Sad reality of working Japanese women

Although Japanese Prime Minister Abe has been working on improving the status of Japanese women in Japan, the reality still bites according to my friends and sisters. My sisters have degrees in computer and physics so they were both able to find a job that pays decently. They have to work very hard in the male dominated industry in Japan but they enjoy what they do fortunately  😳 I am a right brained person so I admire them for willing to do such complex tedious work every single day..

But apparently their salaries are generally higher than what office lady (OL) makes in Japan.

My best friend from high school is so called an OL. She has been working for the same company for about two years or so now and are not very happy with her condition. In fact, she is stuck and needs to make some decisions pretty soon. She is in her 30s, and got this job through a general temp agency in Osaka. Japanese companies traditionally hires newly graduated students. She actually was a career staff (“seishain” in Japanese) that is usually hired right after graduating from university. But she also wanted to be like her other girlfriends from high school. They all retired from their job soon after they got married so they can prepare for starting a family. My friend was actually engaged at that time, and after a few years, her ex proposed to her and my friend accepted his proposal to become his wife.

HOWEVER, something went wrong and her life started to get a bit messy after this. My friend could no longer return to the company that offered competitive benefits and better hourly wage because she quit to get married and she was too ashamed of her breakup. 

So she secretly moved back to her hometown to rest a bit and came back to the city after six months.

Then she resumed job search..but this time, things were very different. She was 31 years old and she knew she had a very slim chance to get a permanent position, but she needed the job to resume her life in the city. So she found a temporary office work that pays 1300 yen an hour. She says that this hourly wage is standard for administrative assistants. But the problem started when Japanese PM Abe started a new policy that limits the length of temporary employee’s working service. So after some time, my friend was pretty much forced to separate from her temporary agency, which used to negotiate raise and working conditions but now the company likes her enough to hire her as a contract employee without benefits. My friend’s contract is renewed once a year and she has two more years before the company has to either hire her as a permanent staff or dismiss her. She knows that this company..or most companies in Japan now do not hire office ladies as permanent staff unless they are hired right after college graduation.

My friend says Japanese companies do not hire people over 30, especially women unless they have special skills that can be used without extensive training. It usually does not apply to administrative office lady type of job so she has to make a decision whether to seriously start a “Konkatsu” (look for a wedding partner) or return to her home located in the countryside and live with her parents while doing another office type of job and at least she does not have to save the rent. 

I didn’t ask whether this age limit also applies to men in Japan. It probably does because Japanese recruitment ads shamelessly indicate the age limit. (35 years old is probably the max if you are planning to switch your career). But women are judged even harsher. My friend says “No companies in Japan would accept someone like me. I am in my mid 30s, not married and not have a child. It will be a risk for the company. Also I am more experienced and older so they wouldn’t want to hire me and create some tensions with existing young office ladies and they have to pay more to an older temporary staff with more experiences. So there is no benefit for these companies to hire me.

I was becoming more optimistic about Japanese women’s career advancement because of Japanese Prime Minister’s infamous support for working mothers and women’s career advancement. But in reality, Japanese single women in 30s either need to be working for a solid corporation in Japan asa career staff so she can support herself, or she is lucky enough to have supportive rich parent or if this unlucky woman is like my friend, she would need to seriously look into other ways to make more money and also seriously consider starting online dating.

She has been my best friend since high school, and it is heartbreaking for me to hear the reality of her life. At the same time, I’ve always been the kind of girl who would do whatever it takes to make it happen rather than just succumbing to the circumstances. Sure, going with the flow is very important but we have to start somewhere to protect ourselves and although I am sympathetic toward her situation and agree with her that Japan is not an easy society for mid-aged single women thinking of career transition.

I really want my friend to succeed and also hope that Japanese government will realize they are fasting the most talented pool of workers in Japan: Mature women. As the country suffers population declines, Japanese government should come up with ways to help promote Japanese women’s career transition and advancement. It is silly to set age limit. I believe that we should be able to re-start our career whenever we want to! Don’t you agree?