Kimono in the Boardroom

The subtitle of the book is The Invisible Evolution of Japanese Women Managers.

Women form around 41% of the Japanese workforce, but compose less than 10% of the managers. There are numerous restrictions that are in place to prevent women from moving into positions of management, and the author goes into these.

There's also a generational gap in how women managers are viewed, with men from the older generation not easy at all with women in managerial positions.

There's a host of statistics in the book that are all interesting. 6/6% of working males are managers in Japan, but only 1% of women. Progress for women has been slow, and the bursting of the economic bubble in Japan has had its own adverse effects.

Some interesting comparisons between the two countries. American women got the right to vote in 1920; Japanese women in 1945. Women in the U.S. could enter universities in 1776; Japanese women had to wait until 1946. Equal employment legislation got passes 21 years later in Japan.

Women's lifespan in Japan is 84 years, compared to 77 for males. The birth rate decreased to 1.39 as of 1998, meaning that the Japanese population itself will decline and in 100 years the Japanese population will be half the size it is today. Japanese women are also choosing to marry later. The divorce rate is rising. The earnings of Japanese women are only 60% of a man's earnings; for women in the U.S. it was 76%.

The book examines the reasons why Japanese women work, 41% of them to supplement the household budget, and 36% for money to spend as they choose.

The author discusses how the end of World War II resulted in a general change in Japanese society

He also goes into the history of women in Japan and even in Japanese mythology. One thing the women did manage to avoid was being persecuted and killed as witches.

One very interesting statistic in general is the relationship of CEO earnings to the earnings of workers. In Japan, the CEOs get about 25 times the pay of an average worker. In the U.S., it goes as high as 500 times the salary of the average worker.

The author goes into considerable detail on working conditions, and even includes an illustration of how the typical Japanese office is set up with seats arranged according to the rank of the workers.

Women managers are concentrated mainly in the retail business, with another group in manufacturing, construction, finance, and personal services. There are a few in transport, and virtually none in agriculture, mining or utilities.

In the U.S., the main number of women managers are in social services, with finances second and retail third.

There's also a lot of material on women-owned businesses.

There's also a lot more discussed in the book. Definitely an interesting read.