Women in IT: Are There Job Opportunities in Japan?
Yes, there are successful women in Japan's IT industry, and their numbers
are increasing. A general answer to the question of whether there are career
opportunities for women in Japan's information technology job market, however,
might be: "It depends."
The possible permutations of Japanese women and foreign women, Japanese
companies and foreign-capital companies, and large corporations vs. small
and medium-size firms reveal very different backgrounds and expectations.
Japanese women working in large Japanese companies are by-and-large at the
bottom of the heap in terms of salaries, opportunities, and respect. Things
are changing fast, however, and as the economy recovers, better days may
well lie ahead for Japan's female IT professionals.
by Virginia Kouyoumdjian
If you've ever leafed through the pages of Tech B-ing, one of Japan's
leading technology-oriented job magazines, you might be forgiven for concluding
that there are almost no women working in the information technology (IT)
industry in this country. The editorial pages feature story after story
of fresh-faced young men telling their tales of glory; young women engineers
are notably absent.
But Tech B-ing is, after all, a "serious" technology job
search magazine. In Japan, women are supposed to look for their jobs in
a different type of magazine -- the kind that runs little features on "how
to dress for the office." Opportunities for women, in almost every
field including IT, are to be found in the pages of magazines like Salida
(Does anyone realize, or care, that this means "exit" in Spanish?),
which describes itself as "A Weekly Working Woman's Stylish Magazine."
On the surface, the situation for female IT job hunters might appear bleak.
As I researched this article, however, it soon became apparent that IT is,
in fact, one of the brighter hopes for women in Japan.
Cultural factors
It is almost impossible to come up with an accurate figure of how many women
work in IT in Japan. Some peculiarities of the Japanese education system
and work environment would appear to favor women -- particularly the fact
that males traditionally have been "keyboard-averse." Also, support-related
jobs have commonly been delegated to women, and this remains the case in
the field of IT.
Most large Japanese companies, though, still do not look upon women as the
equals of men -- in IT or anywhere else. The vast majority of programmers
and systems engineers are male, particularly in "serious" fields
like banking or heavy industry. Nor has Japan's prolonged economic slump
helped; as companies cut back on new hires, women are the first to go (especially
in roles still considered "male" jobs). According to Diane Zingale,
Chief Information Officer at GE Capital Finance and a member of the Japan
Women Engineers and Scientists group: "The situation has gotten worse
for Japanese women. There are a lot of women out there who are Todai [prestigious
Tokyo University] graduates and have no place to go."
There are many ways of rationalizing the dearth of women in IT jobs in the
larger Japanese companies. Much installation-related work involves physical
work, carrying heavy equipment, and crawling under desks; here, the old-fashioned
patriarchal approach of protecting women from anything dirty and sweaty
comes into play -- however capable and willing the women actually are. There
is also, charges Annie Chang, President of AC Solutions, a notable hesitancy
to put women in a position where they would be managing a large number of
men. Rather, women generally find themselves in "interface" type
positions where they advise, teach, and support rather than install or manage.
Small steps forward
Still, there are signs of progress. Japan's computer industry is growing
by leaps and bounds, creating more and more small and medium-sized companies
not bound by traditional strictures or rigid structures. Many of these companies
willingly employ anyone able to do the job. Even within larger companies,
the shift from mainframes to PC networks is resulting in greater demand
for what are often viewed as "female skills."
Women are doing especially well in the software and multimedia segments
of business. A recent special in a women's employment magazine featured
a multitude of multimedia positions and success stories. The jobs on offer
for women in that magazine included programmers and system engineers, though
with a heavy slant to desktop publishing, user support, and training.
Even temporary work agencies in Japan that handle mainly female workers
are setting up special divisions for IT support staff. Leading agency Temp
Staff, for example, has a Techno-Support Division. And consulting firms
are also making greater use of Japanese women, although industry insiders
suggest that they are paid "slightly less" than their male colleagues.
