Japan postpones gender equality targets for senior positions
The government of Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has only two women for 21 ministers.
AP - Nicolas Datiche
Text by: RFI Follow
3 min
Japan is once again postponing its goal of reaching 30% of women in positions of responsibility by the end of 2020. Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga is now aiming to achieve this goal “as soon as possible” during these next ten years in a new five-year plan on gender equality approved today by his government.
Japan, the world's third-largest economy, still lags far behind in terms of gender equality.
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With our correspondent in Tokyo,
Frédéric Charles
The World Economic Forum ranks Japan 121st out of 153 countries in terms of gender equality.
And in 131st place for the proportion of women in positions of responsibility in business, politics and administration.
The government of Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga took office last September and has only two women out of 21 ministers.
And one of them appointed to justice is responsible for the dirty work of signing the execution orders for those condemned to death.
The reaction of Tomomi Inada, the former Minister of Defense, was not long in coming: "
Japan is a democracy without women
", she declared.
A target of 30% women in government
The proportion of women in positions of responsibility is estimated at 15% by the government.
And there is no indication of a desire to change the situation.
This objective of 30% was set for the first time in 2003. In order to force a society built in the image of man to accept diversity.
In 2014,
former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe
launched a new initiative to “
make women shine
”.
By allowing them to pursue a career and have children.
The labor market has become more open to women.
But their jobs remain precarious and poorly paid.
The new five-year plan on gender equality does not even mention the possibility for women to continue to bear their maiden name after marriage.
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