Economic Empowerment of Women as the Third Arrow of Abenomics

Abstract

With the strong policy goal of resuscitating Japans sluggish economy, Prime Minister Abe Shinzo has advocated an increase in female employment as a core part of his ambitious economic revitalization strategy, a plan called Abenomics. This paper examines a series of Abe governments policy initiatives for increasing female employment, ranging from the work and life balance programs and the government policy recommendations to the public and private sectors to the regulatory measures on diversity in the workplace. By doing so, it aims to analyze the ways in which the Abe government has endeavored to achieve the economic empowerment of women in Japan and the business community has responded to the pressure of the government policy initiative for female employment over the past few years.