Short-changed?

Part-time workers in Japan

Kaye Broadbent, School of Industrial Relations, Griffith University

Prepared for the Gender and Work in Globalising Economies session

ASAA 3-5 July 2000

University of Melbourne, Melbourne.

 

 

Irasshaimase! (welcome) echoes throughout retail establishments in Japan. Employees are expected to welcome customers to their sales area with this greeting. After working at Daiichi (a psuedonym) for several months I overcame my reticence. I would greet customers as they approached the sales area, attempting aiming to replicate the volume, and tone and sincerity of the greeting as demonstrated in the training video. An effort which wears thin at the end of an 8 hour shift!

 

Historically, retail in Japan has long provided employment for women, but as many were unpaid labour in family businesses, their presence has not been reflected statistically. For their expansion in the 1950s, supermarkets relied on married women employed part-time to fulfil their staffing needs. Japan’s largest supermarket chain, Daiichi, is representative of large national supermarket chains as its work force composition reflects the trend of feminisation and casualisation.

 

Part-time work is increasing in significance as a form of paid work for women in Japan. Despite inconsistencies in definitions in government surveys, in 1995 95 percent of part-time workers were women (Kuwahara 1999:385) and 58.9 percent are concentrated in tertiary sector industries such as retail and wholesale, finance and health. (Japan Institute of Labour 2000:19) Married women constitute 51.2 percent of part-time workers (Rodosho Fujinkyoku 1996:3). Tanjikan koyoosha (short-time workers) comprise 20.8 percent of Japan’s non-agricultural paid workforce working under 35 hours per week. (Japan Institute of Labour 2000:43)

 

Studies written in English about Japan’s industrial relations focus on the employment conditions of regular male workers employed in large companies.^[1] Little is known about part-time work or the lives of the increasing number of people, particularly women, employed as part-time workers in Japan. Statistics and empirical data indicate that the number of working hours, job content and responsibilities of part-time workers in Japan approximate those of permanent full-time workers. Closer examination reveals parity in wages, annual payments, the amount and availability of non-financial benefits, paid holidays, career paths, and training, if they exist at all in the workplace, discriminate against part-time workers.

 

Industrial relations scholarship has focused on the seniority system of employment (nenkoo joretsu seido), encompassing lifetime employment as representative of employment practices in Japan. When analysing part-time work in Japan the connection to ‘lifetime’ employment needs to be made. Part-time work plays a significant role in sustaining ‘lifetime’ employment. Part-time work is a strategy devised by employers to create a segregated employment path within existing ‘lifetime’ employment practices. ‘Lifetime’ employment privileges male permanent full-time workers’ paid work patterns while utilising the labour of women, who have few alternative employment options. The segregation of women into part-time work, which doesn't have the employment conditions, benefits, access to training and promotions of the ‘core’ male workforce, sustains the superior conditions of the male workforce.

 

For women the equating of jobs designated as ‘women’s work’ with part-time work has gained a quasi-naturalistic existence. The designation of ‘women’s work’ as part-time work is a practice through which employers institutionalise and systematise the sexual division of labour based on sex. To understand how the sexual division of labour in Japan is constituted I focus on the construction of part-time work as a gender based employment strategy, the construction of part-time work and its impact on the sexual division of labour in the household and the relationship of part-time workers to the enterprise union and whether they consider it to be responsive to their needs as an avenue of employee representation. These issues will be explored in the context of Japan’s employment practices which restrict women’s access to positions as regular workers.

 

The sexual division of labour which defines the roles of women and men is assumed to be natural and as existing objectively, unrelated to economic, political or social contexts. Employers, governments and union officials assume that a division of labour based on sex exists ‘objectively’, and they have used it as the basis for creating employment, social and welfare policies. This division of labour in paid work privileges the work patterns of male workers. Part-time workers and regular workers can be seen as the two sides of the sexual division of labour; men are employed as regular workers and women have responsibility for the household and a paid job, but as part-time workers.

 

In Japan the distinction between ‘women’s work’ and ‘men’s work’ has long been and remains clearly demarcated but over time the content of each has changed. Policies emphasising the need to strengthen Japan’s industrial base coupled with an androcentric ideology created tensions for governments and employers. Viewed historically, Japan’s welfare and social policies together with employment practices represent shifts in the discourse on the sexual division of labour and illustrate the relationship between women and paid work in Japan.

