As Japan on Friday marked the 30th anniversary of a law to ban discrimination against women in the workplace, a new law went into effect forcing companies for the first time to create concrete plans and publicly document their efforts on the issue.

Under the new law, companies with more than 301 employees are obliged to draw up action plans with numerical targets to promote women, including goals for female new hires and putting women in managerial posts.

They are also required to disclose details on the ratio of women to men in at least one of 14 designated categories, including new hires and managerial positions.