Kathy Matsui, Vice Chair, Chief JapanStrategist at Goldman Sachs

TOKYO —

Kathy Matsui takes stock of Abe’s'womenomics' reformsBy Annabelle Landry

→ LIFESTYLE FEB. 04, 2016 - 05:42AM JST ( 3 )

During a recent talk organized by TheWomen’s Fellowship of Tokyo Union Church, KathyMatsui, Vice Chair, Chief Japan Strategist at GoldmanSachs and the person who coined the term“womenomics”, took a look at the progress of PrimeMinister Shinzo Abe’s “womenomics” policies, whathas been achieved, and what remains to be done. Shealso discussed some of the professional and personalchallenges she has faced during her 25-year career inJapanese finance.

A regular churchgoer, Matsui was born to ChristianJapanese parents who immigrated to the United Statesfrom Nara Prefecture. She was raised in California,where the family operates a large-scale commercialflower nursery in the Hispanic-dominated, agricultural

region of Salinas Valley. “When I came to Japan, I didn’t speak fluent Japanese,” shesaid, observing that she was much more proficient in Spanish during her high schoolyears.

In the spring of 1990, she landed a job in the Japan Strategy team of Barclays de ZoeteWedd Securities, where she provided advice to institutional investors on the Japanesestock market. That was a year after the market peaked in December 1989.

During some of the earlier days of her career, however, the Nikkei was plummeting bymore than a 1,000 points per day. “Forecasts were suggesting the population was going toshrink and economic growth would slide given the growing mountain of fiscal debt,”Matsui said. “Overseas, there was a growing fear that the bursting of Japan’s asset bubblewould lead to a prolonged economic downturn, leading investors to ask such questionsas: ‘Why should we even bother investing in Japan?’ Where is future growth going tocome from?” That’s when the idea for her first “womenomics” report came to her.

It was 1999, five years after Matsui had moved to Goldman Sachs, and she was pregnantwith her second child. “The idea for the report, she said humorously, may have beenspurred by excessive hormonal activity in my body.” At the time, lifting female laborparticipation was not a widespread concern. “Back then, no one spoke aboutdemographic challenges and the words ‘gender diversity’ were not part of the Japanesevernacular.”

Matsui’s talent didn’t go unnoticed. In 2000, she was promoted to become the firstfemale partner at Goldman Sachs Japan. Her reputation quickly spread overseas, where

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she was chosen, in 2007, by the Wall Street Journal as one of “10 Women to Watch inAsia” for her work on “womenomics”.

Finally, in 2013, grasping the scope of the problems stemming from a rapidly shrinkingpopulation, Abe’s government drafted its National Growth Strategy. “Abe realized thatgiven the severe demographic headwinds facing Japan, making better use of the otherhalf of the population might help improve the nation’s growth potential. Besides, givenacute labor shortages (with 24% more jobs available currently than job-seekers in Japan),companies have recently begun hiring women more actively than in the past.”

While many question the progress realized by Abe’s “womenomics” policies, Matsuisaid there have been a few strides. For instance, compared to the mid-1990s whenJapanese female labor participation was merely 56% (one of the lowest in the OECD),the ratio has spiked in the last three years, reaching 65% in 2015, surprisingly toppingthat of the U.S. at 63%. There is, however, one caveat: the majority of jobs that Japanesewomen have been taking up tend to be part-time as opposed to full-time.

Currently, temporary workers account for as much as 40% of Japan’s total workforce,and 70% of these jobs are held by women. Moreover, Matsui argues that Japanesewomen are still woefully underrepresented in leadership positions, whether in the Diet,ministries, company boards or executive management, remarking that “we still have along way to go.”

One encouraging step forward was the passage of an important law in August 2015called “Female Employment Promotion Legislation” which will require large firms andpublic entities with more than 300 employees to disclose gender diversity targetsaccompanied by specific actions plans starting April 2016. While some companies arereluctant to comply, she believes that peer pressure will eventually lead to target setting,and this will prompt greater transparency and accountability.

