Barriers to Gender Equality in Japan: Moving from Myth to Realities

This chapter examines the barriers to gender equality in Japan. Despite the aspiration for gender equality in government and companies, there remains a persistent gap between the aspiration, targets, and outcomes. However, there has been limited discussion, dialogue, and consensus on what these barriers are, who the key stakeholders are, and how these barriers might be removed. To fill this gap, this chapter employs Institutional theory and investigates the barriers to gender equality in Japan. In particular, it examines corporate gender equality initiatives and driving and constraining institutional pressures from core institutions of markets, governments, and families. The analysis shows that these companies and key stakeholders, namely shareholders, customers, employees, national and local lawmakers and politicians, husband, wife, parents, their children, and school teachers, are responsible for maintaining the barriers for gender equality by behaving consistently with the rational myth. To break away from the myth, the governments, companies, and key stakeholders have to remove the barriers simultaneously and create new realities cooperatively.