WIRe finds Japan behind in gender equality

The Japan-specific findings come from its 2017 study ‘Gender and Career Advancement in the Research Industry’ created in partnership with Lieberman Research Worldwide and with data collection support from FocusVision. It received nearly 1,000 responses from both female and male market research professionals around the world.

Kristin Luck, founder of Women in Research, said: "As a country, Japan is struggling to keep up with the global pace of advancements in gender parity. Rather than feeling discouraged by these findings, we believe there are many opportunities to improve the state of women in the workplace in Japan through WIRe’s programming and services, and we are very excited about the launch of our presence in Toyko."

In Japan, the sample consisted of 190 respondents. The survey covered questions that correlated with the original 2012 study on issues like compensation, children and family issues, job satisfaction and job responsibility levels.

The report found that: Japanese women perceive bigger hurdles in their careers than global women in work/life balance, discrimination, and lack of training opportunities; nearly all CEOs in Japan are men, echoing global trends to a much stronger degree; the majority of women make less than $60,000 per year as Japanese women are more commonly employed in the lower levels; and there is a strong feeling of a lack of support which is creating a barrier to career goals.