## 2.   Gender Gap in Home- and Family-Care

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---

### A. Introduction and context
- More gender diversity in leadership and management positions is associated with higher productivity, inclusivity, stability, and firm profitability (Peterson Institute for International Economics, 2016; Kim and Starks, 2016; Theodoropoulos and others, 2022).
- Greater representation of women in politics and government organizations has been associated with positive policy outcomes, such as an increase of investment in health and education (Comunale and others, 2023; Hessami and Lopes da Fonseca, 2020).
- Female representation in leadership and senior management roles in Japan is among the lowest globally in both public and private sectors.
- Over half of women work in non-regular jobs (part-time and fixed-term) with lower wages, job security and skill development, limiting managerial opportunities.
- Empirical approach: standard OLS and Structural Vector Autoregression (SVAR) models used to assess drivers of women leaders and managers in Japan.

### B. Women leaders and recent labor-market developments — key statistics and trends
- Female labor-force participation rate (15-64 years old): 63 percent in 2012 and 74 percent in 2022.
- Male labor-force participation rate: 84 percent in 2012 and 87 percent in 2022.
- As of 2021, 54 percent of female employment is in non-regular jobs; 22 percent of male employment is in non-regular jobs.
- In 2021, among the 25-54 age group, there were 4.9 times more women employed in part-time positions than men; OECD average: 3.6.
- Japan’s gender wage gap: 22 percent in 2021 (difference between median earnings of men and women relative to median earnings of men); described as 86 percent higher than the OECD average and the highest among G7 countries in 2021.
- Men work 29 percent more hours than women in Japan.
- Proportion of female workers in managerial roles in the private sector: 13 percent (OECD average: 34 percent; government target: 18 percent).
- Tokyo Shoko Research survey: 15 percent of all firms in Japan are owned by women.
- Women in national parliament (lower house): 10 percent (Japan ranking 164th globally).
- Women in upper house: 25.8 percent.
- Women in local parliaments: 15 percent, with lower ratios in rural areas.

### C. Empirical analysis: key drivers of gender gaps in leadership
- Main empirical finding: reducing large gender gaps in homecare and improving quality of employment, together with increasing availability of public childcare facilities, promotes a higher share of female managers in the private sector.
- Government setting of policy targets for female representation in managerial roles found to be effective in producing structural shifts toward higher female management.
- Annex: OLS results reported in Annex Table 1; SVAR impulse responses shown in Figure 3; data described in Annex Table 2.

### D. Gender gap in home- and family-care: drivers and evidence
- Cultural norms:
  - Women do about 5 times the unpaid work/caregiving than men; men do about 2 times the paid work than women.
- Limited paternity leave usage:
  - Men in Japan can access up to one year and two months of paternity leave.
  - Only 17 percent of new fathers take paternity leave (FY2022 comparison: 80 percent of women take parental leave).
  - Most fathers who take leave take less than one month.
  - Second most common reason for not taking paternity leave: “the company/supervisor's atmosphere discouraging paternity leave or a lack of understanding about it” (25.9 percent) (MHLW survey, 2020).
  - OECD data: Japan’s average payment rates for paternity leave is 61 percent in 2022 (G7 average: 45 percent).
- Policy note:
  - In May 2023, Prime Minister Kishida announced raising effective parental leave payment rates to about 100 percent (if including tax/social security premium exemption; otherwise about 80 percent) in the first 180 days if both parents take parental leave.
  - MHLW plans to implement from FY2025.

### E. Gender gap in the quality of employment
- Culture of long working hours in regular employment; Japan ranks at the top among OECD economies in time spent in paid work.
- Close to 30 percent of women cited “compatibility with household and care-related work” as main reason for opting for non-regular employment in the 35-44 age groups (MHLW survey).
- Low prevalence of flexible working arrangements and telework:
  - Only 8 percent of Japanese firms have adopted flexible time arrangements for work as of 2022 (MHLW survey).
- Policy distortions:
  - Tax and social welfare design for second-income earners (e.g., spousal deductions and exemption of pension contributions when income is below a certain threshold) discourages women from increasing working hours.
  - Authorities have announced new subsidies aimed at eliminating the income discrepancy when annual income exceeds 1.06 million JPY due to social security contributions.
- Career and non-career tracks system:
  - Employees typically choose career track or non-career (clerical) track at hire; limited mobility between tracks.
  - Men dominate career tracks where greater advancement opportunities exist.
  - Variable not included in empirical analysis due to inadequate data availability.

