{"id":2976,"date":"2026-06-29T09:29:06","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T09:29:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/projects.ieimedia.com\/2026kyoto\/?p=2976"},"modified":"2026-07-17T05:08:52","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T05:08:52","slug":"japans-weak-economy-hinders-gender-parity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/projects.ieimedia.com\/2026kyoto\/japans-weak-economy-hinders-gender-parity\/","title":{"rendered":"Japan\u2019s weak economy hinders gender parity"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Text and photo by <\/b>\u00c1ngeles Maku<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

Interpretation by Than Shue Jing<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s 1986, and Japan\u2019s Equal Employment Opportunity Law has just passed, creating protections for women workers from gender-based discrimination in the areas of promotion, recruitment and hiring.<\/p>\n

Atsuko Fujino enters the workforce. She has graduated from college and works as a civil servant, yet despite her role on paper, she is expected to get tea for her male colleagues. She is married to a Japanese man working for a demanding company. For his job, he is expected to relocate frequently. Even in graduate school, she fulfills the role of a good wife and follows her husband through these transfers.<\/p>\n

This was the story of Fujino in her youth. And decades later, it remains typical for young Japanese women with aspirations for a professional career.<\/p>\n

Fujino eventually returned to graduate school, acquired a doctoral degree in economics and another in sociology, and is now a faculty supervisor at Kyoto Sangyo University, specializing in population and labor studies in the Sociology Department. She is a published author. She has remarried \u2014 this time, to a Frenchman \u2014 and pushes for feminism through her work and daily life.<\/p>\n

Her story illustrates the barriers faced by women in Japan, who are forced to take on ample responsibilities, all while being undervalued regardless of their qualifications. For young Japanese women today, it is difficult to follow in her footsteps and overcome similar obstacles.<\/p>\n

Womanhood as a global experience cannot be defined easily, with cultural impositions of varying intensity impacting societal roles differently. For Fujino, the life of a woman in Japan presents itself as misogynistic and restrictive, yet certain aspects of this society allow for a kind of newfound flexibility for some foreigners. \u201cFor the safety [aspect], it\u2019s worth living here,\u201d says Happy Ayuni, 26, an international student from Indonesia.<\/p>\n

\"Happy
Happy Ayuni says the status of women is better in Japan than in her native Bali.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ayuni is a student at Kyoto University of Foreign Studies. Born and raised in Bali, she grew up with the expectation to prioritize marriage over education. In Japan, she finds the country \u201cis much kinder to women, but still has a long way to go.\u201d Especially in STEM fields, Ayuni finds that women are only supported in education through high school. Once they get to college, the support ends, unless they are pursuing female-dominated fields, such as nursing, arts, or cosmetics. \u201cIt\u2019s less like breaking a glass ceiling; for us, the ceiling\u2019s made of concrete.\u201d<\/p>\n

A declining birth rate in Japan raises societal pressure to get married and have children, but the worsening economy has forced many young people to optimize survival, often by taking on multiple part-time jobs just to make ends meet. Ayuni said Japan\u2019s high unemployment for young people and Tokyo-centric job market make it difficult for them to start any part of their lives beyond finding security, particularly for women in a male-dominated employment system.<\/p>\n

\u201cLove is good, but money\u2019s better,\u201d said Haruka Hoshina, 23. As a student at the same institution as Ayuni, Hoshina works to support herself. \u201cI\u2019m too busy with work, so the hassle of dealing with a relationship feels bothersome.\u201d Both students discussed their frustrations with partners unwilling to take on the responsibility for homemaking because of cultural norms. \u201cWomen are expected to do everything \u2014 to pick the restaurant, to raise the kids, and still to go to work,\u201d said Hoshina. \u201cThe man, he just works.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the Sh\u014dwa period (1926-1989), the father took on more authority over the family unit, according to Fujino. In Ayuni\u2019s current experience, fathers prioritize corporate life, only having weekends to share with their children, while mothers must take on all child-rearing and other homemaking tasks, but also work outside the home. The overwhelming responsibility to serve, work, and care for the family unit continues to be pushed onto the woman.<\/p>\n

Hoshina agreed that women are still at a disadvantage, but she said there has been some progress. \u201cThis generation is not so bad to women,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s better than in the past.\u201d<\/p>\n

Japan lags behind some other countries by many measures. According to the World Bank\u2019s gender data landscape, as of 2022, women held 13.30% of senior and middle management positions in Japan, while in the United States, they held 44.3%, and in Iceland, they held 37.30%.<\/p>\n

Sanae Takaichi took office as Japan\u2019s first female prime minister in 2025, giving a symbolic boost to women\u2019s empowerment. However, her politics lean toward conservatism, and she has not emphasized gender equality. She\u2019s not getting much pressure from young women. \u201cYoung people, they\u2019re not activists,\u201d said Fujino.<\/p>\n

Hoshina agreed that she has never seen young people protest throughout her time in Kyoto.<\/p>\n

But Ayuni said there may be a difference in the number of demonstrations for gender equality between the country\u2019s former and current capital cities. \u201cIn Tokyo, more people are aware of it, and actually organize something around it,\u201d she said. \u201cIn Kyoto, I haven’t seen one.\u201d<\/p>\n

The strict work culture in Japan may take away much of the ambition for youth to demand a better future for themselves, but that doesn\u2019t mean Japanese women don\u2019t dream of a better society. \u201cYoung people today lack drive, I think,\u201d she said. \u201cWe don\u2019t want to work, don\u2019t want to marry. We just want to be free.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s less like breaking a glass ceiling; for us, the ceiling\u2019s made of concrete.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":56,"featured_media":2983,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[96],"tags":[132,145],"class_list":["post-2976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-editors-pick","tag-feature"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/projects.ieimedia.com\/2026kyoto\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/ANGELES-Feature-001-WEB.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.ieimedia.com\/2026kyoto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2976","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.ieimedia.com\/2026kyoto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.ieimedia.com\/2026kyoto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.ieimedia.com\/2026kyoto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/56"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.ieimedia.com\/2026kyoto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2976"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/projects.ieimedia.com\/2026kyoto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2976\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3073,"href":"https:\/\/projects.ieimedia.com\/2026kyoto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2976\/revisions\/3073"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.ieimedia.com\/2026kyoto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.ieimedia.com\/2026kyoto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.ieimedia.com\/2026kyoto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.ieimedia.com\/2026kyoto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}