Change, they say, begins from the top. And in one of Asia’s richest economies, it began with a commitment to gender equality from Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2014.
Even as Japan was grappling with falling fertility rates, a declining population, and stagnant growth, a series of reforms on “womenomics” were introduced as part of the “Abenomics” era. And today, they are showing results.
Women’s labour force participation rate (WLFPR) in Japan has grown by ten percentage points, from 64.9 per cent in 2013 to 75.2 per cent in 2023. This is not only the fastest growth in Japan’s WLFPR in the past few decades, but also the highest amongst the G7 countries in the last decade. Notably, the largest increase in WLFPR is in the 30-34, and 35-39 years age groups — signalling the return of mothers to the workforce.
Moreover, adding roughly three million women to its workforce is helping Japan bridge labour shortages. Estimates suggest this increase in WLFPR could have increased Japan’s GDP per capita by between 4 per cent to 8 per cent.
It’s no surprise that a majority of the “womenomics” reforms have been linked to investments in the care economy and rebalancing gender norms.
The Japanese government’s investment to expand daycare capacity from 2.2 million in 2012 to 2.8 million in 2018 has reduced daycare waiting lists that would often run into years. In 2023, the government of Japan announced a further boost in investment of $26 billion for childcare measures between 2023 and 2026.
Japanese parents had been entitled to year-long partially paid parental leaves — with women receiving 58 weeks, and men 52 weeks. In 2022, greater flexibility in paternity leave provisions was introduced, reducing notice periods, and allowing men to break up their paternity leave. Moreover, making disclosures of paternity leave uptake mandatory, introducing flexible work, and encouraging companies to demonstrate that taking paternity leave would not hamper career progression have helped in boosting paternity leave uptake from 2 per cent in 2012, to 17 per cent in 2023.
In 2016, Japan’s Act on Promotion of Women’s Participation and Advancement in the Workplace made disclosures of diversity action plans and diversity data mandatory. This led to the introduction of the “Eruboshi” certification, a five-star system recognising companies committed to workforce diversity. The certification has become aspirational among Japanese firms today, with the number of companies receiving the Eruboshi certificate growing from 815 in 2019, to 1905 in 2022.
India and Japan share several cultural similarities — one that stands out relates to the social norms surrounding domestic work. Among the G20 countries, India and Japan have the widest gender gaps in unpaid care with women performing about 8.4 times the amount of unpaid work in India, notionally valued at 15 per cent to 17 per cent of GDP, and 5.5 times in Japan, similarly valued at about a fifth of GDP.
As India embarks on a path towards women-led development, a few clear lessons emerge from Japan’s experience in enhancing WLFPR to push the country’s GDP.
First, interventions for bridging the gender gaps in domestic and care work have a significant impact on WLFPR. Japan saw its highest gains in WLFPR when it committed to long-term public investments in care infrastructure and services, especially childcare.
Second, changing people’s mindsets around social norms is as important as formulating progressive regulations. As is evident from the Japanese experience, legal entitlement to gender-neutral parental leave is not sufficient. Enhancing uptake among men requires an employer-led approach that dispels gender stereotypes around care work.
Third, it is essential to invest in a wide range of care infrastructure and services solutions — covering not only childcare, but also elder care, domestic work, and long-term care for highly dependent adults to reduce dependency and access the silver economy. For instance, Japan has leveraged some private sector partnerships for investments in affordable senior living and care services. As the share of elderly persons in India’s population is expected to rise from 10 per cent currently to 20 per cent by 2050, India, too will need to prioritise elder care infrastructure and service investments.
Taking these lessons from Japan, and after an in-depth analysis of over 100 international best practices from around the G20 countries as well as notable domestic practices in India, our team, alongside the Confederation of Indian Industry, and Karmannya Counsel — with the support of the Ministry of Women and Child Development — has formulated a five-pillar strategy to unlock business opportunities in India’s care economy, with a focus on the following: Gender neutral and paternity leave policies; subsidies for availing/providing care services; enhancing investments from both the public and private sector in care infrastructure and services; skill training for care workers; and quality assurance for care services and infrastructure.
After nearly declining continuously for five decades, India’s WFLPR has begun showing a rising trend, increasing from 23 per cent in 2017-18 to 37 per cent in 2022-23. To keep this momentum going, we will require a continued long-term focus on the care economy for unleashing #NariShakti to achieve a Viksit Bharat @2047.
The writer is founder, Nikore Associates
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