An exception that proves the rule
One large company that seems to be something of an exception is Fujitsu,
where an increasing number of middle and top-level IT managers (kacho
and bucho) are women engineers. One such is Yasuyo Kikuta, general
manager of software development in Fujitsu's Outsourcing Division, who has
been the driving force behind design and implementation of Fujitsu's intranet.
Kikuta recalls how, over 20 years ago, most other computer companies would
not even allow her to take their entrance exam for a career job -- but Fujitsu
did.
A perhaps even more unusual case is that of Yuki Tanaka. Her specialty is
mainframe development and customer support, and she has been working for
Fujitsu (although outside Japan) at vice president level for almost a decade.
As Mike Beirne of Fujitsu's PR division explains it, "Engineering is
a great equalizer; it goes beyond people skills and corporate politics.
[Engineering skills] are vital at Fujitsu, which is essentially a company
that values engineering first and foremost. That particular quirk [in Fujitsu]
has given women the opportunity to succeed in IT."
Success in foreign firms
Aside from the few exceptions such as Fujitsu, though, Japanese companies
rarely promote Japanese women to top-level managerial positions -- in IT
or almost any other work sector. Ambitious women, therefore, tend to seek
work with multinational companies where they face much lower levels of discrimination.
One of the most spectacular IT success stories of a Japanese woman in a
multinational firm is that of Yukako Uchinaga, the first woman on the Board
of IBM Japan. Ironically, her scintillating success reveals that even multinational
companies in Japan don't always offer the same opportunities as they do
back home. Ms. Uchinaga herself points out that the fuss made about her
election to the Board of IBM Japan proves that women still have a long way
to go. (Significantly, IBM's Asia Pacific headquarters -- also in Tokyo
-- has a higher proportion of women in very senior positions than does IBM
Japan.)
A problem facing Japanese who want to work in IT in foreign companies is
that they need both computing skills and language skills. While, as a rule,
Japanese women have better language skills than Japanese men, "a concentration
on these," says Annie Chang, "can result in computing skills that
are shallow. You cannot concentrate on enhancing both sets of skills simultaneously
and obtain good results." As the age of the Internet makes English
increasingly significant, however, the value of these combined skills will
become greater.
Two sets of skills required
Significantly, the word "foreign" appears to be the key to big-time
success in IT in Japan. "Foreignness" seems to remove the stigma
of "femaleness," and many foreign women are doing very well in
IT in Japan. According to Annie Chang, "Foreign women can get [IT]
jobs more easily. There are difficulties only if their manager is Japanese
and tries to impose traditional Japanese-type control over what they do."
There is, of course, a perception in Japan that foreigners are better qualified
and often more up-to-date on the latest technology and programming languages.
However, Diane Zingale, who has worked in the field in Japan for 12 years,
has a word of warning: "In the early days, there weren't that many
people competing for the expat jobs. But when the yen appreciated, Japan
became that much more attractive, and the competition heated up. I got my
first job because I had the skills to design IC chips -- I didn't need Japanese
then. Now, unless you have a specialty that is in particular demand, you
have to have Japanese ability as well."
Most foreign women working in IT in Japan got their jobs through recruiting
companies or personal recommendations. There are some working at Japanese
companies, but these generally are either short-term jobs or secondments
from overseas. Foreign women most often work for multinationals. Pay levels
are not seen as a problem by most women, as these companies are prepared
to pay for the right skills and in general do not discriminate based on
gender. As is the case for men, compensation levels for women tend to be
higher in the financial services industry, especially the securities companies
that need top-level skills. The pay is good, but it is a very high-stress
work environment.
Many of the foreign women working in IT are from North America, but women
are also among the growing numbers of Indian programmers who are establishing
a strong presence in the Tokyo IT market. Says Zingale, "There is a
50/50 chance that an Indian programmer applying for a job will be a woman."
