The plight of Japan's working women has improved dramatically over the past two decades. Maternity leave has become the norm, slots at nurseries have increased by more than 340,000 and the percentage of female executives or women serving as department chiefs at companies has tripled.

But Kaori Sasaki, founder of ewoman Inc., a market research firm targeting working women, says that's not enough.

"In the past two or three decades, there have been numerous pieces of legislation to encourage women to continue working. But the fact is, it has created a sidetrack for women without changing anything on the main track," Sasaki said in her opening remarks at the 20th International Conference for Women in Business, held Sunday in Tokyo.