Japan Press Weekly

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2012 November 14 - 20 [LABOR]

Women endure more exploitative working conditions (Part 1)

A labor union survey has revealed that women workers are forced to endure heavier workloads and longer working hours amid corporate downsizing.

The women’s section of the National Confederation of Trade Unions (Zenroren) has conducted a survey on gender equality in work places since 1992. Prior to the revision of the Equal Employment Opportunity Law this year, the latest survey was held in 2011, one year ahead of schedule. It was responded to by 7,254 regular/non-regular women workers.

According to the survey result, those who do not work overtime amounted to 15.2% of regular women workers, down by 6.7% from four years ago, and amounted to 48.1% of non-regular women workers.

As the main reason for working overtime, more than 50% of all respondents said that they are responsible for getting their jobs done to meet deadlines.

Nearly 50% of respondents said that they take less than 10 days of paid holidays a year. The most cited reason for failure to take paid holidays was labor shortage.

More than 80% of regular workers said they do not take menstrual leave, up from 78.6% in 2007. More than 90% of non-regular workers do not take them either.

In Japan, men’s average annual salary is 5.04 million yen while women workers receive 2.68 million yen yearly in average, according to a survey conducted by the National Tax Agency in September.

In 2009, the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women pointed out that Japan’s efforts to eradicate discrimination against women are insufficient.

The Committee urged Japan “to prioritize the realization of women’s de facto equality with men in the labour market” and take concrete measures to “close the gender-based wage gap between women and men”.

In the World Economic Forum gender gap ranking, Japan was ranked 101, three down from the previous year, coming in the last among the G8 countries.