A survey has found that only 7.8% of bosses in Japan are female. This is an increase from 2019, but only by 0.1%.
Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had said he wanted 30% of Japanese bosses to be women by 2020.
The survey was done by Teikoku Databank between July 16 and July 31, with 11,732 companies taking part.
In the business sector, the retail industry had the most female managers, with 12.8% of the industry’s bosses being women. Real estate was second with 12.2%, followed by the service industry with 11.5%. The construction industry had the lowest number of female managers with just 4.3%.
Sixty percent of the companies said they did not expect the number of female managers in Japan to increase, while just over 20% said they thought it would.
Teikoku Databank said that women’s management jobs were being cut as companies try to reduce labor costs during the coronavirus pandemic.
In 2003, then-prime minister Junichiro Koizumi set the goal of having 30% of Japan’s managers be women by 2020. Abe made it part of his policies as well. But in June this year, The Mainichi reported that the Japanese government was considering delaying that goal to as late as 2030.
In its Women in Business 2020 report, international business advice company Grant Thornton found that 29% of senior managers worldwide are women, with the highest percentage in Africa.
