Act on the Promotion of Women's Active Engagement in Professional Life

• Before making or changing the plan, the employer must find out how women fare in its business — among other things the share of women among those it hires, the difference between men's and women's length of service, working hours and the share of women among its managers — and analyse what needs to improve. The goals must be set in figures, such as those shares, how far the gap in length of service is to narrow, or working hours. The employer must then take steps to make the plan known to its workers, publish it, carry it out and try to meet its goals, and these rules bind a smaller employer that makes a plan as well.(Art. 8(3), Art. 8(4), Art. 8(5), Art. 8(6), Art. 8(8)) (the provisions it rests on)
• An employer regularly employing more than 300 workers must regularly publish four kinds of information, as an Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare provides: the gap between men's and women's wages among its workers, the share of women among its managers, its record of offering women opportunities at work, and its record of building a working environment that helps workers balance work and family life. One with more than 100 and up to 300 workers must publish the first two and at least one of the other two, and one with 100 or fewer must try to publish at least one of the four. For the two larger groups this list applies from the information published in the business year that follows the first business year ending on or after 1 April 2026.(Art. 20(1), Art. 20(2), Art. 20(3), Suppl. Prov. Art. 6(1), Suppl. Prov. Art. 1(1)(ii)) (the provisions it rests on)
• On the application of an employer that has filed a plan, the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare may certify it (認定) where its steps are going well and it meets the criteria an Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare sets. A certified employer may put a mark the Minister sets on its goods, advertisements and business documents, and no one else may put that mark, or one that could be mistaken for it, on them. While keeping its budget properly used, the national government is to give certified employers, employers holding the higher certification and other employers whose record on women at work is good more chances to win contracts of the national government and of the public corporations a Cabinet Order names, and local governments are to try to do the same.(Art. 9(1), Art. 10(1), Art. 10(2), Art. 24(1), Art. 24(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
• The organs of the national and local governments, their heads and their officials that a Cabinet Order names (specified employers, 特定事業主) must draw up a specified employer action plan (特定事業主行動計画) on the same pattern — after looking at how women fare among their staff, and with goals in figures — make it known to their staff, publish it, publish at least once a year how it is being carried out, and try to carry it out and meet its goals. They must also regularly publish the gap between the pay of their male and female staff, the share of women among their managers, and their records on offering women opportunities at work and on a working environment that helps staff balance work and family life.(Art. 19(1), Art. 19(3), Art. 19(4), Art. 19(5), Art. 19(6), Art. 21(1), Art. 19(7)) (the provisions it rests on)
• The Act ceases to have effect at the end of 31 March 2036. Those who did a local government's entrusted consultation work or a council's work stay bound after that not to reveal, without a legitimate reason, secrets they learned there, and revealing one is still punished; the penalties for acts done before then also still apply.(Suppl. Prov. Art. 2(1), Suppl. Prov. Art. 2(2), Suppl. Prov. Art. 2(3), Suppl. Prov. Art. 2(4)) (the provisions it rests on)

• 1 October 2026

  The text on this site

  Act Partially Amending the Act on Comprehensively Advancing Labor Measures, and Stabilizing the Employment of Workers, and Enriching Workers' Vocational Lives, etc.

  労働施策の総合的な推進並びに労働者の雇用の安定及び職業生活の充実等に関する法律等の一部を改正する法律

  Act No. 63 of 2025The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 1 April 2026

  Act Partially Amending the Act on Comprehensively Advancing Labor Measures, and Stabilizing the Employment of Workers, and Enriching Workers' Vocational Lives, etc.

  労働施策の総合的な推進並びに労働者の雇用の安定及び職業生活の充実等に関する法律等の一部を改正する法律

  Act No. 63 of 2025The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 11 June 2025

  Act Partially Amending the Act on Comprehensively Advancing Labor Measures, and Stabilizing the Employment of Workers, and Enriching Workers' Vocational Lives, etc.

