On their first day in Yokohama, Japan, students in Professor Ranade’s International Trade course visited the Nissan factory and museum. These students learned about the auto industry in Japan as well as Nissan’s plan to outsource its activities to other countries such as China, India, and Thailand. In addition, students discovered that women in Japan face a tremendous amount of hiring discrimination and are frequently passed over for jobs despite being highly educated.
While Japan is the world’s third largest economy, it has a chronic underemployment of women. Why is this? And what can Japan do to make a change? Andrea Lindgren, an economic officer at the US Embassy of Tokyo, addresses this issue.
