The Present Status of Gender Equality and Measures

PART1

Chapter 2 Gender Equality in the Workplace, at Home and in the Community

  1. Gender equality in the area of work
    • Women's employment

      Rising labor force participation rates of women
      The female workforce in Japan has been gradually increasing since 1975, with the percentage of women in the labor force (comprising persons of 15 years and above) now having reached 49.1% (Population Census of Japan, 1995).

      The number of women employees is also growing every year, totaling 21.27 million, or 39.5% of all employees, in 1997 (1997 Labor Force Survey Report).

      Type of M-shaped curves differ by prefectures
      When a labor force participation rate graph is drawn up on women by age group and by prefecture, all prefectures basically present an M-shaped curve, but its shape differs significantly (Figure 10).

      Figure 10: Women's labor force participation rates by age
      Figure 10: Women's labor force participation rates by age

      Source:

      Population Census (1995), Management and Coordination Agency

      Women's labor force participation rates over the period when women are generally bearing and raising children were compared on a prefectural basis with the same rates before and after that period to see how far rates fall (Figure 11). This was measured by calculating the area of the M-shaped curve (a, in Figure 11), that is, by drawing a line between the two peaks in the employment rates of women between 20 and 40 in the various prefectures and calculating the area within that line and the valley formed where employment rates fall away between the peaks (the M-shaped curve).

      In prefectures where the ratio of the M-shaped curve is smaller, the ratio of households with three generations under the same roof tends to be high, which could mean an environment with greater family support available for women within the general child-bearing and child-rearing age bracket.

      Moreover, the more childcare facilities a prefecture has and the more children using these, the smaller the area of the M-shaped curve for that prefecture. (Figure 12)

      Figure 11: Area of M-shaped curve (by prefecture)
      Figure 11: Area of M-shaped curve (by prefecture)
      Figure 11: Area of M-shaped curve (by prefecture)

      Notes:

      1. The M-shaped curve area is the area ("a" in the figure) where employment levels fall away between the two employment peaks (A and D) for women between 20 and 40 in an employment rate graph.
      2. In terms of women's employment rates by age, in many prefectures the first peak is between the ages of 20 and 24, and the second between 45 and 49 years, with the exception of the following cities and prefectures.
        • First peak between 25 and 29 years
          Tokyo
        • Second peak between 40 and 44 years
          Aomori Prefecture, Iwate Prefecture, Akita Prefecture, Yamagata Prefecture, Niigata Prefecture, Toyama Prefecture, Fukui Prefecture, Kochi Prefecture, Kumamoto Prefecture

      Source:

      Compiled from Population Census (1995), Management and Coordination Agency

      Figure 12: Relation between M-shaped curve area and number of regular childcare staff and children in childcare facilities
      Figure 12: Relation between M-shaped curve area and number of regular childcare staff and children in childcare facilities

      Notes:

      The estimation formula for the regression line in the figure is as follows:
      y = -0.1039 x +0.1723
       (t = -7.061) (t = 16.816)
      R2 = 0.5256
      y = Ratio of M-shaped curve
      x = Capacity of children and the total number actually cared for in childcare facilities/Women between 25 and 29

      Source:

      Compiled from Population Census (1995), Management and Coordination Agency and the Survey Report of Children and Families Bureau (Ministry of Health and Welfare)

      Women in agriculture, forestry and fishing villages
      Of those women working in agriculture, forestry and fishing, 2.227 million are involved in agriculture, with women comprising 56.7%, close to 60%, of the total agricultural labor force. Fourteen thousand women are engaged in forestry (16.6% of the total labor force) and 52,000 in fishing (18.1% of the total labor force).

      In terms of women's participation in decision-making processes in the production activities in the region, etc., in 1996 women comprised around 0.7% (compared to 0.3% in 1995) of agricultural committee members, and around 13.3% (compared to 13% in 1995) of full members of agricultural cooperatives.
      These figures are slowly increasing.

      Women's participation varies according to the prefecture, with a relatively high percentage of women serving as full members of agricultural cooperatives in Yamagata Prefecture (27%), Kochi Prefecture (23.5%) and Hiroshima Prefecture (23%) (Figure 13).

      Figure 13: Ratio of women who are full members of agricultural cooperatives (by prefecture)
      Figure 13: Ratio of women who are full members of agricultural cooperatives (by prefecture)

      Source:

      Comprehensive Statistical Tables of Agricultural Cooperatives (FY1996), Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries

      While more than 1.0% of agricultural committee members are women in Nagano Prefecture (4.7%), Tokyo (3.4%), Kagoshima Prefecture (2.0%), Okinawa Prefecture (1.8%) and Osaka (1.2%), in most prefectures the ratio of women members falls below this level.

    • Systems involving work and other lifestyle choices

      More than 60% of respondents feel that if systems change, women's work patterns will change
      An increasing number of people feel that pension and taxation systems will affect women's work patterns.

