In a survey of gender disparities around the world over social advancement, Japan ranked 120th out of 156 countries, citing still large disparities in political participation and economics.

The World Economic Forum, which hosts the Davos Conference, which brings together world political and business leaders, investigates gender disparities in each country every year in four areas: political participation, economics, education, and access to health care. doing.



This year's report was released on the 31st, and of the 156 countries targeted, Iceland has the smallest gender gap 12 times in a row, Finland is second, Norway is third, and so on. Countries ranked high.



On the other hand, Japan was ranked 120th in the fields of political participation and economics, although it was highly evaluated in the fields of education and access to medical care.



It has been pointed out that the percentage of women in the House of Representatives and the percentage of ministers is still low, and the percentage of women who make decisions in companies such as managers is low.



The report also points out that the effects of the new coronavirus are hindering the closing of gender disparities, such as women losing jobs more likely than men worldwide.



The World Economic Forum says it will take more than 135 years to close all gender disparities worldwide and is calling on countries to step up their efforts.

"Political participation" and "economy" ranked lower than last time

Of the four fields announced by the World Economic Forum, the fields of "political participation" and "economy" are factors that significantly lower Japan's overall ranking.



Of these, "political participation" was 101st in 2011, 10 years ago, but since then it has not exceeded this ranking, 144th last time, and 147th this time, the lowest ever. ..



"The level of women's political participation in Japan remains low. Women make up 9.9% of the members of the House of Representatives and only 10% of the ministers," the report said.



The average of 156 countries is 26.1% for female members and 22.6% for female ministers in the House of Representatives and the unicameral parliament.



In addition, "economy" has continued to decline since the 100th place in 2011, and was 115th last time and 117th this time.



According to the report, "In Japan, the percentage of women who make decisions in companies such as managers is low. Even though 72% of women are working, the percentage of women who work part-time is 50.8%. In contrast, men are more than doubled to 22.2%, and the average income of Japanese women is 43.7% lower than that of men. "

Pointed out that the new corona will prevent the gender gap from being closed

In this report, the World Economic Forum points out that the new coronavirus is preventing the gender gap from closing.



According to a survey conducted by the ILO (International Labor Organization), the percentage of women who lost their jobs due to the spread of the new coronavirus infection was 5%, which was higher than that of men (3.9%).



The number of female managers hired has also decreased significantly.



In addition, due to the closure of schools and daycare centers, the burden of unpaid work such as housework, childcare, and long-term care is biased toward women in addition to normal work, which puts a great deal of stress on women who are raising children while working. There is also a survey result that it took.



Furthermore, there is concern that the progress of automation and digitization due to the spread of infection will promote the gender gap.



Although hiring tends to increase in fields such as engineering and AI, the proportion of women has historically been low, and the segregation of occupations between men and women is progressing, making it more difficult for women to find new jobs in these fields than men. I point out.



In addition, the proportion of women in the fields of long-term care and education is high, and although future growth can be expected, wages are often lower than in fields such as AI.



On top of that, the World Economic Forum will further invest in the fields of welfare business such as childcare and long-term care, enable men and women to take equal vacations in childcare and long-term care, re-educate women's careers and employ gender-neutrally We are asking each country to promote them.