Gender Inequalities in the Japanese Workplace and Employment (eBook)

Preface 6
Contents 7
About the Author 12
1 Impediments to the Advancement of Women in the Japanese Employment System: Theoretical Overview and the Purpose of This Book 13
1.1 Introduction: Basic Facts on Gender Inequality in Employment 13
1.2 Analysis of the Japanese Employment System 19
1.2.1 Main Points of Discussion 19
1.2.2 Strategic Rationality and Limitations of the Japanese Employment System and Practices 26
1.2.3 Institutional Causes of the Strong Persistence of the Traditional Division of Household Labor for Married Couples 33
1.2.4 Statistical Discrimination Against Women and Its Irrationality 37
1.2.5 “Dysfunction” of Japanese Employment Practices 39
1.3 Strategy for Analysis and Organization of This Book 44
Appendix: A Non-technical Explanation of Rubin’s Causal Model 48
References 55
2 Determinants of the Gender Gap in the Proportion of Managers Among White-Collar Regular Employees 58
2.1 Introduction: On the Intermediary Causes of the Gender Wage Gap 58
2.2 Realities of the Disparity in the Proportion of Managerial Positions Between Men and Women 61
2.3 Analytical Strategy and Main Hypotheses 63
2.4 Method of Statistical Analysis 67
2.4.1 Decomposition Analysis of the Gender Gap in the Proportion of Managers 67
2.4.2 Analysis of the Gender Gap in the Proportion of Managers Unexplained by Gender Differences in Explanatory Variables 68
2.5 Analysis Results 68
2.5.1 Data Employed for Analysis 68
2.5.2 Influence of Gender Differences in Educational Attainment, Age, and Years of Service on the Gender Gap in the Proportion of Managers 69
2.5.3 Analysis of Interaction Effects Between Gender and Individual and Firm Characteristics on the Proportion of Managers and Supervisors 77
2.6 Conclusions and Policy Implications 86
Appendix 1: The BO and DFL Methods for Decomposition Analysis 87
Appendix 2: A Decomposition Analysis of the Gender Wage Gap 89
References 92
3 Causes and Effects of Gender Occupational Segregation: Overlooked Obstacles to Gender Equality 93
3.1 Introduction 94
3.2 Review of Previous Studies and Theories from the West, and Japan’s Current State from a Cross-National Comparative Point of View 95
3.2.1 Review of Previous Studies and Theories on Gender Occupational Segregation 95
3.2.2 Women’s Participation in Professional Jobs and Japan’s Current Situation from a Cross-National Comparative Point of View 98
3.3 Analysis Methods and Data 100
3.3.1 Analysis Methods 100
3.4 Data and Variables 101
3.5 Analytical Results 102
3.5.1 Degree of Gender Occupational Segregation: Comparison Between Japan and the United States, and Changes Over Time 102
3.5.2 Analyzing the Relationships Among Gender, Occupation, and Wages 104
3.5.3 Decomposition Analysis of Gender Occupational Segregation 108
3.6 Conclusion and Discussion 113
3.6.1 Main Analysis Results 113
3.6.2 Consistency with Existing Theories and Policy Implications 113
Appendix 1: Matching Model 115
Appendix 2: Application of the Eight Occupational Classifications Used in the Tables to the Sub-classifications of Japanese and U.S. Data 118
References 119
4 Gender Income Disparity Among White-Collar Regular Employees: Explaining the Causes Responsible for 80% of the Disparity and Its Mechanisms 121
4.1 Introduction: Objectives of This Chapter 122
4.2 Hypotheses 124
4.3 Analytical Methods 128
4.3.1 Decomposition of the Gender Income Disparity 128
4.3.2 Analysis of the Heterogeneity of the “Unexplainable Disparity” 128
4.4 Data and Variables 130
4.4.1 Data Used in the Analysis 130
4.4.2 Explanatory Variables 130
4.4.3 Descriptive Statistics Results 131
4.5 Analysis 1: Decomposition Analysis of the Gender Income Disparity 134
4.5.1 Interpreting the Degree of Explanation from the DFL Method 134
