[Tokyo, 23rd, Reuters]–The Financial Services Agency has begun to consider requiring companies to disclose information such as wage levels by gender and the ratio of female managers. It will be applied from the 2023 securities report at the earliest. The Fumio Kishida administration will work to close the gender gap as part of the “new capitalism” and encourage women to participate in the labor force as the population declines.
Several government officials who know the situation have revealed. Amend and require the Cabinet Office Ordinance to state the wage levels of both men and women in the securities report. Consider adding the ratio of female managers and the rate of male employees taking childcare leave to the items listed.
The Financial Services Agency is discussing how companies should disclose information in a working group. Along with the revision of climate change disclosure and quarterly disclosure, the main theme is the addition of items that will lead to the correction of the gender gap, and the report will be compiled by this spring. The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare is also considering making disclosure mandatory based on the Act on the Promotion of Women’s Advancement, and will proceed with adjustments in step with it.
An executive of the economic government office explained, “The wage gap between men and women is also an economic and financial problem, and the official residence has a sense of crisis.” “Other countries are running at a tremendous speed. Japan has to run about three times as fast as before,” he said.
According to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare’s 2020 Basic Statistics Survey on Wage Structure, the average regular salary for women who work full-time is 25,1800 yen per month. It is just over 70% of the 338,800 yen for men.
According to a survey by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Japan’s gender pay gap is the largest of the seven major countries (G7). In addition, Japan ranks 120th out of 156 countries in the “Gender Gap Index,” an index of gender disparity created by the World Economic Forum based on the four items of economy, politics, education, and health.
The average wages for men and women were required to be stated in the securities report until the fiscal year ended March 1999. With the introduction of consolidated financial statements, the burden of preparing financial statements for companies has become heavier, and it has been abolished.
Hisashi Yamada, Vice President of Japan Research Institute, who is familiar with labor issues, said, “It is important to publish statistics on the wage gap between men and women, but a comprehensive understanding of why women’s wages are not rising and why there is a gap between men and women. Is necessary. ” “We need to see the big picture and solve each problem,” he says.
According to the materials of the Financial Services Agency, France stipulates that companies with 50 or more employees should publish indicators of the gender pay gap and corrective measures on their websites. In the UK, the law requires companies with more than 250 employees to publish details of salary differences between men and women.
(Kaori Kaneko, Takahiko Wada Editing: Nobuhiro Kubo)
