Japan's Womenomics Post-COVID and Post-Abe"

This paper examines the record of former Prime Minister Abe’s "Womenomics" program in light of the COVID recession of 2020-2021 and the related changes in government policy after the resignation of Abe in August 2020. On the one hand, there has been steady progress in terms of workplace regulation and daycare provision, and this has continued during the Suga and Kishida governments. On the other hand, both the data from the 2020 COVID recession, which disproportionately impacted women, and from the October 31 Lower House General Election, which saw a fall in female representation, give cause for skepticism. The article identifies and discusses five key variables to monitor (fertility rate, uptake in paternity leave, childcare wait lists and numbers of women in ‘regular’ employment and in leadership positions) and discusses their long-term implications for Japan’s economic and political future. One conclusion is that Japan has a good chance of reaching its original 2020 gender equity targets by 2030: a crucial issue is whether that prospect is good enough to stem the relative economic and social decline feared by many forecasters. Since Japanese neoliberalism in the Abe-Suga era placed inherent limitations on what Womenomics can achieve, Kishida’s articulated openness to moving “beyond neoliberalism” presents an opportunity for Japan to realize the full potential of Womenomics.