### F. Childcare facilities and allowances
- Availability of public childcare facilities has improved and is positively associated with the share of female managers.
- Waitlist and facilities trends:
  - Number of waitlisted children increased by 19 percent from FY2007 to FY2014.
  - Number of childcare facilities rose by 7 percent from FY2007 to FY2014.
  - Authorities started expanding childcare availability in 2015 and strengthened budget allocation in 2017.
  - Number of childcare facilities increased by 36 percent from FY2015 to FY2022; waitlisted children declined significantly.
- Childcare allowance:
  - Found to not have a statistically significant impact on share of female managers.
  - Allowance amounts (current design): ¥15,000 per month per child under 3 years old; ¥10,000 per child or ¥15,000 for the third child and onwards per child from 3 years old until the child graduates from elementary school; ¥10,000 per child for junior high school aged children.
  - Government decided to abolish household income level thresholds starting from 2024, making all households eligible for this allowance.
- Note on nursery teachers:
  - Average monthly wage of a nursery teacher is 17 percent lower than an average full-time employee.

### G. Policy recommendations (priority actions)
- Broaden and strengthen government targets and enforcement:
  - Government target: women occupy at least 30 percent of executive positions in private firms by 2030 (modified from initial target by 2020).
  - Current coverage limited to TSE listed companies on the prime market (less than 5 percent of Japan’s total labor force); targets are voluntary with no strict penalties.
  - OECD evidence: mandatory quotas produce more immediate increases in women on boards; disclosure rules/targets yield gradual increases. Top five performer countries in women leaders (Finland, France, Italy, Norway, and Sweden) have implemented mandatory quotas.
- Reform employment practices and policies to improve quality of jobs:
  - Encourage flexible working schedules and teleworking options to help share housework responsibilities and enable women to work regular employment.
  - Link promotions to merit instead of seniority and years of service to facilitate career advancement for women who have career interruptions.
  - Rationalize spousal benefits in tax and social security contributions to avoid disincentivizing women from increasing labor supply.
  - Increase flexibility in the career track system to allow transitions from non-career to career-track positions.
- Raise usage and flexibility of paternity leave:
  - Government target: increase share of men taking paternity leave to 85 percent by FY2030 (modified from initial target of 30 percent by FY2025).
  - Measures introduced October 2022: fathers can take four weeks off in the first eight weeks post-childbirth with effective income substitution rate at 80 percent (100 percent from FY2025), with additional financial incentives if both parents take leave.
  - Measures to encourage cultural shift: mandatory employer explanations of parental leave (April 2022); requirement for companies to annually disclose childcare leave status (since April 2023 for companies with over 1,000 full-time employees).
  - Suggestion: flexible or part-time leave arrangements to allow continued job connection during childcare.
- Expand childcare facilities and address childcare labor shortages:
  - Continue expanding childcare facilities; note potential underrepresentation in waitlist statistics.
  - Address shortage of nursery teachers by increasing nursery teacher wages and attracting foreign workers to alleviate labor shortages.

### H. Supplemental findings — Raising childcare allowance is unlikely to encourage women’s leadership (excerpt)
- Changes in the childcare allowance have demonstrated limited impact on women’s career advancement and on fertility rate.
- Social norms and deeply entrenched labor/employment practices are more fundamental drivers of low female managerial representation.
- The government initially established a numerical target of 30 percent to be achieved by FY2025; however, in March 2023, the Prime Minister modified this target.
- Women get 8 weeks off with nearly full income substitution.
- Parents can extend their parental leave beyond the standard one year to the maximum period of two years; children whose parents are on parental leave are excluded from the waitlist for childcare facilities.

### I. Empirical methods, results and policy implications (summary)
- OLS regression framework:
  - Sample period: annual data on Japan from 2001-21.
  - Dependent variable: share of female managers in the private sector (share of female middle (kacho)/senior (bucho) managers over all middle/senior managers).
  - Regressors (lagged one period): gender gap in homecare, gender gap in regular employment, gender gap in tertiary education, usage of childcare facilities, and the relative size of the childcare allowance.
  - Policy dummy: takes value 1 for years 2014 or later (reflecting the June 2013 "Japan Revitalization Plan" target of 30 percent female managers by 2020).
- SVAR analysis:
  - Non-recursive four-variable model with variables: share of women managers, gender gap in regular work, gender gap in time spent in household work, availability of childcare facilities.
  - Short-run recursive SVAR estimated to obtain impulse response functions over a four-year horizon.
  - Reported structural matrices A and B as defined in the chapter.
- Key empirical results:
  - A 1 unit increase in the gender gap in house-work (example: women spend 6 times as much time in house-work relative to men, up from 5) decreases the share of women leaders and has a relatively persistent impact.
  - A 1 percentage point increase in the coverage of childcare facilities leads to an increase in the share of women leaders.
  - An increase in the relative regular employment of women vis-à-vis men has a positive impact on the share of women leaders, although it is not statistically significant.
  - Magnitude and statistical significance of impulse responses are robust to alternative specifications and restrictions.