  労働施策の総合的な推進並びに労働者の雇用の安定及び職業生活の充実等に関する法律等の一部を改正する法律

  Act No. 63 of 2025The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 1 June 2025

  Act on the Arrangement of Related Acts upon the Enforcement of the Act Partially Amending the Penal Code, etc.

  刑法等の一部を改正する法律の施行に伴う関係法律の整理等に関する法律

  Act No. 68 of 2022The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 1 October 2022

  Act Partially Amending the Employment Insurance Act, etc.

  雇用保険法等の一部を改正する法律

  Act No. 12 of 2022The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 17 June 2022

  Act on the Arrangement of Related Acts upon the Enforcement of the Act Partially Amending the Penal Code, etc.

  刑法等の一部を改正する法律の施行に伴う関係法律の整理等に関する法律

  Act No. 68 of 2022The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 1 April 2022

  Act Partially Amending the Act on the Promotion of Women's Active Engagement in Professional Life, etc.

  女性の職業生活における活躍の推進に関する法律等の一部を改正する法律

  Act No. 24 of 2019The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 31 March 2022

  Act Partially Amending the Employment Insurance Act, etc.

  雇用保険法等の一部を改正する法律

  Act No. 12 of 2022The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 1 June 2020

  Act Partially Amending the Act on the Promotion of Women's Active Engagement in Professional Life, etc.

  女性の職業生活における活躍の推進に関する法律等の一部を改正する法律

  Act No. 24 of 2019The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

• 5 June 2019

  Act Partially Amending the Act on the Promotion of Women's Active Engagement in Professional Life, etc.

  女性の職業生活における活躍の推進に関する法律等の一部を改正する法律

  Act No. 24 of 2019The text after this amendment, on e-Gov

All 12 amendments already in force

• On its application, a certified employer may be given a higher certification (特例認定) where it meets criteria an Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare sets, among them that it has carried out its plan and met its goals, publishes information on the measures it takes under the Act on Equal Opportunity and Treatment between Men and Women in Employment so that job seekers are not hindered by sexual conduct of its workers, has appointed the staff in charge of the duties that Act and the Act on Childcare Leave, Caregiver Leave, and Other Measures for the Welfare of Workers Caring for Children or Other Family Members describe, and that its steps are especially good. Such an employer no longer has to make and file a general employer action plan, but must publish at least once a year how its steps are going, and may use the mark the Minister sets for the higher certification.(Art. 12(1), Art. 13(1), Art. 13(2), Art. 14(1), Act on Equal Opportunity and Treatment between Men and Women in Employment Art. 13(1), Act on Equal Opportunity and Treatment between Men and Women in Employment Art. 19(1), Act on Childcare Leave, Caregiver Leave, and Other Measures for the Welfare of Workers Caring for Children or Other Family Members Art. 29(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• When a small or medium-sized employer (one regularly employing 300 workers or fewer) has an approved employer organization of which it is a member recruit the workers it needs for these steps, the Employment Security Act's requirement to get the Minister's permission, or to notify the Minister, before having someone other than its own employees recruit for it does not apply to that employer. The organization must instead notify the Minister of the recruitment period, numbers, area and other matters before it recruits. Any fee the employer pays the organization still needs the Minister's approval of its amount in advance.(Art. 16(1), Art. 16(4), Art. 16(5), Art. 16(6), Employment Security Act Art. 36(1), Employment Security Act Art. 36(2), Employment Security Act Art. 36(3), Employment Security Act Art. 40(1)) (the provisions it rests on)

