Japan plans to start requiring large companies to disclose their gender wage gaps as early as this year as part of efforts to address systemic disparities in the workplace.

The rule will cover companies, both publicly traded and privately held, that always employ at least 301 employees. The government plans to include it in a "new capitalism" action plan pushed by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to be compiled in June.

Companies will be told to publish their pay among female employees as a percentage of pay among men, rather than in absolute terms, on their websites and elsewhere. They will have to break the figure down by permanent and nonpermanent employees. Any legitimate reasons for disparities will need to be disclosed.

The rule will likely affect more than 10,000 companies that are not publicly traded.

Companies already have to publish such data as the percentage of female executives and the difference in average tenure between men and women. The government will discuss with experts necessary updates to the administrative rules governing the law on women's work participation.

Source: ANNnewsCH