Women in Japanese business - changes and continuing challenges!

Today is my 100th post since I started posting regularly last summer, and i'm very happy it coincides with an article about women in business as this is a topic I'm very passionate about. I felt so lucky to be able to join the Stanford Panel Discussion with 3 amazing trailblazers: Masako Furuta, Makiko Kawabe and Yueyuan Yang.

As I listened to their stories, I recognized a lot of challenges they faced during their careers. Facing pressure from family and self to be perfect is something that many women feel deeply. What undoubtedly makes it harder for Japanese women to excel in their careers is missing opportunities for promotion and overseas assignments because of their gender and family status.

These missed chances may be looked at as the result of misguided desire to protect women and mothers from corporate stress, something European and American companies have mostly moved beyond.

Still, with all these additional roadblocks, wat struck me is what these women were able to accomplish in their careers and lives and even more how positive they all are about the future.

It's true that the Japanese government implemented various laws to promote gender equality and work-life balance, but as Japanese culture moves slowly both awareness and actualization take a while to materialize in people's daily lives. What surfaced during the panel was the need for rolemodels and a change in perspective on both sides:

🎯 Companies need to have a more global perspective and implement a multidimensional performance review that supports diversity and specifically supports women in the workforce. In short: judge on actual work performance not on time spent at work.

🎯 Women need to be brave, embrace the challenge and continue learning and growing. I think that with the kind of rolemodels the panelists are as well as many more brave women, this will become easier for the upcoming generations. I also hope that more allies will step up to champion women willing to put themselves out there, and I'm beyond excited that I can do my small part in helping women in their journey to the top.

Want to know more? At Japan Consulting Office, we specialize in equipping professionals to thrive in cross-cultural environments. Whether you’re looking for group training or one-on-one sessions, we’ve got you covered!

If you want to learn more about bridging language and cultural gaps in Japanese business, why not join one of our sessions! Here’s the link to upcoming sessions (make sure to select your timezone