The Women’s Bureau’s Ineffectiveness Prior to the International Women’s Year

Having looked at the history of the Bureau of Women and Minors (BWM) in the Ministry of Labor (MOL), the focus now turns to the activities of the women’s bureau that dealt with discriminatory treatment against Japanese women workers before the International Women’s Year of 1975. This chapter explores the environmental variables of economic and social climates in the setting prior to the enactment of the gender equality law in employment in Japan and how the economic and social climates affected the activities of policymaking of the agency.