July 2020
Survey of Corporate Attitudes Towards Promotion of Women (2020)
Average proportion of women in managerial posts, 7.8%, slight increase from last year
— The percentage of companies achieving the target, “proportion of women in managerial posts at 30%” stayed at 7.5% —
Introduction
The presence of women in the workplace is increasing due to the shrinking working population and increasing number of double income households. Ahead of the revision of the Act on the Promotion of Women’s Participation and Advancement in the Workplace, scheduled to be enforced in 2022, women’s participation in the labor force is going through a dramatic change, such as mainly SMEs being required to disclose information related to women’s participation and advancement. While women’s participation in the labor force is also expected to create new perspectives for companies and reform men’s work style, the present situation is that issues pertaining to women’s participation in the labor force have not yet been solved.
Teikoku Databank has conducted a survey of corporate attitudes towards promotion of women. This survey was conducted in conjunction with the July 2020 TDB Trends Research.
*Survey period: July 16 – July 31, 2020, Companies Surveyed: 23,680, Valid Responses: 11,732 (Response Rate: 49.5%). The survey for promotion of women has been conducted every July since 2013. This is the 8th survey.
*Details of this survey can be found on the dedicated Economic Trend Survey web page. (http://www.tdb-di.com).
Primary points of survey results(summary)
- 1 The proportion of women in managerial posts averaged 7.8%, up 0.1 percentage point y-o-y. Those companies that exceed the government target, the "proportion of women in managerial posts at 30% or more,” increased slightly and accounted for 7.5% (up 0.4 percentage point y-o-y) but remained at a low level. In addition, the proportions of women among all employees and among executive officers averaged 25.8% (up 0.6 percentage point y-o-y), and 10.8% (up 1.0 percentage point y-o-y), respectively.
- 2 21.7% of companies anticipate an increase in women in managerial posts in their companies, down 1.9 percentage points y-o-y, and 6.9% of companies anticipate an increase in the proportion of executive officers who are women (down 0.7 percentage point y-o-y).
- 3 Companies that promote women regardless of their being inside or outside of the company accounted for 42.6%, down 7.4 percentage points from last year. That effect of promoting women stood out prominently, with companies saying, “they could make good use of excellent human resources, regardless of gender” (71.8%) (multiple answers; the same applies hereafter), followed by the higher-ranked “Women’s view of work has changed” (29.1%), and “Diversified working styles were promoted” (28.4%).
- 4 With respect to what is important in promoting women’s participation and advancement in the workplace, “Enhancement of support of pregnancy, childbirth and child-rearing” ranked top at 64.7% (multiple answers; the same applies hereafter). Moreover, matters pertaining to reduction of women’s burden at home were listed as high ranking, such as “Support for balancing work and child-rearing” (56.2%), and “Enhancement of childcare service” (52.7%). “Introduction and expansion of teleworking,” which quickly became popular due to the spread of COVID-19 infections, accounted for 36.3%, and more than 30% of companies were aware of teleworking also being important for promoting women’s participation and advancement in the workplace.