DEVELOPMENT-JAPAN: Once Docile Women Flex Economic Muscle

By Suvendrini Kakuchi Reprint | | Print |

Suvendrini Kakuchi

TOKYO, Dec 28 2004 (IPS) - Japanese women, long viewed as docile and entertaining "flowers" in the office, are bucking the trend to become ‘tigers’ and ‘economic locomotives’ that make key economic contributions these days, say analysts.

– More women are walking a new road, changing from office flowers, a term that describes their traditional role as decorations to please men, to becoming indispensable to the work place,” explains Mitsuko Yamaguchi, spokeswoman for Ishikawa Fusae Memorial Association, one of Japan’s oldest feminist organisations.

This trend, according to analysts, has made Japan’s rising number of single women a key source of economic growth in their country. Statistics indicate that unmarried women in their twenties and thirties now make up 40 percent of that group living in the big cities such as Tokyo.

The importance of the single-women sector in Japan’s drive for long-term growth was documented in a report on Japan’s 2005 economic outlook by Mizuho Securities, a leading financial organisation.

Respected economist Nobuyuki Saji, who says the Japanese economy has pulled out of the 10-year long recession and has begun a sustainable recovery, includes the purchasing power of single women as one positive sign to support his forecast.

While the report points to the reduction of bank debt and the manufacture of high-technology machinery as factors that would help boost national product performance and economic recovery, Saji devotes a special section of the higher female labour participation in consumer spending as another vital point.

‘’Working women in their twenties and thirties have seen their income increase this past two years as corporate restructuring shifts towards a meritocratic pay system that sees income distribution in favour of young people," he explains.

Real consumption spending among people below 50 years old has increased to 52.6 percent from around 35 percent of all consumption between October 2003 to the same month this year.

Saji says his research on consumption shows a rapid increase in the purchase of apartments as well as automobiles and stocks by single women, making them a key target for Japanese companies.

Indeed, data compiled by large real estate companies show that purchases by unmarried women in their twenties and thirties have risen to almost three-fourths of new sales this year, a dramatic trend compared to a decade ago when married men were the largest group.

Women owners reported average annual incomes of between 60,000 to 80,000 U.S. dollars and bought homes that were priced around 300,000 dollars.

Women also account for 67 percent of sales of mini vehicles priced at around 12,000 dollars, a record since 1999. Data on stock investing also show that women buying shares in their twenties and thirties have increased to 33.9 percent, higher than the 24 percent recorded for those in their 40s and 50s.

The rise of the female spender is also seen as the key to the growth in Japan’s service industry – annual growth rate of 3 percent or higher – whose companies offer health and beauty related services, restaurants, travel and recreational outlets.

Hidehiko Yanagisawa, an analyst at Hakuhodo Research company, says more younger women are becoming decision makers even after they start families, ôa huge contrast to the older generation where women played second fiddle to men".

ôThis social change is here to stay and is closely observed by companies as an important business opportunity from now on," he explains.

A new book, ‘Non Parasite Single Women’ released by author Kiyo Yamamoto in April, documents the lives of single women who live on their own because they not want to lose their independence by getting married and settling down to start families.

ôSingle and ambitious women in Japan have well-paid jobs, boyfriends and enjoy themselves. Their goal is to live for themselves," writes Yamamoto in her book.

Single and energetic Akemi Ozaki, 37, cannot agree more. Okabe launched her own aesthetic and hair dressing shop two years ago and says she does not even dream of marriage.

ôI am too busy with work and enjoying life to adjust to another human being in my life," explains the slight woman, whose work schedule ends after midnight most weekdays. She caters to a growing number of working women who want to relax with a shampoo or facial after they leave office in the evenings.

Women are reporting inroads in the more conservative job market as well. Trenders Inc, a company offering placement services for women, says their single clients are now being snapped up as managers by companies that have begun to report a doubling of their sales this past two years.

ôWomen managers have an edge over men when it comes to handling consumer goods and other services for companies in that field," notes Kahoko Tsunezawa, who runs the company.