【英语国际】日本女强人增多 妇女地位仍待改善

The past month has seen a flurry of female firsts in Japan. The Bank of Japan this week appointed its first female branch manager in its 128-year history. Japan Airlines Corp. announced its first female pilot captain. East Japan Railway now has female station masters in Tokyo for the first time.

Meanwhile, Renho, the mono-monickered member of parliament, garnered a record 1.7 million votes in Sunday's upper-house elections. The telegenic, 42-year-old former model, was the only candidate in the country to receive more than a million votes, even as her Democratic Party of Japan was getting crushed elsewhere. Her re-election cements her standing as one of the most popular politicians in Japan.

These recent developments would indicate a wave of girl power is sweeping the country. But the reality lags behind the headlines. The advancement and promotion of women in the world's second-largest economy is debatable, and by some measures, has worsened in recent years.

In a survey that measured progress in bridging the gender gap in areas such as politics, education, economy and health, the World Economic Forum last year ranked Japan at 101 out of 134 countries. More than two-thirds of the countries covered in the report have posted gains in their scores since 2006. Japan has slipped in the rankings every year, sliding back from its 80th spot in 2006.

'Women's participation in the labor force is not so low, but it's an M-shaped curve that dips when women hit their thirties and have children,' said Masaaki Kanno, chief economist at JP Morgan in Tokyo. 'When they come back to work, they are not likely to be promoted and there is also a lack of child-care facilities in Japan, which makes it difficult.'

In listed Japanese companies, women made up just 1.2% of senior executives last year, according to a survey by business publisher Toyo Keizai. In comparison, in the U.S., women held 13.5% of executive-officer positions in Fortune 500 companies in 2009, according to a survey by Catalyst Inc, a nonprofit organization that focuses on women in the workplace.

The reasons for the dearth of high-profile women are myriad and complex. Japan suffers from tepid economic growth, draconian immigration policies and a shrinking population. The country lacks infrastructure and support for women with children, including accessible child care. A series of laws have aimed to facilitate the advancement of women in the workplace-including the Equal Employment Opportunity Law passed in 1986 and the Child Care Leave Law in 1992-but critics say enforcement is weak. Also, women in this predominantly patriarchal society are traditionally meant to be demure and so have few female role models.

'If I didn't have my parents around to look after my children, I don't think I could do this,' says Mana Nakazora, the chief credit analyst at BNP Paribas in Tokyo. 'I also think that women in their twenties are more conservative now than the previous generation, and they don't have role models. In China, women don't stay at home-it's regarded as perfectly normal to work.'

Improvements in female participation in the work force have been slow in coming. The Bank of Japan trumpeted the appointment of Tokiko Shimizu, 45, as its first female branch manager. But the real news to some women was that it took more than a century. 'Compared with other central banks, the BoJ is more conservative,' said a former BoJ employee, now working in Tokyo's finance sector, who asked she not be identified. 'I left because my career at the BoJ wouldn't have been so promising. If one comes back after having children, it's very difficult to get back on the career track. The BoJ missed many opportunities to promote people.'

A BoJ spokesperson said: 'The Bank of Japan in recent years has implemented lenient policies for maternity and parental leave.'

The private-sector record isn't rosy, either. Ari Fuji, 42, became the first female captain at any Japanese airline when she was made a captain this week the JAL unit, JAL Express Co. In comparison, AMR Corp's American Airlines appointed its first female captain in 1986.

At Sony Corp., a leading multinational corporation with a foreigner as its chief executive, just 3.5% of its managers were women last year in Japan, according to the company. That compares with a ratio of 32.2% female managers at its operations in the U.S.

Still, the latest promotions suggest the drive to better utilize the female labor force is gaining some momentum, though the pace of change remains slow to glacial. Shiseido Co., Japan's leading cosmetics company, says it aims to achieve a 30% ratio of female leaders by the 2013 fiscal year, from a current ratio of 19%. It is one of the few Japanese companies to have a woman on its board of directors, and has an in-house child-care facility in its offices in Tokyo called Kangaroom.

