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Gender Gap in Employment and Wages in Japan
The gender gap in employment and wage in Japan is becoming an increasingly serious problem because Japan is the fastest aging country in the OECD. In order to maintain Japan's economy, the government must take measures to maintain its level of productivity. Although more women are attaining their education, with women holding 45.4 percent of Japan's Bachelor's degrees, they only make up 18.2 percent of the labor force, and only 2.1 percent of employers are women. There are several theories explaining why women's participation in the labor force is so low considering that Japan is a major economy. One theory points to the importance of family in Japanese society. This emphasis on the male-breadwinner model persists today because government tax policies and company benefits are not beneficial to women, especially women with families. There is a government policy that guarantees healthcare and pensions for spouses who make less than 1.3 million yen, or about $11,500, thus discouraging couples from both working. Japanese companies have extensive benefits for men because they are expected to provide for their families at home. Women therefore do not feel the need to work because their husbands' benefits extend to them. Job salaries and benefits are also heavily influenced by tenure and seniority; therefore, it is hard for women with families to be in regular employment. Furthermore, three-generational households, which includes the grandparents, parents, and children, are very common in Japan. So the husband's salary and benefits provide for the whole family while the wife stays home and cares for the elderly and children. As more women are obtaining their education, there are two courses of actions that can happen: (1) women continue to stay home resulting in a loss of human capital, or (2) they delay starting a family and pursue a career. And it seems that more women are choosing the latter option.

Not only is there a small number of women in employment but their wages are significantly less than that of their male counterparts. In 2005, Japan had a gender wage gap of 32.8 percent, and in 2017, the number decreased to 25.7 percent; however, this still makes Japan the country with the third highest wage gap in the OECD. Japan's long work hours create an environment that reinforces the wage gap because there is a disproportional difference between how much time men and women spend on paid and unpaid work. On average, women spend 5.5 hours on unpaid housework per day, whereas men only spend one hour. Men do very little housework in Japan, and this is part of the gendered labor division. As mentioned above, wages are tied seniority and tenure, making it difficult for women to get the same benefits because they have to choose between their career or family. In the Japanese work structure, promotions and better benefits and pay are only awarded to employees who stay in the company for many years. This excludes the women who wants to have a family because promotions will be awarded when they are in their thirties or forties. The number of women in upper level positions (managers, CEOs, and politicians, etc.) are rather low. Women only make up 3.4 percent of seats in Japanese companies' board of directors. One reason for the lack of women in higher positions is that here are sticky floors and glass ceilings, which are barriers that prevent women from filling certain positions and obtaining higher wages. According to scholars, in order to remove these barriers against women, the government must introduce more women and family-friendly policies.

Labor market segregation is associated with the gender wage gap. Occupational differences on gender in post World War II was the result of deliberate state policies to keep women from filling positions. Recent research has also begun to show correlation between wages and gender segregation in employment. One explanation for the gender disparity in Japan is the crowding hypothesis. Haruhiko argues that this hypothesis pertains to full-time workers and states that as one occupation begins to build restrictions and barriers for women to apply and rightfully gain employment, the restricted job then hires primarily male workers causing women to find employment elsewhere, this in turn over-saturates non-restricted jobs with women. .

Findings have shown that the wages in male-dominated workplaces will increase while the female abundant workplace(s) will see a wage decrease for both men and women. This hypothesis can only explain 5.1% of the total wage gap. The problem with the crowding hypothesis is that only ordinary full-time workers are used as a measure for this statistic. This percentage does not account for part time female workers who are stay at home mothers, post-married females or women who are forced to leave work because of child bearing.

An alternative hypothesis called The Compensating Wage Differential hypothesis states that women are not forced into these jobs per se, but instead that they pick and choose their occupations based on the benefits package that each can provide. From work availability, to health compensation, women may choose to have a lower wage in order to have certain job benefits. This is proposed as another reason for the large wage gap that women in the Japanese economy face. The study by Wei-hsin Yu shows that there is also a connection between wage raises if you are currently working in an environment that includes a majority of women. Other theories include that of Sumiko Iwao who proposes that part-time work is also a choice for women in Japan in order to fulfill the duties expected of them at home.

The complete opposite of Iwao's theory is suggested by Mary Brinton who thinks that the government is structured around devices that disallow women to find "good jobs." Iwao focuses on culture while Brinton blames the economical systems Japan has in place. The third key theory comes from Higuchi Keiko and she claims that gender diversification is due to public policy; political means. Keiko justifies this through laws that the Japanese Government have set underlying policies that discretely favors gender diversification. One such law pushed in the 1960's was called hitozukuri policy, or human-making policy. This policy supported females with the responsibility to reproduce a new generation capable of economic success. It is through such policies that lead women to take certain roads during their career path.