Japan aims for over 30% of top firms’ Directors to be women by 2030

The country will press for the target to be included in the regulations for companies listed on the Prime Market Index of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, the document read as seen by Bloomberg. 

To achieve this target, the first step would be to require at least one woman on the board of all the index firms by 2025. 

Japan has sought to bring more women into the workforce to make up for its aging and shrinking population, but has long struggled to meet its targets on diversity in management. 

The country ranked 116 out of 146 countries in last year’s Global Gender Gap Report by the World Economic Forum, far below all of its Group of Seven peers.

The draft stated that Japanese companies would be urged to format plans to reach the board targets. Last year, about 18.7% of Prime Market companies had no female directors. 

According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, women made up 15.5% of directors at the largest companies in Japan in 2022 as compared to 31.3% in the United States, Bloomberg reported. 

In addition, the Japanese government will also encourage women to start their own companies with the target of having women make up 20% of entrepreneurs benefiting from a government support program, up from the current 8.8%. 

It also stated that financial independence for women is another part of the new plan as many Japanese women are forced into poorly paid irregular jobs after having children which means single mothers can often face poverty. 

Japan has one of the widest pay gaps among developed countries surveyed by the OECD. The government will consider expanding an obligation to reveal data on pay disparities between men and women from companies with more than 301 employees to those with more than 101 employees.

(With Bloomberg inputs)

Updated: 06 Jun 2023, 05:47 PM IST