Due to limited space, please RSVP by June 8 with name and affiliation to _hholbrow@wcfia.harvard.edu <mailto:hholbrow@wcfia.harvard.edu>

*Title:* Bringing Outsiders In: Women and Foreign Workers in Elite Jobs in Japan



*Date & Time:* Monday, June 18, 2018, 15:00 - 17:00



*Venue: *Canon Institute for Global Studies, 11th Floor, ShinMarunouchi Building, 5-1 Marunouchi 1-chome, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo


*Speaker:* Hilary J. Holbrow (Postdoctoral Fellow, Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University, and International Research Fellow, CIGS)


*Moderator:* Jun Kurihara, Research Director, CIGS


*Abstract:*

Japan's population is declining and labor shortages are becoming increasingly severe. This high labor demand is opening new avenues for women and foreign workers' promotion to the elite jobs that have historically been monopolized by Japanese men. Who will benefit the most from these new opportunities and why? On one hand, Japanese women have the human capital and cultural know-how to advance in Japanese firms, as well as the advantage of incumbency. At the same time, long working hours and gender stereotypes may negatively affect women more than foreign workers. Using employer-employee matched data, I will show which outsider groups are getting ahead the fastest in corporate Japan and why.