4.5.2 Results of Decomposition Analysis 136
4.6 Analysis 2: Analyzing the Heterogeneity of the Unexplainable Disparity 139
4.6.1 Gender Income Disparity by Age 140
4.6.2 Gender Income Disparity by Educational Attainment 141
4.6.3 Gender Income Disparity by Occupation 143
4.6.4 Gender Income Disparity by Average Weekly Hours Worked 144
4.6.5 Gender Income Disparity by Positional Rank 145
4.7 Conclusion and Discussion 145
Appendix: Diagnostic Analyses of the Validity of the Propensity Scores 148
References 152
5 Impacts of Companies’ Promotion of Work–Life Balance and the Restrictive Regular Employment System on Gender Wage Gap 153
5.1 Introduction 154
5.2 Hypotheses and Assumptions for Causal Inference 159
5.3 Data and Variables 161
5.4 Analytical Methods 163
5.5 Analysis Results 165
5.5.1 Testing the Statistical Independence of the Treatment Variable and Control Variables After the IPT Weighting of Data 165
5.5.2 Effects of Company Attributes and Individual Attributes on Company Policies 165
5.5.3 Effects of the Presence of the GEO Policy 169
5.5.4 Combined Effects of the Presence of the GEO Policy and the WLB Promotion Policy 171
5.5.5 Combined Effects of the Presence of the GEO Policy and the Presence of a Work-Location-Restricted Regular Employment System 173
5.6 Conclusion 174
References 175
6 Empowerment of Women in the Workplace and Labor Productivity: Which Company Policies Are Effective and Why 177
6.1 Introduction 178
6.2 OECD Data Analysis 180
6.3 Analysis of Japanese Corporations 184
6.3.1 Data 184
6.3.2 Tobit Regression Analysis on Determinants of Companies’ Gross Profit on Sales 185
6.4 Conclusion and Discussion on Causal Effects 198
References 201
7 Statistical and Indirect Discrimination: Revisiting the Incentive Problem 203
7.1 Introduction: Self-Fulfilling Prophecy and Statistical Discrimination 203
7.2 Reviewing the Theory of Coate and Loury and Examining Its Problems 209
7.2.1 Important Points in Understanding the Theory 209
7.2.2 A More Formal Review of the CL Theory 211
7.3 Measures Not Considered by the CL Theory 217
7.3.1 Measure 1: Eliminating Risk Aversion in Company Personnel Decisions 218
7.3.2 Measure 2: Effective Utilization of Probationary Periods 220
7.4 An Examination of Instances in Which Signal Distribution Is Disadvantageous to Women 224
7.4.1 When the Employer Believes in Gender Equality Regarding the Proportion of Qualified Persons But Uses a Signal Unfavorable to Women 226
7.4.2 Indirect Discrimination Model: Where Employers Have Demand Curves for Qualified Persons Independent of Gender But Use Only a Signal Unfavorable to Women in Determining Employees’ Qualifications 229
7.5 Conclusion and Discussion 234
References 238
8 Gender Inequality and Its Irrationality: Implications from the Analytical Results 239
8.1 Introduction: The Need to Question “Basic Understanding” When Considering Gender Inequality 240
8.2 Proportion of Women in Managerial Positions and Indirect Discrimination 244
8.3 Statistical Discrimination, the Self-fulfilling Prophecy, and the Low Productivity of Female Labor 248
8.4 Stereotyping Women’s Occupations 249
8.5 Long Working Hours and Opportunities for Women 252
8.6 Diversity Management and Policies for the Empowerment of Women in the Workplace 256
8.7 Employment Status and Gender Wage Gap 258
8.8 Application of the Act on the Promotion of Success in the Working Careers of Women 261
8.8.1 Guidelines for Establishing Concrete Action Plans for Both Regular and Non-regular Employment (Pertaining to Article 8 of the Act) 261
8.8.2 Following up on Business Plan Formulation 263
8.8.3 “Visualization” of Corporate Indicators for the Utilization of Women (Pertaining to Article 16 of the Act) 264
8.9 Important Points When Considering Gender Equality of Opportunity 265
References 270
Afterword 271
Index 274