 

Daiichi

Japanese supermarkets are divided into two main categories. The General Merchandising Stores (GMS) sell a range of goods from household items, electrical products, food, clothing, including their own brand of these products, as well as services including ticket sales and travel. The second category, supermarkets (SM) sell mainly grocery items. Both first appeared in the early 1950s. Supermarkets, unlike department stores, were not regulated, and both GMS and SM chains were able to expand both the number of stores and the size of each store to enlarge their share of the market. (Orihashi 1991:24-30)

 

Daiichi is Japan’s largest retail company and largest supermarket chain. It has 365 stores throughout Japan, with branches overseas; double that of its closest competitor. Daiichi as a company includes department, specialist and convenience stores, and services such as restaurants, hotel and leisure facilities as well as financial institutions and real estate development. Supermarket chains such as Daiichi control their own manufacturing, wholesale, distribution and retail process. Defined as a GMS, Daiichi sells a range of goods including grocery and electrical products developed in collaboration with major manufacturers retailing under its own private brand label. (Kunitomo 1997:91, Daiichi 1993)

 

Daiichi is representative of large supermarket chains nationwide in their employment practices in both the proportion of women workers in its regular workforce and in its part-time workforce. Daiichi’s part-time workers occupy an ‘elite’ position in the supermarket industry in terms of employment conditions Daiichi is suitable for study because it employs a high proportion of part-time workers, particularly women part-time workers allowing for an examination of the overrepresentation of women in part-time work. The hours part-time workers at Daiichi approximate the working hours of regular workers without receiving the equivalent employment conditions and security, benefits and status regular workers receive.

 

Methodology

To generate sufficient data to explore and analyse the construction and definition of part-time work, I combined a number of methodologies. I worked for ten months in the Hachiban store, one of Daiichi’s stores in Tokyo. The methodologies I employed included participant observation, a questionnaire survey of a range of workers from five Daiichi stores in the Kanto area (eastern Honshu) including the Hachiban store. I also conducted semi-structured interviews with part-time workers, full-time permanent workers, personnel and store managers and union officials in the same five stores. By working in a supermarket I gained a ‘behind the scenes’ shopfloor perspective of a Japanese supermarket and some understanding of the range of daily work routines and relationships between workers. With very little published in English on Japanese supermarkets, my experience at Daiichi, together with other data I collected contributes to our understanding of the work lives of the many women who work in Japanese supermarkets. Working at Daiichi I gained an understanding of the impact of Japanese management practices on those whose labour well serves Daiichi and the Japanese economy generally.

 

When is a part-time worker not a part-time worker

In discussing part-time work it is necessary to clarify what is meant by the term. The 1991 Ministry of Labour survey, Paatotaimaa no Jittai defined part-time workers on the basis of the number of hours worked and created two separate categories. The first, A part-time workers, were defined as working less than 35 hours per week and the second, B part-time workers, referred to part-time workers working more than 35 hours per week. ^[2] The survey’s own data indicated that at least 20 percent of part-time workers in 1990 worked the same number of hours as regular workers, yet were still defined and employed as part-time workers. (Rodosho 1991:6)

 

The 1997 Paatotaimaa no Jittai survey changed the labels slightly, yet clearly there are inconsistencies in this crossover. This survey indicates that in 1995, 76 percent of all part-time workers who worked five to six days per week worked hours approximating those of regular workers. For B part-time workers 95.4 percent worked hours approximating those of regular workers. Sixty-seven percent of part-time workers work between five to eight hours per day compared to 92.1 percent of B part-time workers working seven hours or more per day. (Rodosho 1997:221, 224) The greater proportion of part-time workers work similar hours to regular workers but are labelled ‘part-time’. The definition of part-time work and its categories are not consistent between surveys or government departments in Japan, nor across work places. What does remain consistent is that part-time work is synonymous with married women workers in their mid-forties to fifties, who are paid low wages, have poor employment conditions, few non-financial benefits and work long hours with no employment security.

