Women Managers in Neoliberal Japan: Gender, Precarious Labour and Everyday Lives

This book, based on extensive original research, presents a detailed analysis of the varying opportunities and challenges experienced by Japanese women with professional careers, an important category of the population in Japan, whose lives remain little known. It addresses many key issues, including the problems of flexible work in an increasingly neoliberal environment
the pervasiveness of precarious work conditions in gendered managerial employment
the state's neglect in transforming antiquated labour laws and in combating abusive corporate practices
the implications of dysfunctional employee-employer relations and those among co-workers
media representations as barometers of resistant social norms
the ambivalent effects of work related drinking practices
and the lack of collective representation due to ineffective labour unions. Overall, the book presents the disheartening realities of conflicts and ambivalence experienced by many women managers in contemporary Japan.