Rejuvenating Japanese Economy through Closing Gender Employment gap

Though Japan is a major economic power after United States (US) and China in terms of nominal gross domestic product (GDP), yet it has been losing its competitiveness due to its macro-economic situation and also because of labor market inefficiencies, which among other indicators get reflected in the ratio of women to men, which is one of the lowest among high income economies. In order to revive Japan's growth first and then to sustain it subsequently and also to counter population ageing and decline the paper suggests that greater female labor force participation rate (FLFP) can play a crucial role. After briefly examining gender gaps, policy environment created by the government of Japan and best practices of selected companies with regard to female employment,the paper brings out that there is an urgent need for more gender sensitive and supportive policy interventions to bridge the gender gap in economic participation in Japan.