Citing Abe’s “womenomics” policies to tackle the childcare shortage and extend parentalleave, Matsui pointed out: “Improving the capacity of daycare and elder care is obviouslycritical, but it is also important to educate society about the benefits fromgreater diversity. Perhaps the biggest obstacle is the mindset. There are many ‘myths’about “womenomics” that need to be overturned if we are going to make more progressfrom here.”

For Matsui, one recurring myth about “womenomics” is to assume that Japanese women“simply aren’t ambitious enough” to pursue a career. “Many women want to return towork after having children, but there are few support mechanisms to help them re-enterthe workplace.”

At Goldman Sachs, she said, “we have had a program in certain offices called‘returnships.’ The program aims to bring back women who left the financial industry bygiving them the opportunity to experience different divisions at the firm, and several ofthese women are eventually offered full-time jobs after the program.”

Goldman Sachs also solved the daycare problem by opening its own daycare centerfacility near its Tokyo office which has been “an amazing recruiting tool,” according toMatsui.

As to the inequitable division of responsibilities in the household, she said that while it’seasy to blame the Japanese men, the problem is more deeply-rooted in the incentivestructures within typical Japanese companies where seniority is often valued more highlythan output or performance. Under such a system, it should be no surprise that the menare incentivized to maximize their time at work and minimize their time at home. So toalter this, companies need to re-think their employee evaluation and promotion systemsaltogether.

But change must also come from inside the home and within families. “The way we raiseour kids heavily impacts how we define gender roles.” During her frequent overseasbusiness trips, she said that she would often – subconsciously - bring home “a Lego kitfor my son and a pink Barbie doll for my daughter.” What Matsui is saying is: “If wewant to shape role models that reflect today’s realities and encourage for women topursue careers traditionally filled by men, we have to tackle unconscious biases within

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society.”

Besides educating society about the importance of diversity, it is also crucial to engagemale leaders. As Matsui pointed out: “To foster change, we must start with ‘malechampions’ who are sympathetic to greater diversity and can help drive the necessaryshift in mindset within the broader population.”

Despite the recent progress in female employment, Matsui still encounters considerableopposition to her “womenomics” ideas, and one of the most frustrating arguments is that“Japan takes forever to change.”

She strongly disagrees: “Japan takes a long time to DECIDE to change, but given thehomogenous nature of this society, once change starts, my advice is: don’t blink.”

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Globalista FEB. 04, 2016 - 04:55PM JST

I have read decades ago that French people work on average 6 hours a day and that they were tryingto reduce it to 4 hours daily...so I wonder if that is the future to most developed nations ...and alsoto a world even more highly technological...0

Alistair Carnell FEB. 05, 2016 - 07:10AM JST

What a load of guff ! What has been achieved in 'womanomics' ? Didley squat seems to be the size ofit.

1

Gary Raynor FEB. 05, 2016 - 07:37AM JST

Alistair Carnell

What a load of guff ! What has been achieved in 'womanomics' ? Didley squat seems to be the size ofit.

So true. Kathy Matsui, while I respect her family (her father did a lot of charity work), has, with herhusband Jesper, been totally off the mark with their praise for Abenomics. In any other profession,such mistakes would have soon led to a quick exit, but aahhh, the financial/banking industry... theworld of the eternal bailout.

Ms. Matsui's bigger mistakes among many

Large numbers of Japanese women may graduate from a Japanese university, but most Japaneseuniversities, up to post-grad level, are on the same level as pre-university level education in the USand UK.

The LDP cohorts were never into women empowerment in the workforce, they were, as Noriko Hamaquite happily pointed out, into women employment at the lower echelons, so they would be an extrasource of tax revenue.

Completely failed to read the hone and tatamae of Abenomics. The tatamae of Abenomics was allthe guff Abe spoke, while the hone was the usual LDP currency weakening/propping up Japan INCand public works/pork barreling support for LDP special interests.

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