The labor ministry is expected to soon require unlisted companies, in addition to those that are already listed, to disclose the ratio of women employed in managerial positions. Is this a good idea?

Yes, it's good idea but it doesn't mean it will solve most of Japanese corporate problem.

No. Just more useless red tape.

its pointless especially here in Japan.

As an idea is good. For example some people who seek employment in the just delisted Lawson will surely want to know. But will the overall environment change soon?

Yes, but it would not do much. Japan is still pretty much a male-dominated society and will likely not bat an eye even if companies are male-dominated. And, forcing companies to maintain a certain number of females in managerial positions won't mean much if they are still being discriminated despite their rank.

Maybe it's good for some more transparency or such. But that's all to it. The success of a company, namely profits for investors, stable well-paid jobs for its employees and taxes paid to society, that all depends very much more on matching the needs of potential customers and then turn that into business contracts and sales. A gender ratio or management determined to it, in the very most cases won't guarantee more business success than a management that is determined simply by best competence and professionality.

I think we need the quantitative data in order to force companies to increase managerial positions for women regardless of qualification and willingness to do the job. It's all about the numbers, right?

It is a start. Hope they follow with a ratio list of tall, short, LGBT, bald, overweight, married, single, vegan and any others I've missed.

Or they could just hire the most capable person based on their ability to do the job?

Of course YES, TES, & YES like everything else Japan is about 30 to 50 years LATE.

Yes. Of course it’s not a panacea but transparency starts to change the perception and in time the culture. It is but one measure that needs to be put in place but if no action is taken things will never change.

Every journey begins with but one step.

As opposed to lack of reporting? of course, more information becomes available and a meaningless difference between both groups of companies is eliminated.

This by itself will not solve inequalities, but as a first step It is positive, people will know to how big or small is the problem in general and it may even lead to solutions by seeing the example of companies that are doing better.

Or they could just hire the most capable person based on their ability to do the job?

Which is obviously why some companies have 100% males in management positions?

It's a good idea to keep a finger on the pulse, like a census does. But there should be no consequence to the companies.

Not sure what the point is.

With listed companies disclosure I can see disclosure making some sense since the shares of such companies can be publicly traded and shareholders might want to know if they are investing in a company that has a poor track record on promoting female employees. Plus shareholders who have concerns about it can use that information to demand changes, such as by exercising their rights at shareholders meetings, such as the right to question management, the right to vote against management if they disagree, and the right to put their own proposals on labor practices as resolutions to be voted on.

None of this is likely to happen at companies whose shares are unlisted since, by definition, they don't have public shareholders.

Waste of time and resources. It shouldn't matter what gender or race anyone is - it should be the best person for the job. Having that, the best person for the job never gets the job in Japan (because it's all about length of service, senpai/kouhai, and all that other junk) so it is irrelevant here. A DEI hire here would be no more or less skilled than the useless indecisive drones already running the companies.

Offcourse Yes, however this will not be entirely relevant. As long as the most of Japanese women prefers to be house wives and have an ATM for a husband to give him 1000¥ lunch money as allowance, you cannot expect to find a very capable woman in key managerial positions. They are extremely rare, and very well payed in Japan.