Path to Correcting Gender Inequality: Harness capital market forces

The workplace gender inequality figure for Japan is among the highest of the member states of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). According to data from the Japan Institute for Labour Policy and Training, the share of women in management posts in Japan in 2020 was as low as 13%, compared with 41% in the United States, 37% in the United Kingdom, 36% in France, 28% in each of Germany and Denmark, and 16% in South Korea.

According to statistics prepared by the OECD, while the wage gender inequality in Japan has gradually been narrowing, the median income for full-time female workers in Japan was 22% lower than the median income for their male equivalents in 2021. The gender gap was the second largest among the OECD member states, after the 31% difference in South Korea, and is much larger than the differences of 5% in Denmark, 7% in Sweden, 14% in Germany, 14% in the United Kingdom, and 17% in the United States.

The figure below shows the wage gender gap among workers aged between 30 and 55 in 15 developed countries as estimated by a research group in which this author is participating. Negative figures indicate the shortfall of wages for women relative to wages for men in percentage terms.

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