of its population relies on low wages and temporary jobs.
‘Womenomics’ and reality
In an effort to revive the stagnant Japanese economy, former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe laid emphasis on ‘womenomics’ as one of his key policy measures. It aimed at boosting female labour participation, and increasing the percentage of women in leadership positions to 30% by 2020. This goal however was not achieved and even Abe’s own cabinet struggled to meet the target. The deadline was revised to 2030.
Will this goal be achieved? Last month, Japan’s land ministry hired an all male lecturer staff to deliver a course on community development to public servants and added 15 women only after strong public backlash.
Japan’s struggle with gender parity teaches us that investing in women’s education and health may have limited impact if that society is trapped in gender norms that restrict women from capitalising these investments for themselves, the society and the country. Policymakers must take cognisance of such evidence as this can trap us into other economic problems as we chalk out the path for a developed India by 2047.
Prajakta Khare is an Associate Professor of Economics at Meiji Gakuin University, Japan. Prachi Gupta is an Assistant Professor of Economics at Temple University, Japan. The views expressed are personal
