“Womenomics” – Japan’s Win/Win Solution

 

 

Japan is a country steeped in tradition with high respect for the elderly and a primarily male dominated society. Prior to World War II, this country like many other island nations was very aggressive and “warlike to protect their culture”.  This is not a surprise when assessing Japan’s extremely high value of 95 on the Hofstede’s 6 dimensions of culture (Hofstede & Hofstede, 2015). Thus, based on this value Japan can be considered a very strong and aggressive society. However, after the decimation of the country post WWII, Japan relied on two of their other key cultural dimensions to rebuild and refocus their economy. These dimensions are highlighted as a very strong uncertainty avoidance level (92) and long term versus short term orientation value (88) (Hofstede & Hofstede, 2015). These concepts reflect a culture that focuses on defined processes that will help them look towards the future and attain desired goals. Thus, “new cultural values of pacifism and global appreciation emerged that allowed it to become a world leader in those areas” (PSU, 2018).

With the assistance of the United States, after WWII, Japan celebrated remarkable economic growth “averaging 10% in the 1960s, 5% in the 1970s, and 4% in the 1980s” (CIA, 2016). However, in the past decade due to outdate management philosophies, poor investments, devastating natural disasters, and many other competing factors, Japan’s economy has fallen. However, the most noticeable and easiest remedied issues can be identified as Japan’s aging workforce and the rapid decline in the birthrate.

1. Aging Workforce

• Median age of 47.3 – 2^nd highest in the world (CIA, 2016)
• Almost 28% of the society is over age 65 (CIA, 2016)
• Shortage of labor with a 2.8% unemployment rate (IMFBlog, 2017)

2. Decline in Birthrate

• Ranked 223 out of 234 nations with a birthrate of 7 births/1,000 (CIA, 2016)
• -0.21% population growth rate that ranks 211 of 234 (CIA, 2016)
• Population rate is projected to drop by 4 million from 2017-2025 (IMFBlog, 2017)

So how does Japan once again re-invent their economy?  The answer is “womenomics”. In 2013, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe proposed a solution to “tap into” the previously underappreciated and often overlooked potential new members of the Japanese workforce. Thus, as part of his economic plan, Abe has highlighted the need to “capitalize on the power of women”. His proposal set a goal to raise the female workforce from 68% to 73% by 2020 and to “bridge the equality gap” between men and women in the workforce (Abe, 2013).

Besides increasing the employment of women, “womenomics” has also focused on stimulating the birthrate and supporting women’s desires to be working mothers. This can be observed by the notion of requiring companies to “increase the appointment of women to management positions”. Additionally, improvements in government funding for childcare has made returning to work an affordable option for many women. Furthermore, “the government argues that raising women’s wages and status in the labor market will also increase fertility rates, pointing to countries like Sweden and Denmark that have both higher female employment and higher fertility” (McBride & Xu, 2018).

As noted by Moran, Abramson, and Moran (2014), Japanese businesses have acknowledged that the “old industrial model of management” is no longer a viable method in today’s globalized society. Therefore, a “new model of management” is needed to ensure global competitiveness. As part of this philosophy, the number one point of focus is an “effective redeployment of labor, including proper use of women and the elderly. For most companies, the policy of lifetime employment has ended” (p. 439).

Therefore, all hope is not lost for Japan to once again claim its rank among the most influential economies in this globalized market. With the many efforts of the Japanese government and the great strides in embracing and promoting working women, “womenomics” is a great strep in the right direction. Thus, other countries could learn some lessons from Japan.

 

References:

Abe, S. (2013, September 25). Shinzo Abe: Unleashing the power of ‘womenomics’. Wall Street Journal. Retrieved from https://www.wsj.com/articles/shinzo-abe-unleashing-the-power-of-8216womenomics8217-1380149475?tesla=y

Central Intelligence Agency. (2016). Japan. In The World Factbook. Retrieved from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ja.html

Hofstede, G., & Hofstede, G. J. (2015). 6 dimensions of culture [Data file]. Retrieved from https://geerthofstede.com/research-and-vsm/dimension-data-matrix/

IMFBlog. (2017, November 1). Chart of the Week: Women Workers Wanted in Japan [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://blogs.imf.org/2017/11/21/chart-of-the-week-motherhood-and-work-in-japan/

Moran, R. T., Abramson, N. R., & Moran, S. V. (2014). Managing cultural differences (9th ed.). Oxford,UK: Routledge. ISBN: 978-0-415-71735-9

McBride, J. & Xu, B. (2018, March 23). Abenomics and the Japanese economy. Council of Foreign Relations. Retrieved from https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/abenomics-and-japanese-economy

Pennsylvania State University (2018). OLEAD 410 Lesson 11: Asia: Focus on Japan. Retrieved October 29, 2018 from https://psu.instructure.com/courses/1942644/modules/items/24935436