- Policy implications:
  - Strengthen policies addressing structural barriers rather than relying primarily on increasing financial child-rearing support:
    - Target reductions in the gender gap in unpaid household work.
    - Promote policies that increase women’s regular employment relative to men.
    - Expand availability and coverage of childcare facilities, noting that a 1 percentage point increase in coverage is associated with an increase in the share of women leaders.
  - Recognize limits of childcare allowance increases as a sole instrument for promoting women’s leadership; complement financial measures with reforms that change labor market practices and social norms.

*Source: IMF Selected Issues chapter “2. Gender Gap in Home- and Family-Care” (April 15, 2024).*

### 2.   Gender Gap in Home- and Family-Care ______________________________________________ 6

### 2.   Gender Gap in Home- and Family-Care

### A. Introduction and context
- More gender diversity in leadership and management positions is associated with higher productivity, inclusivity, stability, and firm profitability (Peterson Institute for International Economics, 2016; Kim and Starks, 2016; Theodoropoulos and others, 2022).
- Greater representation of women in politics and government organizations has been associated with positive policy outcomes, such as an increase of investment in health and education (Comunale and others, 2023; Hessami and Lopes da Fonseca, 2020).
- Female representation in leadership and senior management roles in Japan is among the lowest globally in both public and private sectors.
- Over half of women work in non-regular jobs (part-time and fixed-term) with lower wages, job security and skill development, limiting managerial opportunities.
- Empirical approach: standard OLS and Structural Vector Autoregression (SVAR) models used to assess drivers of women leaders and managers in Japan.

### B. Women leaders and recent labor-market developments
Key statistics and trends:
- Female labor-force participation rate (15-64 years old): 63 percent in 2012 and 74 percent in 2022.
- Male labor-force participation rate: 84 percent in 2012 and 87 percent in 2022.
- As of 2021, 54 percent of female employment is in non-regular jobs; 22 percent of male employment is in non-regular jobs.
- In 2021, among the 25-54 age group, there were 4.9 times more women employed in part-time positions than men; OECD average: 3.6.
- Japan’s gender wage gap: 22 percent in 2021 (difference between median earnings of men and women relative to median earnings of men); described as 86 percent higher than the OECD average and the highest among G7 countries in 2021.
- Men work 29 percent more hours than women in Japan.
- Proportion of female workers in managerial roles in the private sector: 13 percent (OECD average: 34 percent; government target: 18 percent).
- Tokyo Shoko Research survey: 15 percent of all firms in Japan are owned by women.
- Women in national parliament (lower house): 10 percent (Japan ranking 164th globally).
- Women in upper house: 25.8 percent.
- Women in local parliaments: 15 percent, with lower ratios in rural areas.

### C. Empirical analysis: key drivers of gender gaps in leadership
- Main empirical finding: reducing large gender gaps in homecare and improving quality of employment, together with increasing availability of public childcare facilities, promotes a higher share of female managers in the private sector.
- Government setting of policy targets for female representation in managerial roles found to be effective in producing structural shifts toward higher female management.
- Annex: OLS results reported in Annex Table 1; SVAR impulse responses shown in Figure 3; data described in Annex Table 2.

### D. Gender gap in home- and family-care: drivers and evidence
Findings:
- Cultural norms: persistence of traditional division of labor — women do about 5 times the unpaid work/caregiving than men; men do about 2 times the paid work than women.
- Limited paternity leave usage:
  - Men in Japan can access up to one year and two months of paternity leave.
  - Only 17 percent of new fathers take paternity leave (FY2022 comparison: 80 percent of women take parental leave).
  - Most fathers who take leave take less than one month.
  - Second most common reason for not taking paternity leave: “the company/supervisor's atmosphere discouraging paternity leave or a lack of understanding about it” (25.9 percent) (MHLW survey, 2020).
  - OECD data: Japan’s average payment rates for paternity leave is 61 percent in 2022 (G7 average: 45 percent).
- Policy note: In May 2023, Prime Minister Kishida announced raising effective parental leave payment rates to about 100 percent (if including tax/social security premium exemption; otherwise about 80 percent) in the first 180 days if both parents take parental leave. MHLW plans to implement from FY2025.

