Japan's Prime Minister launches plans to recruit more women
August 28, 2015
Abe said he hoped the two-day conference would help show his commitment to increasing the proportion of women in Japan's leadership positions by 30 percent.
Despite being the world's third-largest economy, Japan currently has one of the lowest rates of female workforce participation in the developed world. Women account for only 11 percent of all managers and supervisors in Japan.
"Abenomics is 'womenomics,'" the prime minister said in his opening speech on Friday.
Over the past two years, some 1 million women have newly entered the labor market, Abe told his 150-strong audience from around 40 different countries.
"Japan intends to make the 21st century a century with no human rights violations against women," he added.
Child care, sexism, careers
As Japan's declining population continues to rapidly age, the country's economy is in need of the extra workforce more than ever.
Despite Abe's efforts, however, the deeply entrenched sexist attitudes of many employers are yet to drastically change.
A lack of child care facilities and poor career support are also blamed for keeping women at home.
In order to overcome these obstacles, Abe said on Friday that Japanese husbands must "actively take child care leave" and couples must "share responsibility" for household chores and raising children.
"We will make this the ordinary practice in Japan," Abe pledged, adding that true reform would not come about, "unless we have more women becoming leaders in their organizations, in addition to changes in men's consciousness."
Targets to employee women
New legislation passed by Japanese lawmakers on Friday could now begin to pave the way for Abe's proposals.
The law, which was approved in the House of Councilors by a vote of 230-1, will be effective during the coming decade. Companies with at least 300 employees will be required to set and publicize targets for hiring or promoting women as managers. It is not yet necessary, however, for them to actually meet the goals.
ksb/jm (AP, AFP)