Japan's stagnating economy is hindered by a shrinking workfoce. This is due to its rapidly aging population and slow birth rate. It is also due to the fact that millions of highly educated women in Japan don't work.
In 2013, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged to enable more women to work. Abe's government is way behind on a lot of its targets. One of his goals was to have a least 30% of senior positions in Japan held by women.
About 80% of Japanese men work while only 66% of Japanese women work. Experts estimate that bringing the percentage of Japanese women in work in line with the percentage of men in work would lift Japan's GDP by as much as 13%.
Last year, the World Economic Forum ranked Japan 101st out 145 countries on its Global Gender Gap Index, behind Botswana and Sri Lanka. The index looks at how countries are "leveraging their female talent pool," based on economic, educational, political and health indicators.
Experts say Japanese employment numbers don't paint the full picture. Nearly 60% of the country's working women are in part-time or temporary jobs, many of which don't provide them with fair wages or social security benefits.