 

Women in the Japanese workforce

In early studies, ‘lifetime’ employment was used to describe all constructions of work in Japan. ‘Lifetime’ employment is now understood to mean employment only until retirement, and together with seniority-based wages and enterprise unionism comprises one element of Japan’s employment relations practices. In Japan ‘lifetime’ employment is characterised by continuous employment with one employer until retirement. Workers benefitting from ‘lifetime’ employment receive intra-company on-the-job-training, regular promotions, and wage increases based on seniority, twice yearly lump sum payments^,[3] annual paid holidays and numerous benefits including housing and family allowances, social security, health insurance, pensions and a retirement payment. Employment conditions for permanent full-time workers are guaranteed by a collective agreement between management and the enterprise union, wirh union membership automatic for all permanent full-time workers upon employment. The definition and construction of ‘work’ as paid, regular and until retirement is however incongruent with the experiences of an increasing majority of the workforce. Women’s work experiences do not conform to the ‘standard’ male pattern and consequently are valued negatively in terms of both status and conditions. Compared with permanent full-time workers, the low wages that part-time workers are paid and the poor employment conditions they experience, with few or no benefits such as annual payments, health insurance and pensions, sick pay, paid holidays and retirement payment, are justified by the argument that, because the majority of women are married, they are not self supporting. Women are regarded by employers as secondary or marginal workers who do not require training because they will marry and leave, or if they are married, they are not considered self supporting but dependent on their spouses’ income.

 

The participation of women in the Japanese workforce has not changed dramatically in the postwar period, but there has been a significant shift in the composition of the female workforce. The number of married women in the paid workforce first exceeded the number of single women in 1965; in that year the proportion of married women was 46.6 percent while the proportion of single women was 41.1 percent. Figures for 1993 show the proportion of married women has increased representing 57.6 percent of the female population in paid work compared with single women comprising 33.1 percent. (Rodosho, Fujinkyoku 1996:appendix 29) Women have also always been a presence in the part-time work workforce, but the past decade has seen an explosion in the numbers of women working part-time work.

 

In documenting ‘lifetime’ employment in Japan much of the English language literature focuses on the employment conditions of permanent full-time paid workers in industries such as the automobile, chemical, iron and steel, electrical and ship-building industries, where the workforce is predominantly male (see endnote 1). Until the early 1980s most studies of employment in Japan concentrated on the experiences of permanent full-time male workers in the manufacturing sector. Analyses of paid work in, for example, retail, hospitality or health service industries are scarce, possibly encouraging the erroneous assumption that employment conditions and benefits for women or workers in the service sector are equivalent to those of the permanent full-time male workforce in manufacturing. While the imbalance in the literature is being redressed^[4] further research into industries in the rapidly expanding service sector is still insufficient to give an accurate picture, particularly as these industries are important sources of employment for women and part-time workers.

 

The impact of recent studies that are sensitive to issues of gender and class has been to demythologise ‘lifetime’ employment practices, revealing that the construct excludes almost all women, male workers employed in small and medium-sized companies, or part-time, casual, temporary, seasonal and outworkers. As lifetime employment, and more specifically regular paid work for men, has become synonymous with employment in Japan, work as a concept has come to be defined and identified in these terms. Work patterns which emphasise continuity of paid employment have become the ‘norm’ by which other work patterns are compared. The pattern of paid work for permanent full-time male workers, which has contributed to the mythology of ‘lifetime’ employment, is valued positively in terms of social status and rewarded economically with higher wages and financial and other benefits. Nevertheless, in the recession-affected 1990s ‘restructuring’ of the labour market means that some sectors of the permanent full-time male workforce in large companies may be excluded from the future of lifetime employment practices.

 

Sensitivity to gender in analysing ‘lifetime’ employment has meant that recent studies on the employment conditions and work experiences of women in paid and unpaid work are challenging and broadening the perception of employment in Japan. As the Equal Employment Opportunity Law (EEOL) of 1986 has passed its first decade as legislation, it became clear that the law has encouraged employer creativity in legally circumventing its recommendations. As the law does not incorporate punitive measures for contravention, there are few avenues for action. The pre-EEOL philosophy of ‘protecting’ women workers has been replaced with ‘equality’, implying equality with men, which in many instances has been construed to mean women must work ‘like a man’ if they are to receive equal treatment. Indications are that rather than providing opportunities for employment and promotion for women and improving their working conditions, the law has narrowed these opportunities for women. Indeed, the law has been recognised as instrumental in the explosion in the number of women in poorly paid, low status, low skilled jobs that have few prospects, with the vast majority of these being part-time workers.

