Womenenomics: Gender Equality as a Development Approach in Japan

This paper analyses the success of the "Womenomics" policy, launched in Japan in 2013 in response to demographic and economic challenges and aimed at increasing women's participation in the workforce, as well as the structural barriers behind it. Among the policy's main goals were increasing women's labour force participation rate and boosting their representation in management positions. Therefore, womenenomics has failed to achieve its goals. Although women's labour force participation rate has increased since 1986 (reaching 66% in 2016), this increase has largely coincided with a rise in irregular (precarious) employment rates. Notwith-standing, womenomics, within a neoliberal framework, primarily aims for economic growth rather than genuine social equality. This top-down approach does not adequately address the various economic challenges and pressure to leave the workforce faced by women, particularly in low-skilled occupations. All in all, to create a sustainable impact for womenomics, it must go beyond mere participation metrics and target deep-rooted cultural and institutional trans-formations that ensure job quality and parental leave are accessible to both genders.