Womenomics Has to Wait in Line as Tenure Obstructs Abe's Goal
- Advancement is especially slow in government offices
- There are more female employees, but often in lowly jobs
Shinzo Abe, Japan's prime minister, front row center, poses for a group photograph with members of his new cabinet
Photographer: Kiyoshi Ota/BloombergJapanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is seeking to have women hold 30 percent of supervisory positions in all fields by the time Tokyo hosts the Olympics in 2020. Right now, his own government is at least 15 years behind schedule.
Women fill just 6.2 percent of junior management jobs in Japan’s bureaucracy. While the intake of graduates is now more than 30 percent female, careers tend to progress at a snail’s pace. It takes about 20 years’ tenure to move into a supervisory role, meaning the new cohort of women starting work on April 1 probably will be kept waiting until the mid-2030s. Hitting the target for senior management will take even longer.