Despite the opulence and grandeur that modern Japan exudes, the nation is still heavily wrought with rather misogynistic policies and social norms that make it exceedingly difficult for women to succeed, even with the country's prosperous economy. While an increased minimum wage and more readily available child care programs have certainly alleviated the stressors that impact many working women, allowing for an all-time high workforce percentage of 71%, these policies and programs contain several caveats, and have not done much more than to temporarily quell women's fears and anxieties. Being that Japan has one of the oldest elderly populations, policies have been made to extend the retirement age and decrease financial benefits for those still able to work. Even with the rather paramount increase of women in the workforce (a jump of eleven points), there still remain government policies that outwardly hinder the potential and successes of Japanese women. While there is an increasing amount of women in the Japanese workforce, women still earn 73% of what men earn. It is extremely unfortunate to see that even with all of these programs and supposedly new and beneficial policies, women are still incentivized, or subliminally forced, rather, to consistently remain at the lower end of the financial scale in comparison to men. They are forced to face a future of not only uncertainty, but of projected poverty, and are seemingly unable to avoid it.
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