Photo/Illutration A female candidate in the Upper House election asks for support from voters in Saitama Prefecture on June 22. (Hidemasa Onishi)

LONDON--Once again, Japan was rated the lowest among major developed countries with regard to gender equality, ranking 116th, according to the Gender Gap Report 2022 published by the World Economic Forum on July 13.

The country’s ranking has been at the bottom among those countries in recent years.

Although Japan ranks higher this year than in 2021, when it was 120th, the ranking included 10 fewer countries this year than last.

Japan’s poor performance stems from slow progress in women’s participation in politics and economic activities--long-standing challenges for the country.

The nation’s gender gap score, the WEF’s index showing how much countries have closed the gender gap, is 65 percent this year. In particular, it is only at 56.4 percent in women’s economic participation, down from 60.4 percent in 2021.

The score is lower this year as the COVID-19 pandemic curtailed women’s employment and the ratio of women in management positions in Japan.

At a global level, the report says gender gap score is 68.1 percent this year, higher than the 67.9 percent in 2021.

A 100 percent score means complete gender parity.

The report warns it will take 132 years to achieve global gender parity on the current trajectory after the pandemic suspended the progress one generation could have made in closing the gap.

The WEF has been publishing the report since 2006, with the latest one being the 16th.

The 2022 report analyzes how gender equality has been achieved in four areas--education, health, politics, and economy--in 146 countries.

It compares countries in areas such as women’s education, the number of female ministers, and the gender pay gap and presents the gender gap scores for each country.

Though it will take four years fewer to achieve global gender parity compared to last year, the pandemic in 2020 and 2021 significantly interrupted progress made to close the gap, and the world still hasn’t picked up the slack.

Until 2019, the WEF reports said the world would achieve gender equality within 100 years.

Iceland again tops the chart this year with a gender gap score of 90.8 percent.

It has been ranked first for 13 consecutive years and is the only country with a score topping 90 percent.

Other “usual” Northern Europe countries are ranked high this year again.

Iceland is followed by Finland (with a gender gap score of 86 percent) and Norway (84.5 percent). Sweden is ranked fifth with a score of 82.2 percent.

New Zealand is fourth and Rwanda and Namibia, both African countries, are ranked sixth and eighth, respectively.

Nicaragua, a Central American country, is seventh and Germany is 10th, the first time they  appear in the top 10 countries. Ireland is ranked ninth.

Russia, which was ranked 81st in 2021, is not included in this year’s rankings.

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