Announcement
Among the 38 member countries of the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development), Japan and Korea are considered to have particularly large economic disparities between men and women. For example, Korea ranks 38th and Japan 37th in terms of the wage gap between men and women, and Japan ranks 38th and Korea 37th in terms of the percentage of women in management positions. In the “Economic Participation and Opportunity” category of the World Economic Forum's annual “Gender Gap Index” (2024), Korea ranks 112th and Japan 120th out of 146 countries covered, both extremely low levels by global standards. For this reason, the governments of Japan and Korea have been actively promoting “womanomics” (promotion of women's economic participation), but there is still a long way to go in correcting the economic disparity between men and women.
In this symposium, we will clarify the actual situation and factors behind the economic disparity between men and women in Japan and Korea based on data and empirically examine the similarities and differences between the two countries. In addition, government officials and researchers who have been working in this field will delve into the issues from their respective standpoints and discuss future improvement measures.
Information
- Time and Date: 13:00-17:30 (JST), Thursday, July 3, 2025
- Languages: Japanese / Korean (with simultaneous interpretation)
- Venue: IINO Hall & CONFERENCE CENTER＋Online (Live Stream)
4F IINO BUILDING, 2-1-1 Uchisaiwai-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo - Host: Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI)
- Supporting Organization: Gender Equality Bureau, Cabinet Office
- Contact: Ms. TAKEKAWA Conference Section
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Program
13:00- Opening Remarks
FUKAO Kyoji (Chairman, RIETI / University Professor, IER, Hitotsubashi University)
13:05- Special Remarks
KAWAMOTO Yuko (President, National Personnel Authority)
13:10- Keynote Speaker Session: Administration for the Promotion of Gender Equality
Presentation 1: Economic Policy and Gender Equality
HAYASHI Tomoko (Director-General, Economic Research Bureau (Chief Economist of Government) Cabinet Office, Government of Japan)
Presentation 2: Challenges for Equal Work and Work-Life Balancing in South Korea
Seungah HONG (Former the Secretary for Gender Equality and Family in the Presidential Secretariat / Former Director of Family and Equality Society Research Center, Korean Women’s)
Commentator
Discussion: On the Significance of Comparative Gender-Inequality Studies Between Japan and South Korea
YAMAGUCHI Kazuo (Visiting Fellow, RIETI / Ralph Lewis Professor of Sociology, University of Chicago)
14:10- Session 1: Gender Inequality in the Workplace
Presentation 1: Gender Bias in Evaluation and Promotion (Report by Dr. Asai)
ASAI Yukiko (Assistant Instructional Professor at the Harris School of Public Policy)
OWAN Hideo (Faculty Fellow, RIETI / Professor, Faculty of Political Science and Economics, Waseda University) (co-researcher)
Presentation 2: Firm Level Incentive Compatibility for Improving ESG and Gender Equality
Hyeok JEONG (Professor, Seoul National University)
Presentation 3: Unpacking the Child Penalty Using Personnel Data: How Promotion Practices Widen the Gender Pay Gap
YAMAGUCHI Shintaro (Professor, Graduate School of Economics, The University of Tokyo)
Presentation 4: South Korea's Gender Divide: Within Occupations and Across Them
Yoosik YOUM (Underwood Distinguished Professor, Yonsei University Full Professor of Sociology, Yonsei University)
Discussion
Moderator
NAKAMURO Makiko (Faculty Fellow, RIETI / Professor, Faculty of Policy Management, Keio University)
15:40-15:55 Break
15:55- Session 2: Other Research on Gender Inequality in Economic Activity
Presentation 1: Is Rest Capability More Critical for Dual-earner Women?: Gender Differences in the Impact of Work-Family Conflict on Rest Capability and Depressive Symptoms
Juyeon KIM (Professor, University of Seoul)
Presentation 2: Gender gap in labor supply in South Korea
Youjin HAHN (Professor, Yonsei University)
Presentation 3: A Decomposition Analysis of the Gender Gap in Science Consciousness of Primary and Secondary High School Students (Report by Prof.Nakamuro)
NAKAMURO Makiko (Faculty Fellow, RIETI / Professor, Faculty of Policy Management, Keio University)
IGEI Kengo (Project Associate Professor, Graduate School of Media and Governance, Keio University (co-researcher)
Presentation 4: Why are there so few women in science and engineering in Japan?
YOKOYAMA Hiromi (Professor, Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe, The University of Tokyo)
Discussion
Moderator
SUZUKI Kyoko (Associate Professor, Faculty of Letters, Chuo University)
17:25- Closing Remarks
TOMOURA Eiichi (President and Chief Research Officer (CRO)/ Dean, Faculty of Data Science, Otsuma Women's University)
*Agenda is subject to change
