‘Womenomics’ opens doors for Japan’s female workers, but at great cost to their personal lives
Tokyo
Special to The Globe and Mail
In a country that expects long hours at work and family duty from women, raising the female labour participation rate leaves some burning the candle at both ends. But a number of innovative businesses are trying to help
After 13 years in Tokyo’s male-dominated financial sector, Mariko Magnan decided it was time for a change.
Having experienced life abroad in France and the United States, a particular aspect of Japan’s corporate culture was getting harder to ignore. Despite her past achievements – studying at Paris’s HEC business school, landing jobs at Société Générale and Goldman Sachs – she felt unable to perform to her full potential in her own country, constantly pulled between the demands of raising two young children and the expectations of her more senior male colleagues.
Most nights, she would stay in the office until 8 p.m. But even so, she recalls, the following day, someone would inevitably comment on how the rest of the team was working “so hard until midnight.”
Japan is notorious for the punishingly long hours both male and female staff are expected to dedicate to their employers. However, the challenge is even more acute for working women, who are still largely considered to be responsible for household and family duties on top of their day jobs.
“The whole society is based on this model of men working and women supporting the family,” Ms. Magnan said. Now, with a record number of women participating in the labour force, Japan is facing a “gap in what society has been designed for and what’s happening today.”
This disconnect, in a way, is a result of the success of Japan’s efforts to reboot its lagging economy.
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