### E. Gender gap in the quality of employment
Findings:
- Culture of long working hours in regular employment; Japan ranks at the top among OECD economies in time spent in paid work.
- Close to 30 percent of women cited “compatibility with household and care-related work” as main reason for opting for non-regular employment in the 35-44 age groups (MHLW survey).
- Low prevalence of flexible working arrangements and telework:
  - Only 8 percent of Japanese firms have adopted flexible time arrangements for work as of 2022 (MHLW survey).
- Policy distortions:
  - Tax and social welfare design for second-income earners (e.g., spousal deductions and exemption of pension contributions when income is below a certain threshold) discourages women from increasing working hours.
  - Authorities have announced new subsidies aimed at eliminating the income discrepancy when annual income exceeds 1.06 million JPY due to social security contributions.
- Career and non-career tracks system:
  - Employees typically choose career track or non-career (clerical) track at hire; limited mobility between tracks.
  - Men dominate career tracks where greater advancement opportunities exist.
  - Variable not included in empirical analysis due to inadequate data availability.

### F. Childcare facilities and allowances
Findings:
- Availability of public childcare facilities has improved and is positively associated with the share of female managers.
- Waitlist and facilities trends:
  - Number of waitlisted children increased by 19 percent from FY2007 to FY2014.
  - Number of childcare facilities rose by 7 percent from FY2007 to FY2014.
  - Authorities started expanding childcare availability in 2015 and strengthened budget allocation in 2017.
  - Number of childcare facilities increased by 36 percent from FY2015 to FY2022; waitlisted children declined significantly.
- Childcare allowance:
  - Found to not have a statistically significant impact on share of female managers.
  - Allowance amounts (current design): ¥15,000 per month per child under 3 years old; ¥10,000 per child or ¥15,000 for the third child and onwards per child from 3 years old until the child graduates from elementary school; ¥10,000 per child for junior high school aged children.
  - Government decided to abolish household income level thresholds starting from 2024, making all households eligible for this allowance.
- Note on nursery teachers:
  - Average monthly wage of a nursery teacher is 17 percent lower than an average full-time employee.

### G. Policy recommendations (priority actions)
- Broaden and strengthen government targets and enforcement:
  - Government target: women occupy at least 30 percent of executive positions in private firms by 2030 (modified from initial target by 2020).
  - Current coverage limited to TSE listed companies on the prime market (less than 5 percent of Japan’s total labor force); targets are voluntary with no strict penalties.
  - OECD evidence: mandatory quotas produce more immediate increases in women on boards; disclosure rules/targets yield gradual increases. Top five performer countries in women leaders (Finland, France, Italy, Norway, and Sweden) have implemented mandatory quotas.
- Reform employment practices and policies to improve quality of jobs:
  - Encourage flexible working schedules and teleworking options to help share housework responsibilities and enable women to work regular employment.
  - Link promotions to merit instead of seniority and years of service to facilitate career advancement for women who have career interruptions.
  - Rationalize spousal benefits in tax and social security contributions to avoid disincentivizing women from increasing labor supply.
  - Increase flexibility in the career track system to allow transitions from non-career to career-track positions.
- Raise usage and flexibility of paternity leave:
  - Government target: increase share of men taking paternity leave to 85 percent by FY2030 (modified from initial target of 30 percent by FY2025).
  - Measures introduced October 2022: fathers can take four weeks off in the first eight weeks post-childbirth with effective income substitution rate at 80 percent (100 percent from FY2025), with additional financial incentives if both parents take leave.
  - Measures to encourage cultural shift: mandatory employer explanations of parental leave (April 2022); requirement for companies to annually disclose childcare leave status (since April 2023 for companies with over 1,000 full-time employees).
  - Suggestion: flexible or part-time leave arrangements to allow continued job connection during childcare.
- Expand childcare facilities and address childcare labor shortages:
  - Continue expanding childcare facilities; note potential underrepresentation in waitlist statistics.
  - Address shortage of nursery teachers by increasing nursery teacher wages and attracting foreign workers to alleviate labor shortages.

