Japan trying to keep women in workforce

「間接差別」禁止盛り込む　厚労省が均等法改正案
2005年11月18日20時11分　朝日

　厚生労働省は１８日、来年の通常国会に提出を目指す男女雇用機会均等法改正案の原案を、労働政策審議会の分科会に示した。募集や採用・昇進でのいわゆる「間接差別」の禁止、妊娠・出産を理由とした本人の不利益になるような配置転換の禁止などを盛り込んだ。

　一見、性別とは無関係な間接差別として、募集・採用における身長・体重要件や、総合職などコース別の雇用管理などを例示したが、使用者側は「経営への介入だ」と反発。一方、労働側も具体例を挙げると他の基準の容認につながると反対した。

間接差別やセクハラ対策　均等法改正でたたき台　(共同 2005/11/18)

　厚生労働相の諮問機関、労働政策審議会（雇用均等分科会）で、厚生労働省は１８日、男女雇用均等法改正に向け、間接差別の禁止やセクハラ（性的嫌がらせ）対策強化を盛り込んだ、たたき台の案を公益、労働、使用者側委員に示した。

　妊娠、出産を理由にした不利益な扱いの禁止では、解雇や退職勧奨のほかに、正社員からパートなどの雇用形態変更の強要も加えた。

　厚労省は分科会での議論をまとめ、来年の通常国会で改正案の提出を目指す考えだが、労働、使用者側委員の意見の隔たりは依然大きい。

Japan trying to keep women in workforce
November 18, 2005

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan plans to toughen its gender equality law in an effort to encourage women to stay in the workforce as the population begins to shrink, a government official said on Friday.

The Health and Welfare Ministry will propose an amendment to the 1986 law that would ban employers from treating women unfavourably because they are pregnant or have young children, the Nihon Keizai newspaper said.

Employers would also be prevented from firing a woman who was pregnant, or who had a child under a year old, unless they could prove that the employee's family situation was not the reason, the paper said.

"With the population falling, we need to create the kind of environment where talented people can make the best use of their abilities," the official at the Health and Welfare Ministry said.

She said she could not comment on details of the proposals, which are not due to be finalized until the end of the year.

The 20-year-old Equal Employment Opportunity law has done little to improve women's status in the Japanese workplace. Female employees are paid on average only two thirds of a man's salary and just a tiny minority are promoted to management.

One economist said in a report last month that increasing female participation in the workforce was the most realistic way of improving Japan's sliding ratio of workers to retirees.

Current forecasts show Japan will have only two workers for each pensioner within the next 30 years, Kathy Matsui of investment bank Goldman Sachs said.

Boosting the number of working women could also give the economy a lift through greater growth in consumption of certain goods and services, Matsui said in the October report.

Japanese women currently tend to resign their jobs on giving birth and return to work, often on a part-time basis, when their children become independent.

Only 55 percent of all Japanese women work, compared with 62 percent in the United States.

The amendment to the law will be presented to parliament next year, the Nihon Keizai said.

There were signs of an increase in female participation in government panels, Kuniko Inoguchi, the minister for sex equality, said on Friday. The percentage of women taking part in such committees reached the government target of 30 percent in September, she said.