Cute 'Kawaii' Culture May Be Holding Back Japan's Women
- Japan’s big companies still a man’s world, first lady says
- Akie Abe says hard for women to express views when outnumbered
Akie Abe.
Photographer: Tomohiro Ohsumi/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Japan’s women are being held back by pressure from men to be cute, rather than capable, the wife of Japan’s prime minister said in an interview.
"Men’s thinking has not changed," 54-year-old Akie Abe said last week when asked how society’s attitude to women has evolved since she joined the workforce in her twenties. "Japanese men tend to prefer cute women over capable and hardworking women. So women try to appear to be the type that men like. Even very talented women put on cutesy ways."