Endemic discrimination against Japanese women: part 1 of 2
[goo Research, along with Yomiuri Weekly, carried out a massive poll amongst working women. For a week at the end of September this year, over 10,000 working women aged 20 and over completed an internet-based questionnaire on their thoughts and opinions. Twenty years ago, the Equal Employment Opportunity Law was passed, so this is an investigation into how the position of working women has changed.
It’s quite a depressing set of figures, I feel. Not just discrimination, but harassment seems endemic amongst firms, and women are so used to it that they perhaps don’t consider the everyday discrimination as abuse. On a more positive note, however, almost half the women want to have the opportunity to have a full career not terminated nor even just punctuated by baby-rearing, although I personally consider that a child during the first three years of life needs one full-time parent.
Note that here almost three in five report being touched up, which is very depressingly high, but sexist language is barely half that, which suggests to me that women on the whole are accepting of, or at least inured to, that sort of behaviour.
I also wonder how much under-reporting has happened - note that in Q1 people report that they were expected to do the woman’s work around the office, yet there seems no specific category for this type of harassment. Also, office parties are notorious for the boss getting drunk (or faking drunk) and pestering his female underlings, but perhaps this is seen as outside the work environment thus not job-related harassment?
First, the basic demographics of the participants.
Age
20 to 29 30.5% 30 to 39 45.8% 40 to 49 19.5% 50 or over 4.3% Marital status
Married 49.5% Unmarried 43.4% Separated/divorced 6.6% Widowed 0.4% Employment status
Civil servant or non-profit organisation 5.1% Office worker 29.1% Sales 4.1% Technical or specialist 10.9% Other company employee 3.8% Education 2.6% Health service (doctor, nurse, etc) 1.9% Lawyer, accountant, taxation 0.1% Part time, casual labour 25.6% Self-employed 5.3% Housewife with side job 5.6% Full-time housewife 0.0% Student 0.0% Unemployed 0.0% Other 2.9% Remember, the survey is trying to find out the views of the working woman, which is why the housewife, student, and unemployed groups are zero!
Q1: Regarding the Equal Employment Opportunity Law, what sort of influence do they have on your working life? (Sample size=10,042)
Immensely easier on working life 1.4% A little easier on working life 11.4% No change to working life 62.7% A little harder on working life 1.9% Immensely harder on working life 1.1% Don’t know 21.5% As for reasons for these answers, one popular one was that woman’s work had increased; although normal tasks were perhaps split fairly, there was still the “woman’s work” of making the tea and taking copies, etc in addition. Other negative or neutral opinions included that promotion is still men-only and young women are just smiling faces to be shunted off behind the scenes once they are over the hill. Positive views included sexual harassment had decreased, awareness seminars at work had been established, and the law had opened doors for women.
Q2: How much was your income last year, and how much do you want to be paid for your current job? (Sample size=10,042)
Last year Desired Up to 1,000,000 yen 20.8% 6.3% 1,000,000 to 2,000,000 yen 20.4% 9.7% 2,000,000 to 3,000,000 yen 22.3% 12.8% 3,000,000 to 4,000,000 yen 17.8% 16.9% 4,000,000 to 5,000,000 yen 9.3% 17.0% 5,000,000 to 7,000,000 yen 6.5% 15.8% 7,000,000 to 10,000,000 yen 2.2% 9.7% 10,000,000 to 20,000,000 yen 0.7% 6.0% Over 20,000,000 yen 0.1% 2.7% I don’t think I want to raise it – 3.3% Q3: Compared to men the same age doing a similar job, what percentage of their salary do you think you are being paid? (Sample size=10,042)
Less than half 13.7% 60% to 70% 21.1% 80% to 90% 11.0% Roughly the same 27.9% More than men 1.5% Other 3.8% Don’t know 21.0% Q4: Which of the following is the best way for women to work? (Sample size=10,042)
Even if they have children, they can continue to work 46.2% Quit when they have children, then resume once the children are older 29.9% Work only until they have children 6.3% Work only until they get married 3.0% Women should not work 0.4% Other 8.8% Don’t know 5.5% Q5: Have you ever been sexually harassed at work? (Sample size=10,042)
Yes (to SQ) 35.6% No 64.4% Q5SQ: What sort of sexual harassment have you suffered? (Sample size=3,578)
Object of dirty jokes or sexual banter 64.4% Touched up 59.7% Asked if I had a boyfriend or other unnecessary questions on private life 33.2% Invited for a meal or a date 33.0% “Typical of a woman” and other sexist language 30.6% Sexual proximity 16.0% Object of malicious rumours being spread 14.7% Nude posters, photos, screensavers or movies, etc in public areas 7.4% Other 6.4%
I wonder if “leering” falls under the category of “sexual proximity”?
