[ad_1]
By Beh Lih Yi
September 17 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Women’s rights activists in Japan have expressed disappointment at the appointment of just two women to the new government’s 21-member cabinet, saying they expect little progress to address wide disparities. of genre.
Yoshihide Suga, who took over as prime minister on Wednesday after Shinzo Abe’s resignation, has made no reference to women’s rights until now, and activists said his record in Abe’s government did not augur well.
“I have no hope that the new government will break glass ceilings for women,” Hiroko Goto, a professor at Japan’s Chiba University who teaches gender and law, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone on Thursday.
“Suga will continue at the same pace in the future. He wants to maintain the status quo, he has no intention of changing, not only on women’s issues but also on other issues such as the economy,” said Goto, who has studied the “feminine femininity of Abe “. “politics.
Abe pledged to advance the role of women in the economy and politics under a push dubbed “feminism,” vowing to create a “Japan where women shine” as part of broader efforts to address the low rate of birth rate and the aging of the country’s population.
But his administration fell short of its goal of increasing the percentage of women in leadership positions to 30% this year.
May 12, 2020
The Central Bank of Japan took 138 years to appoint its first female executive
Goto said that Japanese women are still fighting a deep-rooted patriarchy that ranges from wage gaps with men to archaic laws that inadequately protect them from violence.
Suga, 71, who was the chief cabinet secretary in Abe’s government, has pledged to continue his former boss’s economic growth policies while pushing for reforms that include deregulation, digitization and cutting bureaucracy.
About half of the new cabinet members served in the Abe administration, and their average age is 60. The two women with cabinet positions are the Minister of the Olympic Games, Seiko Hashimoto, and the Minister of Justice, Yoko Kamikawa.
June 7, 2018
Japan may require senior officials to attend sexual harassment training courses
“We are disappointed in the composition of the cabinet,” said Kazuko Ito, a lawyer and secretary general of Human Rights Now, a Tokyo-based advocacy group that has supported the country’s #MeToo movement.
He cited Japan’s poor record on gender parity and urged the new government to take bold steps to close the gap.
Japan’s global ranking on gender parity has fallen to 121st out of 153 countries in a World Economic Forum report for 2020, the largest gap between advanced countries and below 101st when Abe took office for a second term. rare in 2012.
24 Aug 2018
Gender equality rises to new heights in Japan with the first female fighter pilot
Japanese women spend more than three times more hours than men doing unpaid jobs like cleaning, cooking and caring for the elderly or children, according to United Nations data.
“The government needs to redouble its efforts to close the gap. We are trying to be optimistic, but we have not heard any holistic policies on women’s rights and gender equality, so we are a bit skeptical,” Ito said.
Others urged Suga to address gender inequality, as next year’s postponed Olympics put the country in the global spotlight.
“His personal record does not show that he will prioritize this area, but if he wants to create a legacy, given the attention in Japan with the Olympics, he should push for a change in gender equality,” said Kanae Doi, Japan’s campaign manager. Human Rights Watch group.
(Report by Beh Lih Yi @behlihyi; edited by Helen Popper. Please give credit to the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, which covers the lives of people around the world who are struggling to live free or just. Visit http: // news.trust.org)
[ad_2]
