“Japan is back!” These were the words of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, at the New York Stock Exchange on September 25, 2013, displaying His strong determination to return Japan to a central role in the world economy.
Returning to such a core position in the global economy meant lifting the Japanese economy out of deflation through a set of policies known as Abenomics and the three arrows.
To build a new Japan, the government has implementing the third arrow, a growth strategy to stimulate private investment. One factor creating some uncertainty as to whether the new Japan can remain strong, however, is the declining birth rate, which is leading to an aging society. As the working population gets smaller, even if the economy temporarily recovers its former strength, it may be difficult to maintain momentum over the longer term. One solution to this problem is “womenomics”.
Compared with other developed countries, Japan has some way to go in promoting active female involvement in the workplace. Through measures to address this, it can increase its growth rate. Data also shows that in some developed countries, high female employment rates are accompanied by high birthrates. Steadily promoting policies that help women to participate more actively in society can bring about economic growth at a time when Japan is struggling with a low birthrate and aging population.
Data from The Japan Statistics Bureau in 2013 showed that the proportion of women in work in Japan increased by 1.8% to 69.6% in the period since the government of Shinzo Abe came to power in December 2012, a major improvement on the previous year’s 0.9% increase. The growth strategies laid out in the government ’s Abenomics economic policies were aimed at accelerating this existing positive trend, and the target is to lift the overall figure to 73% by 2020. In comparison to a number of European countries, the high proportion of women in the 30-34 age group who leave work after the birth of their first child produces a distinctive M-shaped curve in Japan. There is significant potential for economic growth in Japan if this trend can be addressed and the proportion of women in their 30’s and 40’s who are employed or seeking work is brought in line with the figures seen in several Western countries.

Policy Measures

The policies detailed below were announced to promote the active participation of woman’s part of the growth strategy. One element is to provide more opportunities for integral involvement, while another is to provide strong support to women.
The Abe administration have worked to expand female participation in the workforce, aiming to increase the employment rate for women age 25–44 from 68% in 2012 to 73% by 2020, and to increase the percentage of women in leadership positions to 30%. Specifically, it will provide tax and other incentives to companies that support active female participation and a balance between work and family. It will also implement the Planto Accelerate the Elimination of Childcare Waiting Lists, which will establish 200,000 new nursery school places by 2015 and 400,000 by 2018, thus addressing the waiting lists that now face parents who cannot find facilities to look after their children.
Additionally, to address the issue of after-school care for elementary school students, particularly those in the first grade, the administration have created 300,000 more places for them in five years.
Furthermore, the government expanded the range of services offered by job centers to mothers who wish to return to work while raising their children. These centers introduced jobs allowing a balance between work and family and providing other services aimed specifically at meeting the needs of mothers. The administration had also advanced subsidy programs for working mothers, such as by revising the system of incentives to boost trial employment of new non-regular employees to include mothers who quit full-time positions to look after their children.
The Japan Government stated: “Our country is now making rapid progress toward turning those words into reality by creating a Japan where women can shine“