Japan’s economic revival needs Abe’s ‘womenomics’

An aging population and shrinking labour force means Japan must overcome the tradition of women leaving the workforce after marriage or face further economic decline, an influential conference will hear on Wednesday.

Leading researchers will come together at The Australian National University (ANU) to discuss the economic, social and political landscape of Japan.

This will include a focus on Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's proposed "womenomics" solution to a stagnating economy, which aims to have women in 30 per cent of management positions by 2020.

Conference convenor Dr Shiro Armstrong of the ANU Crawford School of Public Policy said Japan's failure to properly utilise working-aged females was a wasted opportunity.

"The working-age population is shrinking while the number of elderly people is increasing quickly," Dr Armstrong said.

"The economy has been stagnant for two decades and the decline in the working age population relative to the elderly is going to happen faster and faster. That's why raising female participation in the work force is so important."

Dr Armstrong said despite Prime Minister Abe's efforts, there is a lot of work to do in changing social norms and reforming institutions to increasing the number of women in the workforce, especially in senior positions.

"They're very difficult to change because Japan has had so much success. Slowly breaking down the social norms of gender roles is a big challenge," he said.

"But it needs to succeed. The policy focus is right.

"The fact that is so high up on the political agenda means there is action starting to happen, but there's a long way to go."

The full Japan Update program is available here - https://crawford.anu.edu.au/news-events/events/7989/japan-update-2016.