*Source: IMF Selected Issues chapter “2. Gender Gap in Home- and Family-Care” (April 15, 2024).*

### 16.      Raising childcare allowance is unlikely to encourage women’s leadership. Changes in the

### 16.      Raising childcare allowance is unlikely to encourage women’s leadership. Changes in the childcare allowance have demonstrated limited impact on women’s career advancement, as well as on fertility rate (see 2024 Japan Article IV Selected Issues Paper “Japan’s Fertility: More Children Please”). Social norms and deeply entrenched labor/employment practices are more fundamental drivers. Policy support should pivot from the current focus on strengthening financial assistance to addressing the structural issues mentioned.

### Key findings
- Changes in the childcare allowance have demonstrated limited impact on women’s career advancement and on fertility rate.
- Social norms and deeply entrenched labor/employment practices are more fundamental drivers of low female managerial representation.
- The government initially established a numerical target of 30 percent to be achieved by FY2025; however, in March 2023, the Prime Minister modified this target.
- Women get 8 weeks off with nearly full income substitution.
- Parents can extend their parental leave beyond the standard one year to the maximum period of two years; children whose parents are on parental leave are excluded from the waitlist for childcare facilities.

### Empirical analysis and methods
- OLS regression framework:
  - Sample period: annual data on Japan from 2001-21.
  - Dependent variable: share of female managers in the private sector (share of female middle (kacho)/senior (bucho) managers over all middle/senior managers).
  - Regressors (lagged one period): gender gap in homecare, gender gap in regular employment, gender gap in tertiary education, usage of childcare facilities, and the relative size of the childcare allowance.
  - Policy dummy: takes value 1 for years 2014 or later (reflecting the June 2013 "Japan Revitalization Plan" target of 30 percent female managers by 2020).
- Complementary SVAR analysis:
  - Non-recursive four-variable model used to isolate direct impacts of exogenous shocks.
  - Variables in SVAR: share of women managers, gender gap in regular work, gender gap in time spent in household work, availability of childcare facilities.
  - Short-run recursive SVAR estimated to obtain impulse response functions over a four-year horizon.
  - The A and B matrices are defined in the chapter as:
    - A = 
      1000
      .100
      ..10
      ...1
    - B = 
      .000
      0.00
      00.0
      000.
  - Structural restrictions assume share of women managers is contemporaneously a function of: gender gap in time spent in unpaid household work, availability of childcare facilities, and gender gap in regular work.

### Empirical results (impulse responses and interpretation)
- A 1 unit increase in the gender gap in house-work (example given: women spend 6 times as much time in house-work relative to men, up from 5) decreases the share of women leaders and has a relatively persistent impact.
- A 1 percentage point increase in the coverage of childcare facilities leads to an increase in the share of women leaders.
- An increase in the relative regular employment of women vis-à-vis men has a positive impact on the share of women leaders, although it is not statistically significant.
- The magnitude and statistical significance of the estimated impulse responses are robust to alternative specifications and restrictions of the SVAR model.

### Data and variable definitions (as used in the analysis)
- Share of female managers: share of female middle/senior managers over total middle/senior managers in the private sector. Source: Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare.
- Gender gap in homecare: (time for household-related work per day by women – time for household-related work per day by men) divided by time for household-related work per day by men. Source: Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.
- Gender gap in regular employment: (proportion of regular employees among women – proportion among men) divided by proportion among men. Source: Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.
- Gender gap in tertiary education: (difference in university enrollment rate among women and men) divided by the university enrollment rate among men. Source: Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.
- Availability of childcare facilities: ratio of children (1-2 year old) using childcare facilities over total population of children in this age. Source: Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare.
- Child allowances: ratio of child rearing allowances provided by the government to total social security benefits. Source: Japan’s National Institute of Population and Social Security Research.
- Policy dummy: 1 for years 2014 or later; 0 otherwise. ("Japan Revitalization Plan" released in June 2013 set a target aiming for a 30 percent share of managers to be females by 2020.)

### Policy implications and recommendation
- Strengthen policies addressing structural barriers rather than relying primarily on increasing financial child-rearing support:
  - Target reductions in the gender gap in unpaid household work.
  - Promote policies that increase women’s regular employment relative to men.
  - Expand availability and coverage of childcare facilities, noting that a 1 percentage point increase in coverage is associated with an increase in the share of women leaders.
- Recognize limits of childcare allowance increases as a sole instrument for promoting women’s leadership; complement financial measures with reforms that change labor market practices and social norms.

*Source: sipea2024024 - 16. Raising childcare allowance is unlikely to encourage women’s leadership. (IMF Selected Issues Paper).*

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_Source: https://www.imf.org/-/media/files/publications/selected-issues-papers/2024/english/sipea2024024.pdf_