More than two decades after Goldman Sachs Group first championed womenomics in Japan, a basket of shares focusing on the trend is languishing, having hit an all-time relative low in the stock market last month.
The gauge of companies most exposed to rising female employment and consumption has slumped just over 24% from its high last September, compared to a near 10% decline in the benchmark Topix index over the same period. A heavy weighting in consumer stocks has dragged the basket lower as Japan is buffeted by fears about the reawakening of inflation in the price-sensitive nation and concerns about a slowdown in growth.
Womenomics as a term was coined by Kathy Matsui, a former strategist at Goldman who explored the economic benefits of boosting female participation in the Japanese labor market. The concept was backed by former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe — whose shocking murder rocked Japan last week — but the country has fallen well short of its goals, ranking 116th in the World Economic Forum’s Gender Gap index for 2022.