 

Conceptualising the feminisation of part-time work in Japan

How then can the issue of overrepresentation of women in part-time work in Japan be approached? A number of theories have been put forward to explain the composition of the so-called peripheral^[5] workforce, in which part-time workers are included. Most of these theories locate their discussion of the workforce 'periphery' solely in the context of the availability of labour, arguing that employers need a workforce that can be easily hired or fired, depending on business needs.

 

In analysing the 'periphery' of the workforce, dual labour market theorists such as Michael Piore have (1973) argued that uneven economic development has created a segmented labour market. Internal labour markets are said to exist in many firms, and are characterised by a set of rules governing the pricing and allocation of labour. Internal labour markets are particularly noticeable where workers are not widely available, and thus are in greater demand. R.D. Barron and G.M. Norris (1976) extend this analysis by looking at the sexual dimensions of a segmented labour market and argue that women are primarily located in the secondary labour market because of employers' assumptions about women’s roles.

 

R. Edwards, D. Gordon and M. Reich (1975) argue that the labour market is segmented on the basis of sex, age, race and ethnic origin. Segmentation is an economic and political necessity, expedient to the functioning of capitalist institutions because of capital’s drive to control workers. The employment of some workers on lower wages is also seen as a means of increasing productivity. The limitations of an analysis which focuses on the labour market exclusively is that other important influences on the form of employment, such as the worker’s domestic sphere and relations within the household, are excluded.

 

Flexibility theorists such as John Atkinson (1984) argue that as firms in industrialised economies face increasing competition from industrialising economies, employers need greater flexibility in the workforce. Atkinson argues that firms are relying on a small multi-skilled 'core' workforce supplemented by a growing ‘periphery’. The focus of these discussions relies on the labour market as the sole determinant of the form of paid work performed. I do not deny the significance of the labour market in determining forms of paid work, but I argue that for exploring the work lives of part-time workers in Japan it is also necessary to examine other influences on their choice of paid work. One key element is the gender division of labour in the household. None of the above theories are able to explain clearly why women are overrepresented in part-time work. This is not only because these theories barely address the issue of women in the 'periphery', but also because there is no inclusion of variables such as gender or age in their analytical framework.

 

The few studies in Japanese which examine part-time workers focus attention on the ‘public’ sphere of work; that is, paid work. The underlying assumption is that this is the only arena where 'work' is performed and as such ignores work which is necessary but which does not have a market value. Here, work in the ‘private’ or domestic sphere, such as meal preparation, cleaning, shopping and child or dependant care, is devalued and not considered to influence either decision-making or the work options that women pursue. Relations in the private sphere are not considered, despite their importance for women in determining if, when and for how many hours per week they can perform paid work. The domestic sphere must be taken into account in this picture because it is the site of power relations within the family that govern decisions such as the ‘choice’ of part-time work, or any paid work and this helps explain why women are overrepresented as part-time workers.

 

Common employment practices in Japan clearly distinguish between jobs that are defined as ‘women’s work’ and those considered to be ‘men’s work’, based on assumptions about gender. Women, because of their physical capabilities, are constituted as better ‘suited’ to domestic work, including nurturing and caring for children and aged dependents. The physical characteristics which make them suitable for housework and nurturing, it is argued, render women less productive in paid work than male workers. Paid work for women is then defined in relation to the existence of women's actual or potential domestic commitments. As a result, women are found most often in low paying, low status jobs, or in part-time work. Irrespective of their real or potential futures, women are employed on a different basis from that of men.

 

Part-time work has been created and used by employers to utilise the labour of women without disrupting the existing gender division of labour. In 1999 20 percent of part-time workers and 57 percent of B part-time workers were male. (Japan Institute of Labour 2000:43) The percentage for male B part-time workers is expected to increase. The majority of male part-time workers (A & B) worked hours similar to those of regular male workers, and received wages and benefits higher than those paid to women part-time workers. A hierarchy which exists in ‘lifetime’ employment is developing within the part-time workforce.

 

For women, part-time work is seen to be an ‘appropriate’ employment option because it allows women to combine paid work with their ‘natural’ roles of wife, mother and carer. For employers who are mostly men, employing women as part-time workers is the means for channelling women into areas where they are not threatening the male dominance of the labour market. Part-time work has been created as a way of resolving this tension. A tension exists between governments that want women as carers of children and aged relatives in the wake of further cuts in social welfare, and employers who want women as cheap labour.

