Japan Expands Mandatory Disclosure of Gender Wage Gap and Female Management Ratio for Companies

Expansion of Company Size Range from 301+ Employees to 101+ Employees

Japan will increase the number of companies required to disclose wage gaps between men and women within their organizations. Previously, this obligation applied to companies with 301 or more employees, but the scope will be expanded to companies with 101 or more employees. Additionally, the government plans to mandate the disclosure of the proportion of female managers in these companies.

A woman is walking past an electronic board displaying Japan's Nikkei index. Photo by Reuters and Yonhap News.

On the 26th, Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare announced that it presented this policy through its advisory body, the Labor Policy Council.

The Ministry plans to finalize the mandatory disclosure measures for wage gaps between men and women and the proportion of female managers within companies by the end of this year, and submit related legislative amendments to the regular Diet session next year.

According to this policy, the number of companies required to disclose wage gaps between men and women will increase from the current approximately 18,000 companies with 301 employees to about 50,000 companies with 101 or more employees.

The disclosure of the proportion of female managers will also be made mandatory for companies with 101 or more employees. Previously, there was no requirement to disclose this ratio. Japan's proportion of female managers is 12.9%, which is low compared to the United States (41.0%) and Germany (28.9%).

The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare also plans to enact a law to prevent "Kasukhara," abusive behavior by customers. Kasukhara is a newly coined term derived from the English words "customer" and "harassment," adapted from the Japanese pronunciations "kasutama" and "harasumento." Companies will be required to establish measures against Kasukhara and to set policies for response and follow-up actions.