July 2022
Survey of Corporate Attitudes towards promotion of women (2022)
Proportion of women in managerial posts grew to 9.4%
— Less than 10% of companies at the government target of “30%” or more —
Introduction
According to the World Economic Forum (WEF), Japan’s “gender gap index” for 2022 ranked 116th among 146 countries. In addition, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) statistics showed that Japan’s gender pay gap ranked 4th worst among 44 members countries. The current situation of gender equality is still lagging behind other foreign countries.
In particular, fewer women in managerial posts in Japan is said to be the biggest cause for the gender pay gap, and the government aims to have the proportion of women in managerial posts around 30% as early in the 2020s as possible.
Teikoku Databank has conducted a survey of corporate attitudes towards promotion of women. This survey was conducted in conjunction with the July 2022 TDB Trends Research.
*Survey period: July 15 – July 31, 2022, Companies Surveyed: 25,723, Valid Responses: 11,503 (Response Rate: 44.7%). The survey for promotion of women has been conducted every July since 2013. This is the 10th survey.
*Details of this survey can be found on the dedicated Economic Trend Survey HP. (http://www.tdb-di.com).
Primary points of survey results(summary)
- 1 The proportion of women in managerial posts in their companies averaged 9.4%, which replaced the previous highest record, but still remained at a low level. Those companies which exceed the government target for the "proportion of women in managerial posts at 30% or more", accounted for 9.5%, a record high, but still remained in single digits.
- 2 The proportion of female executive officers averaged 12.7%, a record high. However, the percentage of companies with only male executive officers is 53.5%, still well over half.
- 3 32.4% of companies anticipate an increase in women in managerial posts in their companies, compared to their current proportions. On the other hand, 12.5% of companies anticipate an increase in female executive officers.
- 4 With respect to what they do in their companies to promote women’s empowerment, “evaluating by performance regardless of gender” ranked top at 59.4%, followed by “placement and assignment regardless of gender” (47.0%). Items relating to gender equality were highly ranked.