 

Catherine Hakim (1995), in analysing part-time work in Britain and Europe, argues that a feminist ‘myth’ has developed around women and work. She argues that the myth incorrectly states part-time work is forced on women because they have childcare responsibilities. Part-time work, according to Hakim, is constructed by employers who take into account the work orientations of women who she argues are essentially an unreliable workforce. Her point is relevant for examining circumstances in Japan in that most women working part-time are in age groups where childcare is not likely to be an important issue. While recognising part-time work is a strategy constructed by employers, she incorrectly places the responsibility of being overrepresented in part-time work on the shoulders of women. In arguing women are an unreliable workforce she fails to acknowledge the policies and practices of governments which contribute to women’s withdrawal from and re-entry into the workforce.

 

Sylvia Walby (1990) argued that as women’s involvement in, and access to, the political arena increases, their impact will be to reduce gender bias in legislation and political processes. In the case of Japan this view needs modification. Relatively recent legislation such as the EEOL, Part-time Workers’ Law, Childcare Leave Law and Dependent Care Leave Law appears to have done little to reduce inequities in employment opportunities and working conditions for women.

 

Veronica Beechey and Tessa Perkins (1987), in examining conditions in Britain, argue that the conception employers and trade union officials hold about gender have informed their attitudes and actions. As a result these have been influential in contributing to the naturalisation and institutionalisation of a sexual division of labour. Similarly, Cynthia Cockburn (1983) argued that male workers’ greater participation than female workers in union-employer negotiations allows male workers to maintain a privileged position with higher status as workers and higher wages than women workers. Certainly male workers, their unions and their resulting bargaining power are important as a means of restricting the jobs and conditions which women workers can receive. For Japan, we also need to examine the scope of issues on which unions are able to bargain. For example, enterprise unions in Japan are unable to bargain on issues related to job definition, for example, a situation which developed in manufacturing where male workers and their unions traded away the right to bargain on these issues in return for a greater share of profit.

 

“I should be a manager . . . “

I now want to explore more closely issues which have contributed to the overrepresentation of women in part-time work. The allocation of roles on the basis of sex in Japan proscribes paid employment opportunities for women with all women subsumed into the single category of wives and mothers. This then becomes representative for all women. To deny that women perceive themselves as wives and mothers, or that these roles are not important is to inaccurately portray women in Japan. It is a separate issue however, when employers, governments and unions through their policies and practices institutionalise a sexual division of labour constituting all women as wives and mothers.

 

In Japan, employment opportunities for women seeking to return to regular paid work are limited. Part-time work appears ideal for women wanting to combine paid work with child care or aged care, domestic work or other activities in their lives. Daiichi reorganised its part-time workforce in 1992 moving from a dual part-time to a single part-time classification. Part-time workers were to carry out jobs approximating those of permanent full-time workers with some decision-making responsibility. This differed from those workers classified as casual (but who still worked similar hours) but who performed largely repetitive, auxilliary tasks with no decision-making responsibility. Irrespective of the task the part-time workers perform, because they are classified as part-time the perception is that they do not perform the same tasks as permanent full-time workers.

 

When asked how they defined themselves, equal numbers of permanent full-time and part-time workers (37%) identified strongly with the company and defined themselves as Daiichi employees. The next highest response for part-time workers was as wives and mothers indicating that part-time workers recognise this role is as equally important as their role as paid worker. Despite being marginalised through employment conditions, welfare policies and union practices, and being treated as second class workers, part-time workers identified strongly with the company.

 

The part-time workers interviewed who were performing the same jobs as permanent full-time workers were aware that despite being utilised in the same way as permanent full-time workers they would never receive the same employment, training and promotion opportunities as permanent full-time workers. This would also impact on the level of their wages, annual payments and benefits which would never be as high as those of permanent full-time workers.

