Members of Japan Self-Defense Forces march during the Self-Defense Forces Day at Asaka Base, north of Tokyo, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2013.

Members of Japan Self-Defense Forces march during the Self-Defense Forces Day at Asaka Base, north of Tokyo, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2013. Shizuo Kambayashi/AP

Japan's Military Is Recruiting More Women for Its Growing Global Role

A looming gender imbalance is compelling Tokyo to create new jobs and facilities for females throughout its defense ministry.

Now that Japan’s military has the support of its government to engage more readily in overseas adventures, it has a new problem to contend with: how to expand its personnel rolls while the population at large shrinks.

Its task isn’t made easier by the largely ambivalent attitude toward engaging in foreign military affairs shared by many of its youngsters, who’ve been raised under Japan’s post-1945 pacifist worldview.

The Self-Defense Forces has hit upon one possible solution, which is to recruit more women into the armed forces.

“Hiring women makes a lot of sense,” Robert Dujarric, director of the Institute of Contemporary Asian Studies at Temple University in Tokyo, told Quartz. “Every modern military is expanding opportunities for women. And since Japan is falling into demographic oblivion, finding young men is going to be harder.”

To that end, Japan’s defense ministry put forward a menu of self-described “women-friendly” projects in its 2015 budget (pdf, pg 28-29). These include:

  • About ¥100 million ($817,000) to build and improve daycare facilities on SDF premises.
  • ¥20 million for the “expansion of training, etc. for enlightenment of awareness… eliminating the conventional mindset about gender roles in the workplace.”
  • Another ¥4 million to provide maternity dresses as part of military uniforms.
  • Last but not least, an unspecified amount earmarked to refurbish the women’s bathing facility in the officer training school of the Ground Self-Defense Force.

If the truth be told, the percentage of women in Japan’s military has few places to go but up. It was 5.6% in 2013, according to the latest Self-Defense Forces handbook. That compares to 14% in the US and 11% in Germany.

Ironically, the passage of the 2015 security laws making it easier for Japan to engage in foreign wars could make the military’s task all the harder, for now there’s a new sense that joining the military might result in actual fighting. That, plus an economy that’s somewhat improved since the 2008 financial crisis, has made it more difficult to find raw material, male or female, said Noboru Yamaguchi, a retired commanding general of the Ground Self-Defense Force and former advisor to the prime minister’s cabinet, in an interview with Quartz.

The military will also have to work harder to keep the women—and men—it recruits, Yamaguchi said. The general recounts one instance years ago of having to personally step in and prevent a younger officer from being disciplined by his commanding officer for requesting time off to spend with his newborn child.

The SDF has had to create a more family-friendly atmosphere that doesn’t pressure women to leave after becoming pregnant, said Yamaguchi.

“To prevent that female dropout rate, we knew we had to work hard,” Yamaguchi said.

The defense ministry quadrupled its marketing budget to a still-modest ¥200 million ($1.6 million) in 2015 for television and radio ads, online videos, campus visits, banner ads for trains, and other sundry methods to convince more young men and women to join the military. Next year’s budget proposal adds another ¥100 million.

The ministry did not respond to questions about its latest recruitment efforts.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.