    • Taxation system (marital exemptions and special marital exemptions)

      Application of marital exemptions and special marital exemptions
      The income bracket with the highest ratio of marital exemption recipients is the 10-15 million yen bracket, with 68.7% of persons within this bracket receiving marital exemptions. The income bracket with the highest ratio of special marital exemption recipients is the 9-10 million yen bracket, of which 68.6% are receiving such exemptions (Figure 14).

      Figure 14: Application of marital exemptions and special marital exemptions
      Figure 14: Application of marital exemptions and special marital exemptions

      Notes:

      1. The left scale (corresponding to the bar graph) shows the ratio of persons who received marital exemptions or special marital exemptions among all salary-earners who worked throughout 1996 and made a year-end tax adjustment, with these divided into income classes. The right scale (corresponding to the line graph) shows the percentage by salary class of all salary-earners who worked throughout 1996 and made a year-end tax adjustment.
      2. Those whose spouses received an annual salary of less than 1.03 million are included in the categories of those who received marital exemptions and special marital exemptions.

      Source:

      Compiled from the Report on Results of Statistical Survey on Actual Private Sector Salaries: State of Private Sector Salaries as Reflected in 1996 Taxation Statistics, National Tax Administration Agency

      Advice on income and work patterns
      Part-time workers in particular seem to be receiving guidance or advice from their husbands concerning their income and work patterns in order to be eligible for the marital exemption and special marital exemption systems (Figure 15).

      Figure 15: Whether or not married women receive guidance or advice on their income and way of working (by occupation) (multiple response)

      Item Ratio (%)
      Total From husband From employer From friends and fellow workers From public organization No guidance or advice No response
      Married Total 100.0 11.6 9.1 10.7 2.8 69.9 0.5
      Full-time 100.0 4.2 5.1 5.1 0.8 84.7 0.8
      Part-time,etc. 100.0 29.3 21.1 22.0 1.6 40.7 0.0
      Self-employed,
      etc.
      100.0 8.1 6.5 9.7 9.7 64.5 1.6
      Unemployed 100.0 7.5 6.0 8.2 2.6 78.0 0.4

      Notes:

      1. 1,500 women between the ages of 24 and 34 (in 1993) were drawn from the first survey (implemented in 1993). Of those, 1,289 responded (of which 994 had spouses).
      2. The total is of married women who responded that they were aware of the marital/special marital exemption system (571).
      3. "Part-time, etc." refers to part-time workers and other non full-time workers. "Self-employed, etc." refers to those who are self-employed, work for their families, freelance or doing paid work at home.

      Source:

      Fourth Panel Survey on Consumption Life - Life and Work of Women Today (FY1997), Household Economy Research Institute

    • Pensions (Type three insurance system)

      Persons insured under the national pension system
      Under the national pension system (basic pension), most men (around 26 million) fall within the type two category (private sector white-collar workers, public service personnel and others insured under employee pension plans, as well as members of benefit societies, etc.), followed by women in the same category (around 13 million). However, around 12 million women are in the type three insurance category (dependent of a spouse with type two insurance; annual income of less than 1.3 million yen), with women forming the bulk of those with type three insurance.

      Opinion towards type three insurance system differs by the position of people
      The majority of those who saw the current type three insurance system as acceptable were male workers with wives who were full-time housewives, followed by full-time housewives themselves, and male workers with wives in part-time paid employment (Figure 16).

      Figure 16: Opinions on the type three insurance system
      Figure 16: Opinions on the type three insurance system

      Notes:

      These are responses to the question, "Under Japan's current pension system, if a woman is married to a salaried worker and has an income of less than a certain amount, she can receive a pension without making national pension payments. Which of these choices is closest to your thinking on this system? (Please choose one.)."

      Source:

      Compiled from FY1997 Survey on Degree of Satisfaction with National Lifestyle (February 1998), Economic Planning Agency

      Not enough knowledge concerning type three insurance system
      In terms of shouldering costs for those with type three insurance, around 80% of women responded that women didn't have to pay because husbands were paying for their wives. This indicates insufficient knowledge of the system itself, which covers these costs through a pension system joined by those in the type two category supporting persons with type three insurance (Figure 17).

      Figure 17: Public pension payments for full-time housewives (by working status)
      Figure 17: Public pension payments for full-time housewives (by working status)

      Notes:

      1. 1,500 women between the ages of 24 and 34 (in 1993) were drawn from the first fiscal survey (implemented in 1993). Of those, 1,289 responded.
      2. "Part-time, etc." refers to part-time workers and other non full-time workers. "Self-employed, etc." refers to those who are self-employed, work for their families, freelance or are doing paid work at home.

      Source:

      Fourth Panel Survey on Consumption Life - Life and Work of Women Today (FY1997), Household Economy Research Institute