 

One difference between permanent full-time workers and part-time workers is the difference in shift times. At Daiichi part-time workers comprise the core workforce during store trading hours between 10 am and 7:30 pm and generally they worked shifts with little variation.[6] Daiichi’s construction of part-time working hours in the seventies coincided with school hours as many of the present day part-time workers had school-aged children. This enabled the women to combine paid work and child care while juggling the demand for Sunday work with their partners.  As their children started high school the pressure, backed up with threats of dismissal, to work longer hours increased. The hours of many part-time workers have doubled during their  ten to seventeen years of work experience at Daiichi and not necessarily in respsonse to their own needs. While child care is no longer an issue, the necessity of performing aged/dependent spouse care responsibilities is presenting challenges for their ability to continue paid work. Ono san was able to negotiate finishing her shift one hour earlier during the nine months she cared for her hospitalised husband. She acknowledges it was not a major concession but it did allow her to provide a small amount of care rather than leave the entirety of his care to the nursing staff.[7]

 

In exploring the notion of choice in their paid work, I asked part-time workers if they were satisfied with the shift times they worked. While about half were satisfied with the span of hours, in interviews many part-time workers expressed the desire to have more flexibility in the number of hours they worked and when they worked. For example many wanted to work fewer hours per day and fewer days per week than they currently worked.[8] These responses are linked with the question on why they worked. As part-time workers in my study were in the upper age groups (45-60), economic imperatives such as repaying housing loans and financing children’s education were less important than the demands of aged care, the state of their health or spending time with partners.

 

Survey responses indicate that part-time workers and permanent full-time workers perform similar tasks. Customer sales is the most frequently performed task, followed by operating the cash register. Part-time workers do not organise staff which differentiates them from permanent full-time workers. In 1998 Daiichi did not have part-time workers in management positions but one personnel manager mentioned that this was under consideration. This may not have been formally introduced but a greater number of part-time workers fulfill managerial-type responsibilities regularly including control over the budget and ordering of merchandise for a small section. One example is Okabe san who previously worked in the luggage and handbag section:

I have my own department and feel good when I can achieve my sales figures. . . . In my previous section the manager gave me a budget which I had to work within. I now don’t have the same responsibility and feel some of the challenge has gone.

 

Employees length of service, intra-company qualifications and ranking are based on a manager’s evaluation and contribute towards determining an individual’s hourly rate. Dissatisfaction about wages expressed in the survey centred on the incompatability of the wage with job content and with employee’s length of service. Twenty-five percent of part-time workers responded that irrespective of their length of service, their wages would only increase slightly. Unlike for permanent full-time workers, part-time workers are not eligible nor receive seniority based wages. Wages for part-time workers were calculated individually based on the above-mentioned criteria, however the base rate for all part-time workers was the same. Despite between eleven and seventeen years of work experience at Daiichi, part-time workers received about half the annual payment of a high school leaver with two years full-time experience. Commenting on her experience Takashima san says: “I am bitter about the difference in wages and annual payments, and bonus season would be the most bitter time for me”.

 

The employment conditions of part-time workers at Daiichi indicate part-time work has been created by employers to utilise the labour of women, specifically married women who have few employment alternatives. These women perform the same or similar roles to full-time workers but by being labelled part-time their wages, annual payments and other financial benefits as well as the amount of paid leave and opportunities for promotion do not equate to those of permanent full-time workers, despite their increasing years of experience. The role of paid worker is but one aspect of the lives of these women who work part-time. It is important to consider the domestic role and the impact of government policy in naturalising the division of labour that undergirds and justifies part-time work as a legitimate form of employment for women and around which their role as paid worker must fit.

 

“When I get home I have to be a mother . . . “

In Japan the representation and construction of women as wives and mothers restricts the employment opportunities of all women irrespective of age, class or stage in the lifecycle. Women are constituted as an homogenous and unitary category which is problematic as it does not recognise diversity in material conditions or life experiences.

 

Initially intended to redress inequity in employment practices, the EEOL (Danjo Koyoo Kinto Hoo), the Part-time Workers’ Law (Tanjikan Roodoosha no Koyoo Kanri no Kaizentoo ni Kansuru Hoo), the Childcare Leave Law (Ikuji Kyuugyoo Hoo) and the Dependent Care Leave Law (Kaigo Kyuugyoo Hoo) have had the opposite effect, to the point of institutionalising workplace inequality. The EEOL does not specifically address issues concerning part-time workers, and its ratification is often cited as responsible for the explosion in both the number of jobs defined as part-time work, and the number of women part-time workers in these positions. The introduction of the Part-time Workers’ Law in June 1993 ended the legal limbo for part-time workers, but the law focuses on improving to the control and regulation of the part-time work workforce, rather than improving employment conditions for part-time workers. Opposition to these laws, by business groups and employer federations has rendered the legislation not only ineffective, but has entrenched the existing sexual division of labour in the household as well as the workplace and contributed to the worsening of employment conditions for women.

