Can Japan get more female business leaders?

Phoebe AmorosoBusiness reporter, TokyoAFP through Getty ImagesSome hope that the election of Japan’s first feminine prime minister will open doorways for different womenIn October Japan acquired its first feminine prime minister, Sanae Takaichi. Her rise has been hailed as a ground-breaking second for Japanese ladies, however some worry that her conservative politics will not change the nation’s gender inequality scenario.There’s one factor that each her proponents and detractors agree on – Japan wants extra ladies in management positions in each enterprise and authorities.The nation has remarkably low gender equality relative to its excessive stage of financial growth. This yr, it ranked 118th out of 148 nations on the World Financial Discussion board’s Gender Hole Index.That makes it the worst performing among the many 38 member nations of the Organisation for Financial Co-operation and Growth (OECD) group of free market democracies.The Japanese authorities did set a goal of getting 30% of management roles throughout all sectors of society held by ladies by 2020, however on the finish of that yr the timeframe was quietly pushed again by a decade. Presently the extent for companies is 11.1%.However change is slowly underway.”Japan really has finished a very good job growing feminine labour market participation,” says Yumiko Murakami, co-founder of MPower Companions, Japan’s first female-led enterprise capital (VC) firm. VC corporations spend money on start-up corporations.The proportion of girls aged 15-64 working has steadily elevated over the previous 15 years, surpassing the OECD common within the early 2010s, and going above 77% this yr. That is greater than the 70% recorded within the US. Japan’s ageing inhabitants and labour shortages have made extra ladies discovering paid work an financial necessity for the nation.Ms Murakami additionally factors to key coverage interventions as an essential issue. Corresponding to the federal government transferring to scale back nursery ready lists, in order that younger moms can return to the workforce extra rapidly.Yumiko MurakamiYumiko Murakami says Japan has finished effectively to get extra ladies into the workplaceThere is, nonetheless, a catch – ladies in Japan earn on common solely 70 to 80% of their male counterparts’ wages, in response to a 2024 authorities survey.That is one thing Ms Murakami and her co-founders are aiming to alter. Their agency’s WPower fund focuses solely on supporting feminine founders and women-empowerment companies.”There are actually, actually fascinating and good feminine founders or minority founders,” says Ms Murakami. “However they might not get the identical stage of entry to capital in the identical approach as male founders do, which creates alternatives for individuals like us [as investors].”The Tokyo Metropolitan Authorities put up capital for half the fund, with the rest coming from personal sector corporations.Ms Murakami says it was encouraging how a lot curiosity they obtained. However she warns that the “clubby [male] surroundings” in Japan’s wider VC group makes it powerful for feminine entrepreneurs making an attempt to get funding, and even entry to data.”The enterprise capital trade could be very closed in a approach. Should you’re in, if you happen to’re an insider, then it is nice since you are linked with all people and the data travels actually rapidly.”However, if you’re not, then it is actually exhausting – you simply do not get loads of data. The sheer variety of feminine founders is simply tiny.”And due to this fact, as a result of there isn’t any important mass, they’re actually not a part of the core of this small start-up village. And due to this fact, in my view we have to create important mass.”The gender imbalance – feminine entrepreneurs and male cheque-writers – has additionally led to sexual harassment instances. Greater than half of feminine entrepreneurs stated that they had skilled sexual harassment previously yr, in response to a 2024 survey. The subject has gained growing media consideration in Japan, with a number of victims reporting sexual assault or being pressured to alternate sexual favours for funding. The Ministry of Economic system, Commerce and Trade introduced a authorities survey in August 2025 to evaluate the scope of the issue.Startup Girl is a help organisation focussed on feminine firm founders – and security is a key concern. Moeko Suzuki co-founded the organisation together with her enterprise companions a decade in the past, after they realised there was a spot in help in Japan for aspiring or early-stage feminine entrepreneurs of all nationalities.”We began to assume that we should always create some protected area for ladies, and likewise a spot for feminine entrepreneurs to get collectively, speak about enterprise, ease their thoughts, and likewise get the mindset,” Ms Suzuki says. “We needed to create someplace very, very protected for feminine entrepreneurs in Japan, even when they don’t seem to be Japanese.”This yr, they’re collaborating with a neighborhood authorities in Tokyo to run a sequence of lectures and workshops on matters from fundraising to find out how to shut a deal, with one-to-one mentoring classes and alternatives for networking.Up to now, nonetheless, the occasions have attracted extra non-Japanese feminine entrepreneurs than Japanese. Ms Suzuki says there’s nonetheless a scarcity of feminine position fashions in Japan to encourage youthful generations.Moeko SuzukiMoeko Suzuki says she needed to create a ‘protected surroundings’ for feminine entrepreneurs Gender stereotypes persist in schooling. The nation has one of many lowest percentages of feminine college students in stem topics (sciences, expertise, engineering and arithmetic) in comparison with different OECD nations.At Tokyo College, thought-about certainly one of Japan’s most prestigious academic establishments, solely 20% of undergraduates are ladies, and even fewer are researchers.To sort out this, the college launched an initiative referred to as UTokyo Gender Fairness #WeChange in 2022. The goal is to extend the ratio of feminine school members from 16% in 2022 to 25% by the top of the 2027 educational yr.To assist obtain this it’s offering subsidies to departments that rent feminine school members, in some instances subsidising the prices of the brand new hires for as much as three years or 5 years. Up to now, the ratio has risen to virtually 18%.Tokyo UniversityTokyo College is continuous with a scheme to nominate extra feminine staffProf Kaori Hayashi, Tokyo College’s government vp who’s spearheading the initiative, says progress has been sluggish however important.The issue, she cautions, is that they’re nonetheless dealing with a restricted candidate pool. Ladies are generally actively discouraged from pursuing stem or getting into Tokyo College.To counteract this early-stage gender bias, the college runs outreach packages, sending feminine college students again to their excessive faculties to speak about life on campus and function position fashions.Undoubtedly, probably the most seen position mannequin for ladies in Japan, nonetheless, is the newly elected Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, who heads Japan’s Liberal Democratic Celebration (LDP).Some have applauded her rise because the shattering of the glass ceiling, in a rustic that has extraordinarily low feminine political empowerment in comparison with its OECD counterparts.Others, nonetheless, bemoan her conservative viewpoints, equivalent to her opposition to proposed laws that might enable ladies to maintain separate surnames after marriage. They fear little will change.”I perceive that some individuals are inspired by the concept a girl can grow to be prime minister, however I do not assume it is going to result in the realisation of gender equality insurance policies,” says youth activist Momoko Nojo.However in a rustic making an attempt to open the doorways to extra feminine leaders throughout all sectors, it is inconceivable to disregard the importance of Sanae Takaichi’s election. Whether or not some contemplate her a job mannequin or not, a precedent has been set that girls in Japan can grow to be leaders on the very prime.Learn extra international enterprise tales