Photo/Illutration A building that houses the health ministry in Tokyo’s Chiyoda Ward (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Working women in Japan can expect to earn only 70 to 80 percent of what men generate, according to the first breakdown by prefecture of the wage gap between the two sexes.

The survey by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare found, for example, that a female workers’ salary was 80.4 against 100 for their male counterparts in Kochi Prefecture, where the disparity was the smallest. The largest gap was reported for Tochigi Prefecture, where the disparity in income rated at 71.0.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida pledged to take steps to root out gender-based financial unfairness.

The rankings were unveiled during a Sept. 2 meeting of a government project team.

Chaired by Wakako Yata, a special adviser to the prime minister, the panel is moving to rectify the wage disparity, which is larger than other major powers.

The list of prefectures with the smallest salary differences comprise Iwate Prefecture at 80.3, Nagasaki Prefecture at 80.2 and Akita Prefecture at 79.9, following Kochi Prefecture.

The largest disparities behind Tochigi Prefecture of 72.1, 72.8 and 73.0 were logged for Ibaraki Prefecture, Nagano Prefecture and Tokyo, respectively.

The national average of women’s income standard was 74.8.

Income gaps were smaller for Tottori, Nagasaki, Kochi, Akita and other prefectures where the average length of employment did not differ significantly between genders, the ministry said. These prefectures had higher percentages of female managers, too.

Prefectures with sharp salary imbalances, such as Tochigi, Aichi and Ibaraki, were characterized by a tendency among women to have shorter careers, as well as the lower rates of women in managerial posts.

Behind the persistent gender gap in incomes is a traditional separation of roles between men and women at workplaces, which can be attributed, among other factors, to “unconscious bias,” according to the report.

As part of efforts to dissolve this prejudice, Tokyo intends to organize meetings of representatives from local governments, economic organizations, financial institutes and corporations in each region.

Attending the Sept. 2 gathering, Kishida vowed to “forge ahead with plans to correct gender unfairness in wages in local areas on a continual basis.”

“We will be arranging meetings to find a way to make regional communities more attractive for women, along with other relevant policies,” Kishida said.

A 2022 survey by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) showed that the standard wage for women in Japan was 78.7 against 100 for men--far below the average of 87.9 among 38 OECD member nations.

Alarmed by the nation’s ranking compared with other major countries, the Kishida administration came up with the slogan “structural wage hikes” as a policy priority to eliminate the disparity.

(This article was written by Ryohei Miyawaki and Sawa Okabayashi.)

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