Quote:
Originally Posted by Nyororin
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.
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That's very interesting Nyororin, as that was the trend in Japan, but, as I am sure you know, the general female population is experiencing a different phenomenon now. In my experience attitudes about gender are very traditional in Nagoya, more than even places like Kyoto, which are very traditional, but only on the surface.
The problem happening in Japan now is women have become very skilled an independent, and their desire to give up their freedoms as self-sustaining, fun-loving people to raise a family is waning. Twenty years ago there was a term used for single women over 25: "Christmas Cake". No one wants to eat Christmas Cake (a Japanese "tradition") the day after Christmas. Meaning, if you weren't married by the age of 25, you were an old maid. Nowdays that term is completely outdated, and women are waiting until thier 30s to settle down... if they settle down at all.
On top of that, the cost of living is so high families are having one child instead of multiple children, and schools are shutting down in droves. There has basically been a hiring-freeze of new public school teachers and kids today can't imagine having a teacher in their 20s. All are basically older men and women.
I am not questioning your husband's company's situation. That is a common trend, and maybe the women who are waiting to "settle down" are in the "less-skilled" area. I know salary-men that get three weeks off a year and never use a day, but all the secretaries and office assistants (women) are allowed to use up every day, and with their wages they can go to Guam, Hawaii, Asia, etc...
Heck, why would I want to give all that up to sit at home all day while my husband works 12 hours a day and I raise a kid alone?