WUNRN
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe may be keen to tout
Image Credit: REUTERS/Yuriko Nakao
By Heenali Patel
October 28,
2013 - “I used to be a helicopter pilot, I loved it. But since having a child I
quit. I don't think I will work again for a long time.”
I am at a local center, where residents
may to socialize and host events. A group of women sits before me. We have been
discussing their interests and aspirations for an hour. I look around at them,
and see engaging and sociable individuals. They all share two things in common:
each went to university and each quit their jobs after having a child. Although
it is all well and good to choose family over career, the predictability of the
career paths of these women is unsettling. Here, they treat it as part of a
standard expectation. A working lifestyle in
Last month, Japanese Prime Minister
Shinzo Abe made a bold admission about women and the economic growth of his
country. Addressing the UN General Assembly, he claimed: “Creating an environment in which
women find it comfortable to work… is no longer a matter of choice for
The recognition of working women as a
strong economic force may not seem like a novel idea to most developed nations.
For
The current Liberal Democratic leader
has become known for his aggressive three-pronged policy, coined Abenomics,
since taking office last December. Improving female workforce participation is
part of Abe's long-term reform strategy. Though it has been a significant
problem in
Why has it taken so long for the
government to explicitly and actively acknowledge the problem of working women
in
Many believe that Abe's statements on
the virtues of “Womenomics” may help change the status quo, leading to
substantial economic change and clearer signs of gender equality. Whilst the
IMF has stated that employing more women could increase
Since the beginning of Abe's term, the
percentage of female members of the Lower House of the Japanese Diet has fallen
to 8 percent. Only two of his 18 cabinet members are women. This leaves
So the government has
chosen to raise an issue that is very much its own failing. Despite
several legislative acts over the years to promote equality, it is clear that
women do not have the same working rights as their male counterparts. Moreover,
women do not have significant political representation at any level of
governance. Looking at correlations between equality laws and reality to date,
it seems unlikely that any major changes to the working environment will emerge
in the near future. Abe's strategy for Womenomics so far – “urging” businesses
to be more accommodating towards their female staff – has proved far from inspiring.
Surely the Japanese government can see that the real problem does not lie in a
lack of laws, but rather in a lack of desire to instate real change? One starts
to get the feeling that Womenomics is less about speaking up for gender
equality, and more about keeping up appearances.
Womens' rights have been a messy, “best
left alone” affair for the Japanese government for many years. Nothing
demonstrates this better than the ongoing controversy of Abe's refusal to
acknowledge
Abe has repeatedly denied the existence
of sex slaves in the Japanese army, and refused its inclusion in school
textbooks. In 2001, he was accused by Asahi
Shimbun of censoring a television program titled "The Women's
International War Crimes Tribunal." The one occasion on which he appears
to have acknowledged the issue came after a warning from the U.S. Congress in
1993. How can a government that is not willing to face up to the mistakes of
its past, tackle the problems of the present? Moreover, how are we to trust a
man who talks about gender equality, but will not genuinely acknowledge the
realities and horror of systematic rape enforced by his own government?
The current issues that the Japanese
government faces are not going to be remedied by lawmaking. The problem is
deeper and more complex, and a solution will begin by questioning
Even if the government implements
policies in the future to encourage women's rights from a state level, it
remains doubtful that this will ever be practiced in good spirit by local
councils and businesses. For women, the working environment remains rife with
obstacles that hamper mobility and fair treatment, fed by an attitude that
women do not deserve equality. One of these issues, brought to light by Hifumi
Okunuki of The Japan Times,
is the concept of “maternity harassment.” In 1985, The Equal
Employment Opportunity Law was passed to prevent any discrimination against
women based on pregnancy or maternity leave. However, with 62 percent of
employed women still leaving their jobs after childbirth – a figure that is
still rising – it is difficult to dismiss claims that employers are openly
unwelcoming to new and expectant mothers.
So far, feminism cannot claim a
successful or even lasting history in