过去一个月日本涌现了众多女性首次出任“一把手”的事例。日本央行本周任命了其128年历史上的第一位女性分行行长。日本航空公司（Japan Airlines Corp.）宣布了第一位女机长。东日本旅客铁路公司（East Japan Railway）在东京站第一次有了女站长。

Associated Press日本议员莲舫在周日的参议院选举中获得了创纪录的170万票的支持。图为，她和工作人员周日在东京庆祝胜利。与此同时，日本议员莲舫(Renho)在周日的参议院选举中获得了创纪录的170万票的支持。这位上镜的前模特今年42岁，尽管莲舫所在的日本民主党在各地遭到失败，但她是日本唯一一位得票数超过100万的候选人。她的再次当选巩固了她作为日本最受欢迎政治家之一的地位。

近期的形势暗示女性权利正在日本蔓延，但现实总是落后于新闻。在日本这一世界第二大经济体中女性的发展和提升都倍受争议，按一些衡量指标来看，近几年甚至还恶化了。

在衡量政治、教育、经济和健康等领域弥补性别差异进展的调查中，在去年举行的世界经济论坛上，日本在134个国家中排名第101。该报告涵盖的超过三分之二的国家2006年以来的排名都在上升，而日本每年的排名都在下降，2006年其排名第80位。

摩根大通（JP Morgan）驻东京首席经济学家菅野雅明(Masaaki Kanno)说，妇女的就业参与率并不太低，但这是M型曲线，当妇女30岁左右有孩子的时候，就业参与率达到低点，在她们重新回到工作岗位的时候，不太可能得到提升，而且日本缺少儿童看护设施，这让问题更加困难。

根据商业周刊《东洋经济》（Toyo Keizai）的一项调查，在日本上市企业中，去年妇女在高管中仅占1.2%。而关注职场女性的非盈利性机构Catalyst Inc所作调查中，在美国，2009年财富500强企业高管职位有13.5%由女性担任。

JAL ExpressAri Fuji成为日本大型航空公司的首位女机长。高层人士中缺少女性的原因有很多，而且比较复杂。日本承受着经济增长迟缓，移民政策严格以及人口下降之苦。日本缺少有利于有孩子女性的基础设施和支持，其中包括方便的儿童保育。日本通过了一系列法律旨在促进职场女性的地位提升，其中包括1986年通过的《平等就业机会法》和1992年通过的《儿童照顾休假法》，但批评人士说，执行力度较弱。另外妇女在日本这一男权社会中，历来就是顺从，所以没有什么妇女的行为榜样。

法国巴黎银行（BNP Paribas）驻东京首席信贷分析师Mana Nakazora说，如果没有我父母帮我照顾孩子，我想我不能做这份工作。我认为现在20多岁的女性比上一代更保守了，她们没有行为榜样。而在中国，妇女不用待在家里，人们认为上班是很正常的事。

妇女就业的改善一直非常缓慢。日本央行对于任命现年45岁的清水季子（Tokiko Shimizu）为首任女性分行行长一事大加宣传。但对一些女性来说真实的消息是，日本用了100多年时间才走到这一步。一位目前在东京金融界供职的日本央行前雇员说，相比于其他央行，日本央行更保守，她离开日本央行是因为在那里没有前途。如果一个人在生完孩子后返回工作岗位，就很难回到原来的职业轨道上去。日本央行错过了很多提拔人才的机会。这位雇员要求不要说明她的身份。

日本央行一位发言人说，近几年日本央行执行了宽松的孕产假政策。

私人企业的情况也不乐观。今年42岁的Ari Fuji本周被日本航空快运（JAL Express Co.）旗下的日本航空（JAL）任命为机长，从而成为日本航空业第一位女机长。而AMR Corp旗下的美国航空公司（American Airlines）在1986年就任命了第一位女机长。

大型跨国企业索尼（Sony Corp.）的首席执行长虽然是外国人，但据该公司说，去年其日本管理层只有3.5%是女性，而其在美国业务中，管理层中有32.2%是女性。

上述最新的女性升职事件显示出，更好地利用女性劳动力正在获得一些动力，不过变化的步伐依然缓慢。日本领先的化妆品企业资生堂（Shiseido Co.）表示，希望在2013财年前将女性领导的比例从目前的19%提高到30%•资生堂是让女性进入董事会的日本少数几家公司之一，并在东京办公室内设立了一个儿童照顾设施，名为Kangaroom。