Anyone wondering why Japan is skirting yet another recession should spend an hour with Seiko Noda. In a nation that chronically undervalues the talents of women (Japan trails Saudi Arabia and Bangladesh in the number of women in politics), Noda is a trailblazer.
In 1989, at 37, she became Japan’s youngest post-war cabinet member. Her skill navigating the jeers and contempt of male colleagues caught the attention of then Japanese leader Keizo Obuchi, who famously dubbed Noda “the future candidate for female prime minister”.
Now Noda is taking that notion for a test drive, quietly seeking support to challenge Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in party elections later this month. Her rallying cry: Abe’s government has ignored economic reforms and demographic challenges to the detriment of Japan’s global status. While Noda’s odds of ousting Abe are low, her message is vital.
Abe came to power in December 2012 with a mandate to put Japan back on top. Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party won voters with pledges of shock therapy to end deflation and raise living standards. But it was an audacious bait-and-switch. Abe’s real agenda was tightening government secrecy laws, restarting the nuclear reactors Japan had come to fear after the March 2011 earthquake, and “reinterpreting” the nation’s pacifist constitution so it could send soldiers to fight abroad.
“Lawmakers who are practically defence nerds are suddenly flinging these unfamiliar ideas at the public,” Noda fumed.
Along with Japan’s democracy, the economy is a clear casualty of Abe’s pet projects. Rather than bold deregulation – loosening labour markets, supporting entrepreneurs, slashing trade barriers, or creating an energy renaissance – Abe has served up a few platitudinous tweaks. Efforts to empower women, an issue close to Noda’s heart, are a case in point.
The faux shine
There’s no quicker or more obvious fix to Japan’s 20-year malaise than utilising the half of its 126 million people who are female more effectively. Kathy Matsui of Goldman Sachs, an early champion of “womenomics”, says Japan’s gross domestic product would get a 15 percent boost if the female employment rate matched that of men (about 80 percent). Abe himself has trotted Matsui out to demonstrate his determination to help women “shine”. His choice of word also aptly describes policies meant to draw attention but with little real substance.
On August 28, the parliament passed a law to promote the role of women in the labour force. But
there’s nothing mandatory: no penalties for ignoring the law, little about companies discriminating against pregnant women, and few demands for flexible schedules or rethinking the notoriously long working hours.
In other words, the grey-haired men writing Japan’s gender laws haven’t a clue. “Parliament was and is led by men and by the LDP, which is a paradise for men,” Noda says. The risks from Japan’s low birthrate have been ignored because men were in power, she argues.
If the status quo is a paradise for men, it’s hell for Japan’s fiscal trajectory. Why is it that Japan is winning tidal waves of short-term “hot money” but scant foreign direct investment, even with the yen down 32 percent against the dollar since late 2012? Because a crushing debt load (more than twice the size of the economy), negligible birth rate (about 1.4 per woman), and rapidly ageing population (26 percent over 65) scare executives. This government’s focus on national security and hollow talk of raising Japan’s game aren’t helping.
“If you want children to be born, you need women,” Noda says. “But their voices have not been heard. So no one has dealt with all the issues surrounding children and we are facing this fatal problem.” Mothers, Noda explains, are disadvantaged at work by a range of factors, including shortages of child care, gender pay gaps and inflexible working hours.
Noda has sparked her share of national debate, from being one of Japan’s first female power brokers, to becoming a mother at 50, to demanding that women be allowed to keep their maiden names after marriage.
Imagine what she could do as prime minister. And imagine if such fresh thinking had a chance to revitalise a nation that is ignoring half its people.
* William Pesek is a Bloomberg columnist
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media
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