A Japanese government scheme offering substantial cash bonuses to small companies that promote women into senior executive roles has received just one application after more than a year in operation.
The failure of the programme, which the government has blamed on its complexity, highlights the continuing resistance to female empowerment from the male-dominated hierarchies of Japan Inc and a society that refuses to abandon conservative views on gender.
Dismissal of the female empowerment scheme has been so unanimous that since last month, after the authorities doubled the potential reward, loosened the terms of the offer and streamlined the application process, no company has stepped forward.