Japan Wants More Women in Construction. Pink Toilets May Not Be Helping.
- 6 years ago
Japan Wants More Women in Construction. Pink Toilets May Not Be Helping.
“I think the government should simply pursue things that would make it easier for both women and men to work.”
Hiroki Watanabe, one of the officials at the Japan construction ministry who is in charge of increasing female participation in the industry, said the overall direction of Japan’s public outreach had not “missed the mark.” Its other efforts include awarding public works projects to selected companies
that employ women, hiring consultants to hold seminars for construction executives and taking surveys of female workers.
“With these wages, you can earn the same or even a bit more money at supermarkets or factories,” said Hirotake Kanisawa, a professor in
the department of architecture at Shibaura Institute of Technology, “and compared to those kinds of jobs, construction is much harder.”
Most construction laborers are hired by smaller firms
that are at the bottom rung of projects, where employers sometimes steal wages in order to cover their other costs, Mr. Kanisawa said.
“I always think it’s clearly an idea thought up by men,” said Ms. Nishioka, 46, who now runs the diversity promotion
office in the human resources department of the Shimizu Corporation, one of Japan’s biggest construction companies.
But two decades after Ms. Nishioka started that first job, a declining birthrate
and Japan’s reluctance to open up to immigrants have left the construction industry — and the economy as a whole — with its deepest labor shortage in years.
“Japan’s construction industry still rejects the idea of women actually working on the ground,”
said Junko Komorita, chief executive of Zm’ken, a small contractor in southwestern Japan.
“I think the government should simply pursue things that would make it easier for both women and men to work.”
Hiroki Watanabe, one of the officials at the Japan construction ministry who is in charge of increasing female participation in the industry, said the overall direction of Japan’s public outreach had not “missed the mark.” Its other efforts include awarding public works projects to selected companies
that employ women, hiring consultants to hold seminars for construction executives and taking surveys of female workers.
“With these wages, you can earn the same or even a bit more money at supermarkets or factories,” said Hirotake Kanisawa, a professor in
the department of architecture at Shibaura Institute of Technology, “and compared to those kinds of jobs, construction is much harder.”
Most construction laborers are hired by smaller firms
that are at the bottom rung of projects, where employers sometimes steal wages in order to cover their other costs, Mr. Kanisawa said.
“I always think it’s clearly an idea thought up by men,” said Ms. Nishioka, 46, who now runs the diversity promotion
office in the human resources department of the Shimizu Corporation, one of Japan’s biggest construction companies.
But two decades after Ms. Nishioka started that first job, a declining birthrate
and Japan’s reluctance to open up to immigrants have left the construction industry — and the economy as a whole — with its deepest labor shortage in years.
“Japan’s construction industry still rejects the idea of women actually working on the ground,”
said Junko Komorita, chief executive of Zm’ken, a small contractor in southwestern Japan.