This series explores topics surrounding women who began their careers in Japan following the implementation of equal opportunities employment legislation in the mid-1980s. With many now reaching the age of retirement, it is hoped their stories can provide insight and lessons for women in Japan’s professional world today.
“I am, after all, a product of my late mother’s curses,” said Masae Yamanaka, 59, vice president at Panasonic Connect, a group company under Panasonic Holdings that boasts a turnover of ¥1.1 trillion ($7.68 billion).
Yamanaka’s mother preached to her daughters the need “to be financially independent.” The family's financial situation prevented Yamanaka's mother from advancing to college. After marriage to Yamanaka's father, who operated his own business, the lack of financial independence remained a chip on her mother’s shoulder, Yamanaka suspected, even though it was the norm for married women to stay at home at the time.