Womenomics has to wait in line as tenure obstructs Abe's target

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is seeking to have women hold 30 per cent of supervisory positions in all fields by the time Tokyo hosts the Olympics in 2020. Right now, his own government is at least 15 years behind schedule.

Women fill just 6.2 per cent of junior management jobs in Japan's bureaucracy. While the intake of graduates is now more than 30 per cent female, careers tend to progress at a snail's pace. It takes about 20 years' tenure to move into a supervisory role, meaning the new cohort of women starting work on April 1 probably will be kept waiting until the mid-2030s. Hitting the target for senior management will take even longer.

Bloomberg