Abstract
Despite major legislative reforms in the late 1990s, Japan remains very conservative when it comes to the relationship between traditional gender roles and the labour market. In practice, women are still overwhelmingly confined to “mommy track” jobs. The author puts this tradition into historical perspective in an overview of economic development and changes in the legal framework and societal attitudes since the post-war years. A 2002 judicial decision, however, marked a turning point in the enforcement of equal opportunity legislation. Although current employment data continue to highlight extreme vertical segregation, signs of an incipient trend towards improvement suggest grounds for cautious optimism.