Gender Differentiation and Inequality in Managerial Positions in Japan (Part 1)
Gender inequality can easily be spotted within Japanese society. With a Gender Empowerment Rank of 54 out of 93 countries (HDR, 2009) – ranking Japan as one of the most unequal (if not the most unequal) of the rich countries – it is no secret that Japan is far behind on empowering its women and achieving gender equality on its islands. The gender inequality casts its shadows on many different social institutions. In education, there is a big gap between the male and female attendance – especially in graduate school (Statistics Bureau Japan, 2009). Also, only 12 % of the seats held in in parliament are held by women. Furthermore, women have an income of only 45 % of the men’s (HDR, 2009). We can therefore see a clear horizontal and vertical segregation in men’s and women’s jobs in Japan. Mariko Bando, an aid to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, told reporters that “Japan is still a developing country in terms of gender equality” (French, 2003).
Why do we see gender differences and inequality in Japan? There is a systematic, pervasive discriminatory attitude with historical roots in the Japanese society (Renshaw, 1999. p.17). In Japanese history, the men have been the breadwinners, leaders and fighters as we can see from for example the samurai. The women on the other hand, should raise the children, not have strong opinions and follow the man. This situation led to stability and control within the Japanese society.
With these factors in mind, I have chosen to look into female managers and gender differences and inequality for female managers in Japan as a social institution, and some of the issues related to this.
Female managers in Japan
In 2008, only 9,3 % of the managers and officials in Japan were female, although the women accounted for 41,6 % of the total workforce (Statistics Bureau Japan, 2009). As a comparison, in the USA 46 % of the managers are women (Koshal et al. 2004). Also, in the 225 largest companies listed in the Nikkei Index there are no female chef executives (Lewis, 2009). We can clearly see that there are huge gender inequalities within this area.
There are several issues related to this. By not taking advantage of the resources it has, Japan is not being as efficient as it could be. At the moment, Japan is mostly using men for managerial jobs, although it is said that female managers are better at for example “focusing on process rather than just results, paying attention to details, showing compassion and care in decision making, expressing willingness to ‘go an extra mile’, being sensitive to human relations, and offering a fresh perspective to business problems” (Koshal et al. 2004). Japan is therefore not taking full advantage of the extra “brainpower” it could have gotten from the women.
Also, women are not able to reach their full potential. For example, Takako Ariishi, 36, experienced gender discrimination when her father cut her hair like a boy when she was a child, and then fired her from the family company as soon as she gave birth to a son that her father could appoint as his successor (Fackler, 2007). Fackler also writes that most of the Japanese women end their careers when they have children, and that they have to remain single if they want to reach a managerial position and that it is shown that countries with higher percentages of female managers have a higher fertility rate.
We can see that there are issues related to both society as a whole, the women and their happiness and the country’s fertility rate that are all generated by the gender inequalities of female managers in Japan. I now want to see how the gender differentiation and inequality in Japan can be explained from a sociological point of view.
Functionalist Based Analysis
The functionalist theories can help us understand why gender inequality exists. The functionalist theories state that all sociological institutions exist for a reason. Durkheim argues that “the explanation for the continuing existence of a social fact lies in its function, that is, the usefulness for society” (Haralambos et al. 2008, p.858). If this is applied to the gender differentiation for female managers, according to functionalist theories the inequality should perform a function in the Japanese society for it to be able to exist.
Durkheim states that the most important prerequisite is the need for social order (Haralambos et al. 2008, p.858). With a gender differentiation and gender inequality for female managers, one of the sexes, the men, will be the managers, the leaders and therefore in control, and there will be more stability and order within the society. Gender inequality can therefore be seen as a way to get a stable society and social order – what Durkheim says is the most important prerequisite.
Another important function of the gender inequality can be related to Japanese norms and values. Norms and values are important for integrating people into society and maintaining social order (Haralambos et al. 2008, p.859). Renshaw 1999 stated that women who might want to become managers and leaders in Japan face societal norms and should therefore expect tremendous obstacles (Renshaw 1999, p.17). The society as a whole feels more safe when people know their roles (Haralambos et al. 2008, p.859), for example when the men are in charge of earning money and leading while the women focus on raising the children and taking care of the elderly etc.
Through having gender differentiation and inequality for female managers in Japan, the society is using social control to discourage deviance to maintain the social equilibrium and societal order (Haralambos et al. 2008, p.860). We can see the inequality of mangers in Japan as a form of pattern maintenance – a maintenance of the basic patterns of values, here the role of the man and the women. While some people would prefer equality in the society, to maintain the values and order in society the norm is that the men should be the leaders and the breadwinners.
By having less female managers, there will also be more women who will stay at home to raise and socialise the children, which is another functional prerequisite. Murdock argues that sexual division of labour is the most efficient way of organizing society. Due to biological differences we have gender roles out of share practicality (Haralambos et al. 2008, p.96). Men might for example cope with stress more easily, and they might therefore be better suited for a managerial job. Parsons argues that there has to be a clear-cut sexual division between labour for the family to operate (Haralambos et al. 2008, p.96). Therefore it would be better if for example the men were the breadwinners and the women were the housewives.
However, Oakley argues that sexual division of labour is not universal, and in some cultures there is no gender differentiation of labour (Haralambos et al. 2008, p.97-98). She claims that Murdock is looking at the women from the Western and male eyes. Being a manager should be no problem for women. As mentioned earlier, women actually have some special characteristic features which some people argue make them more suited as managers than men..
Because the main function of the gender differentiation is to keep order and stability in society through norms and moral values, if the norms and values would change – and people would see that women are just as good managers as men – there would be no function for the gender differentiation, and from a functionalist perspective the inequality would seize to exist.
To be continued.
