Japanese women are still fighting for equal treatment in the business world. One place where women are notably absent is in leadership positions. A new report has good news and bad news: there are more female company presidents in Japan than ever – but the number still remains well below 10% of the total.
The survey from private credit research company Teikoku Databank looked at the 1,190,000 companies in Japan to identify which had female company presidents (社長; shachou). A company president in Japan is a somewhat nebulous title but often designates the company’s overall leader.
The good news is that women now comprise 8.4% of all company presidents in Japan. That’s a record and a sizable increase from 1990, when only 4.5% of company presidents were women.
However, that number only grew by a mere 0.1% from 2023. It also means that, in 44 years, the number of women leading companies in Japan has only increased by 3.9% – i.e., it hasn’t even doubled.
Additionally, almost 20% of women don’t achieve this position until they’re over 75 years old. Most (13.6%) achieve it between ages 60 and 64. On average – i.e., when counting male executives in addition to women – most people achieve president status between ages 55 and 59. The data, in other words, show that it takes women significantly longer in their cateers to rise to the top.
Regionally, Tokushima Prefecture had the highest rate of female company presidents at 12.1%, followed by Okinawa (11.6%) and Saga Prefecture (11.1%). The worst prefecture was Gifu, at 6%.
In terms of industry, female company presidents are most likely to thrive in real estate, which has a 17.4% female leadership rate. The next top industries are service (11.3%) and retail (11.1%). The worst industry for female company presidents? Construction, at a mere 4.9%.
Women struggle for equality in Japanese business
The annual Gender Gap report from the World Economic Forum (WEF) consistently finds Japanese women struggling to make headway in the workplace. The 2024 report found women face a 21% wage gap compared to men in equivalent positions.
The WEF also ranked Japan low (2.96 out of 7) for women’s advancement to leadership positions. Women only hold 15.5% of corporate board positions in Japan, the WEF found.
Women also have to content, not just with workplace sexual harassment, but sexual harassment during the job hunting process itself. We wrote this week about how some men are using a popular broker app to sexually harass women looking for internships or their first jobs.
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Sources
女性社長の割合 過去最高も依然1割に満たない低水準 民間調査. NHK News
女性社長比率は8.4％、過去最高ながら低水準続く 高齢化が止まらず5人に1人が「75歳以上」. Teikoku Databank via PRTimes
