Beauty product maker offers women rare promotions

Pretty amazing that in 2010 we are still reading about the female executives who have managed to make it to even the manager level in a big company in Japan. That is not slow change. That's glacial. And, what makes it truly astounding is when you consider that over 1/2 the population of Japan is female, so by inferrence, over 1/2 the spending on products and services is by females, yet only 9% of the managers are female. Katsuma-san is right -- only some stiff penalties, harshly enforced by the government and courts -- will change things here. But, since the bureaucracies, Diet, and courts are all male bastions, we know that is not going to happen. My guess is we'll still be reading similar articles in 2020.

shame on japan...really.

My guess is we'll still be reading similar articles in 2020.

exactly mate...

the number of female managers at the company tripled over the last four years

I wouldn't call that slow. This is good news for Japan. If the ladies would get over the whole "I'm going to quit my job because I'm going to get married" fad, we'd see a lot more female managers. FYI, there are more female managers than male managers at my company.

One of the biggest problems for women in Japan who want to have children as well a career is the lack of support for them. There aren't enough early childhood care centres, there aren't enough laws to assist women to return to the work place and keep their jobs and as was mentioned in the article, all the decision makers in government are old men.

Take it from one who knows - Panasonic is one of the most old fashioned Japanese companies. I am amazed that a woman has got that far.

Who knows, next they may allow a foreigner to rise up the ranks.

Stupid article. These news pops up now and then, but the truth is, the company is just using her for advertising. That's what the Japanese companies do. Setting up a women's team for products targeting other women is nothing new. It's a women's team! Naturally the manager is a woman.

In glacial Japan(borrowed from herefornow), hard-headed management still think women are not fit to do a man's job.