Quote:
Originally Posted by kawaiineko
Because to an extent sexism is a problem in Japan. There is the glass ceiling issue. Yes there are some Japanese women who out of choice leave their careers/job because they want to have a husband and raise a family. However, I believe there are Japanese women who put their careers first and desire to go as far as is possible in the career field they chose. However simply because they're female, they can't go any farther; to an extent I believe Japanese men think Japanese women are somehow less capable of doing the job because they're female (they don't think they're smart enough or skilled enough, etc.; these are just examples I can think of, I could be wrong regarding this topic).
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You really just don`t get what I`m saying....
It`s not "some" women choosing to quit and raise their family. It`s the
overwhelming majority.
Take, for example, my husband`s company. In the year he was hired, and the two following years, they hired a total of 42 women. (About the same number of men.) The company has a female manager, and there is no "glass ceiling" preventing them from rising up in the ranks.
Now, five years later, only EIGHT of those women still work there. ALL the others quit of their own volition within those 5 years. The reasons? "Marriage" and "To raise a child" are the overwhelming choices. There were a couple of women who had medical reasons, and a few who just randomly quit, etc. None were fired.
Of the eight remaining, one of them is on my husband`s team, and is getting married next month. The company is trying very very hard to convince her to stay, offering her big bonuses, and literally begging.... She`s an excellent programmer. But she has said that she will most likely be leaving within a couple months of the wedding.
This is pretty much the case all over Japan. Women quit - whether the company wants them to or not - when they get married or have children. Because the women *plan* to do this, they don`t WANT a lot of responsibility on their heads to have to feel bad about when they leave. (Which is very responsible of them.)
I don`t believe that "women`s rights" has to fit the mold of, say, the US in order to exist.
(By the way, out of the 46 men hired during the same 3 year period - only 6 of them have quit.)
It does indeed take longer for a company to trust a woman with high-responsiblity work... Because most of the time they only hang around for as long as a "termporary" worker. Temporary workers, regardless of their gender, also aren`t trusted with important long-term work. The company would be stupid to do so. Imagine giving an important project to someone who just decides to leave in the middle of it!
But after the woman has married and expressed that she will not be leaving, or the temporary worker becomes a full fledged employee... They are treated the same as any other employee.
"smart enough" or "skilled enough" isn`t an issue. It`s the normal rate at which women leave their jobs, regardless of their skill.