 

Tax and pension schemes are predicated on the notion that women are dependent financially on a male income earner. This privileges spouses/families, with women who remain financially dependent on their spouse. Tax regulations that have established a low tax free threshold ensure that a woman is unable to earn an income adequate for supporting herself, and/or her dependents. This stance reflects the Japanese government's version of the welfare system and represents the female version of the ‘company man’. The company man devotes his entire being to the company’s needs, while his wife performs the household tasks which allow him to continue his punishing work routine. The wife is responsible for domestic work as well as providing child and dependent care. Thus these welfare and social policies formulated on the basis of role allocation that is based on sex is encompassed in the familiar expression, otoko wa shigoto, onna wa katei[9] (men have a job and women have the household). Shifts in the discourse on the sexual division of labour and the content of ‘women’s work’ are evident in the modification of this expression to otoko wa shigoto, onna wa katei to shigoto (men have a job, women have the household and a job). For women, particularly married women, the job envisioned by governments, unions and employers is as a part-time worker with its shorter working hours, than regular workers. According to successive governments, part-time work articulates well with the role of women in the Japanese style of welfare state.

 

The title of this section comes from a discussion with Okabe san. When I asked about her shift times, I was referring to her paid work shift times. She responded to my question and then added ‘when I get home I have to be a mother . . .’. Okabe san’s comments about her other ‘shift’ succinctly describe the impact of working part-time on both women in Japan, and on the sexual division of labour in the household. The impact of a woman’s employment status affects the amount of time she spends on domestic work but not her role as primary domestic worker. Irrespective of whether they are a full-time housewife or a part-time or permanent full-time worker, women perform more hours of domestic work than men, 3-4 hours per week day compared with 12 minutes. (Sorifu 1993:20) Working part-time does not challenge the division of labour by sex in the household.

 

The part-time workers I surveyed and spoke with were all primarily responsible for household duties irrespective of the number of their working hours or whether their husbands were in paid employment, unemployed or retired. Ninety-four percent of part-timers responded that they were primarily responsible for housework but that the amount had decreased slightly since beginning paid work. Part of this was because children had grown up and so involved less care. The sex of the person responsible for performing the housework however has not changed. Few of the part-time workers relied on paid domestic assistance because of economic considerations. Pride is a further element for continuing to carry out their own domestic responsibilities. As Buckley argues:

 

Japanese women are intensely aware of the public nature of women’s domestic work and the importance of the performative dimension of domestic labour to the definition of women’s status and identity. (Buckley 1996:451)

 

Although the technology is available to shorten the time spent on domestic work, this does not necessarily mean that the devices are used or that they are used by other members of the family other than the wife or mother. The impact of technology has been to entrench the sexual division of labour “because technologies have been used to privatize work, they have cumulatively hindered a reallocation of household labour.” (Wajcman 1991:87)

 

Power in the union?

Unions and their policies and practices are pertinent to this discussion. Historically unions have acted to protect the employment conditions of their predominantly male membership from the impact of women, a workforce constituted as ‘cheap’. It is just this stance which saw enterprise unions in Japan in the mid sixties give away opportunities to bargain on issues of gender discrimination to protect the employment conditions of their ‘core’ male workforce.

 

Enterprise unions in Japan are organised within single enterprises which mitigates against opportunities for workers to establish links with other workers in their industry or occupation. The limited bargaining scope set by the organisational structure of the enterprise union is compounded by its androcentric character. The ‘core’ male regular workforce dominates both official positions and general membership, with limited if any access for women and part-time workers to voice their concerns. Issues of gender discrimination are generally resolved by the aggrieved individual with management or through the courts.

 

Given the growth in part-time jobs and the rapid increase in the number of part-time workers over the past fifteen years, the rate of unionisation for part-time workers has not risen at the same pace. Low rates of unionisation for part-time workers are often explained by union officials in terms of disinterest on behalf of women and part-time workers. This explanation is paralleled in the early history of unions when it is argued that women lacked ‘worker’ consciousness and so were not interested in unions.

