Prime Minister Shinzo Abe from Japan is on a tour across Australia, hand-in-hand with our own Tony Abbott. Abe is the great energiser of Japan, a country that has needed a vision for some time.
Abe and Abbott were both elected to build their economies, but they have had different ideas on doing say, especially when it comes to women’s participation.
Japan’s PM is a keen advocate for gender equality in corporate roles. While his own ministry could have more women, he’s stared down CEOs who have complained about his pursuit of gender equality.
Kathy Matsui, a Goldman Sachs analyst, concluded in 1999 that the Japanese GDP could increase by 15% by bringing more women into the workforce. Abe knows that to realise the growth he wishes to achieve, a 2% productivity increase and 3% nominal GDP expansion, that women will need to feature prominently.
While Prime Minister Abbott say he’s a feminist, in spite of a number of faux pas, he could learn a lot from his discussions with Abe.
By positioning women at the centre of the Japanese economy, Abe’s turning rhetoric into action. Something that is well overdue when it comes to the politics of diversity issues.
He is setting targets and goals across the economy to boost women’s activity in the economy by 2020 and reduce pay disparity. Japan currently has one of the lowest female workforce participation rates in the OECD and there is broad realisation that gender equality is part of counteracting the long-term economic issues that have plagued them.
Following his announcement for women to constitute at least 30% of senior leadership roles in Japan, Abe faced criticism. The captains of industry believed that this was too ambitious and too difficult to attain. Abe’s gender equality minister, Masako Mori, rejected this negativity and asked for a greater commitment from corporate circles.
Like Australia, Japan has an issue with the supply of childcare which prohibits many mothers from returning to the workforce. Combining this with a crippling male-culture that rejects maternity leave which fails to support any semblance of a work-life balance, Japan has many challenges in engaging women. However, they are not too distant from our own.
Japanese women are highly educated but their underutilisation puts much at stake. The country is ageing fast, and without engaging women they will lose their economic credentials.
There are clear commonalities between Australia and Japan. Yet the issues for women are magnified in Japan which can prosper by building women as a central part of their economy.
It is easy to pass this off as simply too challenging, but with the interest and advocacy of political leaders at the highest levels such progress can be achieved. Or as Masako Mori said: “There are all sorts of excuses about why it can’t be done, but I want you to keep on trying.”
I can only hope that Abe passes on some advice to Abbott about why he should be focused on women’s issues for economic advantage.