Japanese Management Culture - Japanese Women in Management

Japanese Women in Management

As the modern cultures of the world continue to advance, cultural concepts of their past either lose presence or evolve with the modern concepts of the culture. Japan is experiencing such an evolution in regards to women in the workplace and in management roles. While a main reason for this evolution is the adoption of western influence on Japanese society, Japan is being forced to support this evolution because it is grappling with a declining population and lower birth rate which will lead to a smaller workforce. According to “Cloud, or Silver Linings? . . .” published in the Economist (2007), it was reported that in 2006 Japan’s birth rate was 1.32 and has been below 2.1 since the 1970s. A birthrate of 2.1 is necessary to successfully maintain current population numbers of a society. The article described that the OECD has proven there is a “positive correlation between fertility and female employment.” Thus, if an effort is made to support females work ambitions and family desires, then females will be more willing and likely to want to have children and families and not have to sacrifice their career in the process. Japanese officials are not taking this information lightly. During his last year in office, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi (2002-2007), began legislation to foster “financial support for families with young children and an expansion of child-care facilities (p.27).