Women in Management Positions in Japan. Trends Challenges and Opportunities

Diploma Thesis from the year 2008 in the subject Business economics - Business Management Corporate Governance grade: 10 TU Bergakademie Freiberg (Chair of Business English Business Communication and Intercultural Communication) language: English abstract: The representation of women in management is a globally and frequently discussed phenomenon. Albeit the worldwide number of female managers is continuously increasing progress is still slow and full of barriers (ILO 2004). These obstacles are described as an invisible glass ceiling: Negative attitudes and prejudices within organizations prevent women from climbing the career ladder (Wirth 2001). However culture seems to be an important factor of influence for female management opportunities. For example female managers tend to be generally less accepted in Asia than in America or Eastern Europe (ILO 2004). Among Asian countries Japan is very special: Although the country is one of the most developed and richest economies in the world gender equality is extremely low there (UNDP 2007; Fackler 2007). Women are often hired for administrative tasks only and not allowed to pursue own careers. Despite growing attempts to strengthen gender equality Japanese females are still discriminated against and expected to stick to their traditional duties as mothers wives and office flowers (Faiola 2007; Ogasawara 1998). Female under-representation is notably high for management positions and seems to increase with the level of seniority (Wirth 2001). Consequently the Japanese glass ceiling is also known as concrete ceiling reflecting the enormous level of gender discrimination (Wahlin 2007; Penketh 2008). Japan's rigid and outstanding gender inequality is strongly influenced by the national culture and its major impact on the societal role of women. On the one hand the Japanese are known for their ability to change but on the other hand they always try to maintain their special Japanese identity