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Charles said,
January 25, 2006 @ 05:39
You have mistranslated the title of the “Sex Equality Law.” An accurate translation would be “Equal Employment Opportunity Law.” There is no such thing as equality of the sexes in Japanese employment law, EXCEPT for the initial hiring. The law states that men and women must be given equal opportunity in job hiring. But the Japanese courts have repeatedly rejected lawsuits from women claiming discrimination in promotions and pay, the EEOL only “urges” that employers treat women and men equally after hiring.
Despite the EEOL, it is a general practice that women are hired last and fired first. Only during the Bubble years did women’s employment rates rise to historic highs, businesses were hiring everyone they could get their hands on. But when the bubble burst, women’s employment rates dropped almost immediately to the usual low levels.
Ken Y-N (Seron) said,
January 25, 2006 @ 23:35
Hi Charles,
Thanks for the comment. Yes, I checked, you are of course correct - I’ll update the story with the new text.
The rest of the information in your post is interesting, useful background knowledge.
Ken
Gary Randall said,
January 30, 2006 @ 05:35
We seem to share something here with the Japanese when it comes to the treatment of women in the workplace. Japanese women do not seem to enjoy the liberation that American women enjoy but I feel that may change with the conservatives being appointed to our supreme court this will be a interesting issue to watch in the years ahead as our court system changes and our system of government becomes more conservative we may not get the government we had hoped for interesting issue to keep an eye on.
Sexual equality in society still far off: part 1 of 2 » 世論 What Japan Thinks said,
March 22, 2006 @ 00:03
[…] It would be instructive to compare and contrast the results here with a previous report I translated on how women perceive their own roles in the workplace. […]
Over a third of Japanese engineers won’t use Linux on the desktop » 世論 What Japan Thinks said,
June 15, 2006 @ 00:05
[…] japan.internet.com, in conjunction with JR Tokai Express Research, at the start of June looked at what engineers thought about changing to Linux. They interviewed 330 engineers (not just software, I don’t think), with 90.6% male (a sad reflection on women in the workplace), with 12.7% in their twenties, 43.9% in their thirtiees, 37.6% in their forties, 5.5% in their fifties, and just one person, or 0.3% of the sample, aged sixty or over. […]
What your boss thinks of your blog » 世論 What Japan Thinks - Japanese Opinion Polls and Market Research Translated into English said,
January 26, 2007 @ 23:34
[…] japa.internet.com recently reported on the results of a survey conducted by JR Tokai Express Research into what bosses thought about their subordinates blogging (and other unreported topics related to business blogs). They interviewed 330 people managers in public and private companies; a mere 5.2% were female (see other surveys on this subject), 0.9% in their twenties, 20.0% in their thirties, 53.9% in their forties, 21.2% in their fifties, and 3.3% in their sixties. Just these demographics alone are fascinating! […]
Japundit » How Does Change Happen in Japan? said,
April 6, 2007 @ 00:00
[…] on TV during the 70s or 80s). But where are the significant changes? The actual enforcement of the 1985 Equal Opportunity Law? The increase in women helming corporate jobs and smashing the rice-paper […]
Sam said,
May 8, 2007 @ 08:31
i would like to say that this is disgusting japanese women should not have to go through this mess!!!! this is disbicable!!!!!
you should really do something about this!
thank-you!
alliah bobsin said,
May 8, 2007 @ 08:33
this disguists me how many japanese women get harrased
there shouldnt be any sexism or racism in any countries at all
everyone should be treated equally and how you would want to be treated
this is appauling what i am hearing and the % of women who get harrased
this is outragest
i hope this will put a stop to this
women should have the same respect as men!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
thank you
Preppy Girl said,
May 8, 2007 @ 08:40
OMG THIS IS TOTALLY EW!!!!!!! WOMEN HAVE THE RIGHT OF NOT BEING HARASSED!!!!!!!!
I HATE IT HOW THIS HAPPENS WHY CANT THE WORLD BE SO CRUWL 2 THE GIRLS????
WHY ARNT WE ALL EQUAL LIKE WHATaLLIAH HAS SAID!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WHY CANT WE HAVE WORLD PEACE AND NO MURDERS AND LET THE BUTTERFLYS FLY???
i JUST WANT US ALL TO BE HAPPY!!!
thanks for reading my comment