Abstract: Under the impact of COVID19, the number of Japanese women who committed suicide in the workplace rose sharply in 2020. This phenomenon is obviously contrary to the socalled “active women” policy promoted by the Japanese government in recent years. In addition, Japan ranked 120th out of 156 countries in the 2021 Global Gender Gap Report, which is in sharp contrast with its status as a developed country. Is there a serious problem of gender discrimination in Japanese society? This paper focuses on Japans labour market and conducts empirical analysis by using the database of “Japan Household Panel Survey (JHPS)” by Keio University. On this basis, combined with qualitative analysis, it is concluded that there is a serious problem of gender discrimination. This discrimination is mainly reflected in three forms: traditional model of gender division of labor in the family, the weakness of female human capital accumulation, and the wage difference caused by statistical discrimination. Moreover, these three forms of gender discrimination interweave and promote each other, forming the intergenerational transmission of discrimination.

Key words: Japan, female employment, gender inequality, labor market, family division of labor