Across many economies, gender equality regulation has increasingly been used as a lever to support women’s participation and advancement in the workplace, and to enable individuals to fully demonstrate their skills, capabilities, and potential. In Japan, this imperative is particularly acute. Demographic pressures linked to an ageing population, long-standing gender disparities in pay and leadership, and the economic need to mobilise the full talent pool have driven a gradual but meaningful shift in policy over the past decade.
The World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2025 highlights that while women’s labour-force participation in Japan has improved, large disparities persist in economic participation and opportunity, particularly in senior and decision-making roles. Women remain under-represented in management, and career progression often slows after mid-career, reflecting structural barriers related to long working hours, women taking on the role of primary caregivers, and access to flexible work arrangements.
Pay inequality remains another persistent issue. OECD data shows that Japan’s gender wage gap stands at approximately 22%, compared with an OECD average of around 11%, placing Japan among the countries with the widest gaps in the OECD.
Against this backdrop, Japan enacted the Act on Promotion of Women’s Participation and Advancement in the Workplace (APWPAW) in 2015, effective from 2016. The Act focuses on diagnosis, disclosure, and action planning, requiring employers to analyse gender-related employment data, set measurable goals, and publicly communicate progress.
While the approach differs from more prescriptive European models, it reflects a deliberate regulatory strategy, encouraging change through structured self-assessment, accountability, and reputational incentives.
The Act on Promotion of Women’s Participation and Advancement in the Workplace
APWPAW was introduced as part of Japan’s broader gender-equality and economic-revitalization agenda. Since 2022 the law applies to companies with 101 or more employees and requires them to:
- Analyse gender disparities across specified employment indicators, including the proportion of women among total employees, gender differences in years of continuous employment, working-hour patterns, and the ratio of women in managerial positions, as set out in the Ordinance of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare.
- Identify areas requiring improvement for the promotion of women’s participation and advancement, based on the results of this analysis.
- Develop an action plan with concrete, measurable goals, quantitatively defined using employment data such as representation, tenure, working hours, and managerial ratios. These plans are expected to reflect the organization’s specific context and to be monitored over time.
- Publicise, at least once per year, the implementation status of measures under the action plan, ensuring ongoing transparency around progress and outcomes.
Importantly, APWPAW does not prescribe a single methodology for analysis, nor does it mandate a specific pay-gap threshold. Instead, it places responsibility on organizations to understand their own data, identify challenges, and commit to continuous improvement, supported by transparency and periodic review. In this context, internationally recognized frameworks such as the EDGE Standards and Certification can provide organizations with a robust, structured approach to guide analysis, target-setting, and action planning.
Beyond mandatory disclosure, APWPAW also introduced positive incentives to recognise organizations demonstrating strong commitment to advancing women in the workplace. One notable example is the Eruboshi certification, awarded to companies that meet defined criteria across areas such as recruitment, retention, working styles, and the advancement of women. Like EDGE Certification, Eruboshi certification serves as a reputational signal, helping employers differentiate themselves in a competitive talent market and demonstrate alignment with national gender-equality objectives.
Persistent challenges in Japan’s work culture
Nearly a decade after the introduction of the Act on Promotion of Women’s Participation and Advancement in the Workplace, available evidence suggests that its impact has been modest. Research on Japan’s corporate governance reforms indicates some increase in the presence of women on boards, particularly in outside and non-executive director roles, but limited to no change in executive leadership pipelines or top decision-making roles, such as CEOs.
More broadly, international assessments note a recurring implementation gap. While improved data disclosure has increased visibility of gender disparities, this has not consistently translated into sustained improvements in pay equity, promotion outcomes, or leadership representation.
In this context, independently verified, holistic frameworks such as the EDGE Standards can play a complementary role. By making organizational data, pay equity analysis, effectiveness of policies and practices, and employee experience auditable and comparable over time, EDGE Certification supports organizations in moving toward systematic changes in talent processes, accountability mechanisms, and organizational practices.
How EDGE Certification supports and goes beyond Japanese regulation
The EDGE Standards and Certification framework align closely with the core intent of APWPAW: measurement, structured accountability, and sustained action. At the same time, EDGE goes further in several important respects.
First, EDGE requires a rigorous, statistically sound analysis of gender pay equity, using a scientifically proven methodology designed to identify unexplained pay gaps. EDGE has applied a 5% tolerance threshold for unexplained gender pay gaps for equivalent work since its inception more than a decade ago—an approach that aligns with emerging international regulation, such as the EU Pay Transparency Directive. This provides a level of precision and comparability that is not explicitly required under Japanese law, but is increasingly expected by global stakeholders.
Second, EDGE Certification is underpinned by independent third-party verification. Data, analysis, and outcomes are audited, strengthening credibility and reducing the risk of bias or under-reporting.
Third, EDGE adopts a holistic view of workplace fairness and inclusion. Beyond organizational data, it assesses policies, practices, and employee experience across the talent pipeline, covering areas such as recruitment and promotion, professional development and training, flexible working, and organizational culture. This broad lens helps organizations understand not just where gaps exist, but why they persist and how best to address them.
Supporting compliance, reporting, and continuous improvement
For organizations subject to APWPAW, EDGE Certification can serve as a single, coherent framework that supports:
- Compliance with Japanese disclosure and action-planning requirements
- Preparation for Eruboshi certification
- Consistent internal and external communication on gender-equality progress
Crucially, EDGE Certification does not replace national regulation; rather, it complements and strengthens it. EDGE offers organizations operating in Japan a way to stay compliant, stay credible, and go further, supporting not only regulatory requirements, but the broader goal of building fairer, more meritocratic, and inclusive workplaces.
