Beyond Backlash: How Gender Quotas Empower Women and Shape Workplace Attitudes in Japanese Hiring

This study examines how gender quotas influence job application decisions and occupational choices in Japan, and how these effects vary across individual characteristics. Using a choice-based conjoint experiment with 1,167 participants, we analyze preferences for positions with and without gender quotas across different job types. We find that gender quotas significantly increase women's application likelihood by approximately 10 percentage points, with the strongest effects among high-performing employed women, while not discouraging applications from comparably qualified men. Beyond increasing female representation, quotas enable women to make occupational choices that better align with their preferences and are associated with higher expected productivity and workplace well-being. Further analysis reveals that support for gender quotas relates systematically to personality traits, gender role beliefs, and prior experiences—notably, men who recognize past gender advantages show greater support for quotas. These findings provide actionable insights for designing inclusive recruitment strategies and diversity policies in non-Western contexts, demonstrating that well-designed quotas can promote both equity and efficiency in labor markets.