When culture resists progress: masculine organizational culture and its impacts on the vertical segregation of women in Japanese companies

Abstract

While the rise of non-regular women workers in Japanese firms drew much attention, little attention has been paid to employment barriers that regular women workers continue to face in Japanese firms today. Based on in-depth interviews with 64 men and women workers, this article examines gender inequality in Japanese firms in which women’s structural power is extremely low. Using the analytical framework of organizational masculinity, it explores organizational processes by which vertical sex segregation is legitimized by workplace culture. The article concludes with suggestions for improving the prospects for women’s employment in Japanese firms.