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JAPAN’S DISMAL RANK IN EQUALITY OF SEXES HIGHLIGHTS BACKWARDNESS
- By The Financial District
- Apr 2, 2021
- 2 min read
Japan's low ranking in the Global Gender Gap Index announced by the World Economic Forum on March 31 has highlighted the nation's failure to close the gender gap in the political and economic spheres, Aya Shiota reported for Mainichi Japan.
Japan placed 120th out of 156 countries in the index, ranking behind other countries in East Asia, including South Korea in 102nd place and China in 107th. It also trailed one place behind Angola, which saw a 38-year-long dictatorship by President Jose Eduardo dos Santos until 2017, with citizens' rights -- including those of women -- significantly restricted. Trailing behind Japan was Sierra Leone in West Africa.
"Japan has been left behind the global trends of gender equality due to the absence of political will," said Sophia University political science Prof. Mari Miura. The sexual gap report, first published in 2006, quantifies gender equality evaluations of 14 items in four categories -- politics, the economy, education and health -- and ranks each country. The higher the index, the more gender equality a country has achieved, putting it in an upper place in the rankings.
Japan ranked 80th out of 115 countries surveyed in 2006, but fell to 94th among 134 nations investigated in 2010, and then to 110th among 149 countries in 2018. Meanwhile, Japan's 65.6% gender equality achievement rate seen in the latest index remains almost unchanged since 2006, when it stood at 64.5%.
"While the domestic gender gap was left unimproved over the past 15 years, efforts toward gender equality have progressed globally, leaving Japan behind other countries," says Miura, who is well-versed in the issue of women's empowerment in politics.
When taking a close look at the items in each category, the ratios of female members in Japan's House of Representatives and in the Cabinet remained low, as they did in the previous year. In the economic sphere, the ratio of women in managerial posts showed a similar trend, resulting in Japan retaining a low position in the overall rankings.
