LONDON -- In Britain, the Equal Opportunities Commission is a powerful body that has been working hard to ensure that there is no discrimination in the workplace, particularly on grounds of gender. Women have still not achieved complete equality in pay and conditions, but much progress has been made. Women can now be found not only in senior positions in all professions, including law and medicine, but also in Parliament and the Cabinet. There are now women chief executives of companies and many women directors.
At the same time the government has been trying to improve conditions for working mothers. These include provisions for maternity (and paternity) leave as well as tax credits and allowances for children and the provision of more day-care centers for the children of working mothers. Families in which both partners work are becoming the norm. Remarks suggesting that the only place for a woman is the home, where she can concentrate on bringing up children, are regarded as old-fashioned and "politically incorrect." The feminist movement may not yet be as strong in Britain as it is in the United States and parts of Scandinavia, but it is a major political force that all parties need to heed.
While there has been some increase in the numbers of Japanese women in the civil service and some professions, very few women have been appointed to Cabinet posts or to senior positions in Japanese companies and financial institutions. This is hardly surprising, as most major Japanese companies still employ their female staff in unrewarding jobs such as receptionists and tea ladies. Moreover, most companies have required women to give up their jobs when they become pregnant, and when a man marries a colleague in the same office she is usually required to resign. This is wasteful, since for many young people the office may be the only place where they can get to know well someone of the opposite sex.