Gender-Stratified Labor Market, Heterosexual Marriage Expectation, and LGBQ Young Adults’ Career Plans in Contemporary Japan

Abstract

Previous U.S. studies showed that many lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer (LGBQ) young adults hold optimistic views about their occupational careers, despite their risk for facing labor market disadvantages as LGBQ workers. The present study uses Japan as a comparison case and illustrates how young LGBQ people plan their careers in a different national context. Analysis of in-depth interviews shows that many LGBQ young adults in Japan anticipate financial insecurity and consequently prioritize stability over pursuit of personal interests in their career planning. Their career concerns vary by gender and represent their responses to high levels of occupational gender segregation and earnings inequality as well as strong social expectations for heterosexual marriage and gendered division of household responsibilities. Overall, the study endorses ongoing efforts to understand occupational and economic disparities across sexuality groups from global perspectives by paying close attention to macro conditions.

Labor Immobility, Stability Discourse, and LGBQ Young Adults’ Career Plans in Japan

“…(For discussions of nonbinary participants, see below.) As I reported elsewhere (Ueno 2021), some women in the study explained that they had greater needs for stable careers than straight women due to their smaller chance of marrying a man (i.e., a higher earning partner in the future household). Their career priority on salaries over personal interests made sense because women workers face substantial glass ceilings and earnings penalties in Japan (Estevez-Abe 2013).…”