More opportunities on the way
The IT field in Japan is in a period of flux. The skills that are needed
are changing and evolving, which presents women with some excellent opportunities.
Also, the traditional resistance to women in technology-related fields in
major companies is being overcome by the need for the companies to morph
themselves from lumbering hardware manufacturers into innovative and flexible
content providers. This is creating a more inviting environment in Japanese
firms for Japanese women, who will also continue to have openings at multinationals
that need their combination of technical and linguistic abilities.
Foreign women, meanwhile, are already well-established in multinationals
here. Their "foreignness" is generally regarded by the Japanese
managers as more significant than their "femaleness." Just like
their male counterparts, though, women face an increasing need to develop
their bilingual language skills in order to maintain their appeal and keep
the plum jobs. ç
SIDEBAR
IT personality profiles
Diane Zingale:
Chief Information Officer, GE Capital Finance
A graduate of MIT, Diane Zingale came to Japan twelve years ago as principal
engineer with Digital Equipment Corporation, where she initially worked
as liaison for design and manufacturing between the US, Japan, Taiwan, and
Singapore. She next moved to Bell Northern Research Japan, also as principal
engineer, and in 1991 joined Citibank where she eventually became Data Center
Manager for Japan. Always looking for new challenges, she joined GE Capital
Finance Japan in January 1996 as Chief Information Officer; she is responsible
for all computer systems for the company's closed-end loan and credit card
business.
Of working in IT as a woman in Japan, she says "There is a great sense
of freedom. As a gaijin, you might as well be from Mars. The Japanese
all think that you're a gaijin, so you're weird; they tend to see
the 'Martian aspect' first, rather than whether you're male or female."
Aside from the work opportunities, it is Aikido that has kept Diane in Japan
all these years. She now has a 4th-level Black Belt.
Yasuyo Kikuta:
General Manager, Software Development,
Outsourcing Division, Fujitsu
Determined to have a job for life in what was the nontraditional female
career of computing when she graduated over 20 years ago, Yasuyo Kikuta
found that Fujitsu was one of the rare companies that even allowed her to
take its entrance exam. When she joined Fujitsu, she quickly discovered
that it would be difficult for her to get anywhere in the then-prevalent
mainframe field. Since there were few computers, access was on a shift system,
and Japan's strict laws concerning the hours women were allowed to work
put her at a disadvantage.
So Yasuyo Kikuta decided on a different path to success, and by concentrating
on non-mainstream fields was able to get the jump on her male colleagues
by working on new areas and technologies. Over the years, she worked on
time-share systems, end-user languages, and artificial intelligence (AI).
In 1991, when she was asked to apply AI technology to develop an effective
information sharing system for Fujitsu's system engineers, she decided to
base this on the Internet. By 1994, she had produced what was likely the
first official corporate intranet system in the world. She is now adapting
this to offer related software and services to Fujitsu's clients.
"Things are much easier for women now; they think it natural to be
given every opportunity, " she muses. "In retrospect, though,
I am almost glad I had these barriers to deal with. They made me think long
and hard about how I might succeed, and what I might do. It's easy to concentrate
on anger at opportunities withheld, and forget about the new opportunities
one might create. I ended up making my own choices -- a luxury that most
men here don't have. "
Annie Chang:
President, AC Solutions Ltd.
After majoring in comparative literature at the Chinese Culture University
in Taiwan, Annie Chang came to Japan in 1981. Over the next few years, she
learned Japanese while working for computer sales companies. In 1989, she
set up AC Solutions Ltd., which offers computer training, outsourcing of
technical support, and recruitment consultancy. AC Solutions employs about
20 people (including personnel sent out to clients on a project basis),
and the majority of its client base is foreign companies in Tokyo.
Although quite aware of the problems she faces, Annie considers it an advantage
being a woman in the IT field in Japan. "I deal mostly with men,"
she says. "They see me as a woman trying to make it in this tough world,
and they help. You have to know how to use being female."
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