 

In 1995 only 0.01 percent of part-time workers were unionised. (Kuwahara 1999:385) The Daiichi enterprise union is among a small number of unions which have attempted to unionise part-time workers. Despite their activity on a range of industrial issues, the union movement in Japan has been dominated hierarchically, culturally and numerically by men. (Franzway 1997:129)

 

Data from my sample supports the claim that part-time workers are disinterested in the enterprise union and the union’s activities but this is not because of a lack of consciousness, but because enterprise unions are seen by part-time workers as pursuing issues on behalf of permanent full-time workers. The scheduling of meetings at times they couldn’t attend and ignoring their concerns were some of the sources of disaffection cited by part-time workers. The enterprise union response of ignoring part-time worker’s concerns is an outcome of the broader problem of disinterest in part-time workers and the restricted bargaining scope of enterprise unions.

 

What can be said about part-time work in Japan?

Japanese employers have constructed the nenkoo system (based on age and merit) to support the discursive constitution of the sexual division of labour. They have designated specific paid work as ‘women’s and men’s’ work, with women’s work constituted as secondary and auxiliary to that of males. An increasing number of jobs designated as ‘women’s work’ are constructed as part-time work, but with working hours and job content similar to regular workers without the wages and benefits.

 

Part-time work as it is constructed and operating in Daiichi is not unique to Daiichi. The categories of ‘regular’ and ‘part-time’ in Japan are statuses which define and determine employment conditions and benefits. Under Japan’s lifetime employment practices, ‘status’ is predicated on a particular construction of the term ‘worker’ who is regular, male and in continuous employment. Those whose work patterns differ from the ‘standard’, who are not regular male workers, are not employed under equal conditions, and receive less remuneration and fewer benefits. Part-time workers are denied opportunities for training, promotion and consequently access to better employment conditions and benefits. The difference between part-time workers and regular workers is represented within the discourse on the sexual division of labour. Regular workers are male, and part-time workers are female. Women are defined in terms of their domestic roles and so are assumed to be unsuitable for employment as regular workers. The policies of enterprise unions (and other levels of union organisation) are instrumental in institutionalising and systematising the sexual division of labour which assumes part-time work is ‘women’s work’.

 

The status divisions between regular workers and part-time workers are so strong that workers are labelled ‘part-time’ even when working the number of hours equivalent to regular workers. And, since women are constructed in relation to their domestic commitment, there is little opportunity to challenge the division of labour in the household. Some women at Daiichi could rely on the co-operation and understanding of spouses, parents, in-laws and children but most reported they were still primarily responsible for domestic work.

 

The gendered and ageist construction of part-time work in Japan has serious implications for those employed as part-time workers. Governments are complicit in the role they play in influencing and supporting the division of labour in the household and, as a consequence, the type of paid work that women are able to undertake. The availability of services for childcare or other dependents, tax incentives as well as employment legislation all need to be examined. Welfare policies such as establishing a tax-free income threshold have a negative impact on both the construction of part-time work and the gender division of labour in the household. Legislation has not been an avenue of assistance acting instead to further segregate ‘women’s and men’s work’. Under the EEOL, women are now forced to accept work patterns similar to those of regular male workers; in other words long hours resulting in the pressure of a double workload, or part-time work with increasing hours of work but which affords little opportunity for career advancement. By not being represented in enterprise or national union bodies, the majority of part-time workers are denied access to power in negotiating and decision-making structures within the company, and the union movement. As a result, women’s voices and needs are rarely heard on national committees, and so are not reflected in company or government policies.

 

The prospects for significant change in the employment conditions of part-time workers at Daiichi are far from encouraging. Of part-time workers, only permanent part-time workers are eligible for unionisation but as the enterprise union concentrates on negotiating wage increases there is little possibility for affecting change. Alternative unions exist in Japan, including community, general and women only unions which theoretically non-unionised part-time workers at Daiichi could join. Daiichi’s enterprise union is an affiliate of the federation Zensen Doomei (Japanese Federation of Textile, Garment, Chemical, Distributive and Allied Industry Workers’ Unions) which has a policy of ‘one union one workplace’ or union shop which prevents a second union organising non-unionised workers in that company. The growth in part-time work in Japan has serious implications for workers, particularly women workers, but whether or not this phenomenon is ‘Japanese’ requires comparison.

 

 Endnotes