• The penalty articles, Articles 34 to 39, set no penalty for not making, filing or publishing an action plan, or for not publishing the required information. Where it is needed to enforce the Act, the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare may ask an employer regularly employing more than 100 workers, or a smaller one that holds a certification, for a report, or give it advice, guidance or a recommendation. Failing to report, or reporting falsely, is punished with a non-criminal fine (過料) of up to 200,000 yen.(Art. 34(1), Art. 35(1), Art. 36(1), Art. 37(1), Art. 38(1), Art. 39(1), Art. 30(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Where an employer regularly employing more than 100 workers has not published the information Article 20 requires or has published false information — or a smaller certified employer has published false information — and does not follow the Minister's recommendation, the Minister may make that fact public. This covers only the information Article 20 requires, not the duties on action plans in Article 8.(Art. 31(1), Art. 30(1), Art. 20(1), Art. 20(2), Art. 20(3), Art. 8(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• The Minister may withdraw a certification where the employer no longer meets the criteria, breaks this Act or an order under it, or obtained the certification by wrongful means. The higher certification can be withdrawn where the employer no longer meets its criteria, breaks the Act or an order under it, or obtained it by wrongful means, and also when the ordinary certification is withdrawn and where the employer does not publish its yearly report on its steps or publishes a false one.(Art. 11(1), Art. 15(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Putting a certification mark, or one that could be mistaken for it, on goods, advertisements or documents without holding the certification that mark belongs to is punished with a fine of up to 300,000 yen. Where a corporation's representative, or an agent, employee or other worker of a corporation or individual, does it in that business, the corporation or individual is fined as well as the person who did it.(Art. 10(2), Art. 14(1), Art. 14(2), Art. 37(1)(i), Art. 38(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• Anyone doing a local government's entrusted consultation work for women at work, or the work of a regional council (協議会) of the bodies promoting women's engagement at work, who reveals a secret learned in that work without a legitimate reason, during that work or after, is punished with imprisonment (拘禁刑) of up to one year or a fine of up to 500,000 yen.(Art. 22(3), Art. 22(4), Art. 27(1), Art. 28(1), Art. 35(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• In recruitment by an approved employer organization for its members, whoever recruits without notifying the Minister, disobeys the Minister's instructions on the recruitment or takes money from applicants is punished with imprisonment (拘禁刑) of up to six months or a fine of up to 300,000 yen, and so is a member employer that pays the organization anything other than wages or a fee whose amount the Minister has approved in advance; recruiting while the Minister has suspended the recruitment for a period carries up to one year or 1 million yen. Failing to report or reporting falsely, refusing, obstructing or evading an inspection, not answering or answering falsely when questioned, and revealing a person's secrets learned in the work are fined up to 300,000 yen. Where a corporation's representative, or an agent, employee or other worker of a corporation or individual, commits any of these offences in its business, the corporation or individual is fined as well as the person who acted.(Art. 16(5), Art. 16(6), Art. 34(1), Art. 36(1), Art. 37(1)(ii), Art. 37(1)(iii), Art. 37(1)(iv), Art. 38(1), Employment Security Act Art. 36(2), Employment Security Act Art. 37(2), Employment Security Act Art. 39(1), Employment Security Act Art. 40(1), Employment Security Act Art. 41(2), Employment Security Act Art. 50(1), Employment Security Act Art. 50(2), Employment Security Act Art. 51(1)) (the provisions it rests on)
• The Minister may withdraw an employer organization's approval where it no longer meets the criteria. Where an organization recruiting for its members breaks the Employment Security Act (職業安定法) or the Worker Dispatch Act (労働者派遣法), or an order or decision under them, the Minister may order it to stop recruiting for a period, and where it breaks the Employment Security Act or an order under it and it is needed to keep the work properly run, may order it to improve how it runs the recruitment. To the extent needed to enforce that Act, the authorities may also have the organization report, and send officials to enter its premises, question those concerned and inspect its books and records.(Art. 16(3), Art. 16(5), Employment Security Act Art. 41(2), Employment Security Act Art. 48-3(1), Employment Security Act Art. 50(1), Employment Security Act Art. 50(2)) (the provisions it rests on)
• The Minister's powers over plans, certification, approved employer organizations, reports, recommendations and publication can be delegated in part to the director general of a prefectural labour bureau (都道府県労働局長), as an Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare provides.(Art. 32(1)) (the provisions it rests on)