Photo/Illutration Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, third from left in the front row, senior vice ministers and others pose for a group photo at the prime minister’s office on Sept. 15. (Koichi Ueda)

The sight of two dozen or so men, all in cutaway coats, standing side by side on the stairs of the prime minister's office seemed bizarre.

How could Prime Minister Fumio Kishida fail to envision the out-of-touch optics?

After a Cabinet reshuffle that appointed a record-tying five women as ministers, a stark contrast was seen in the appointment of 26 senior vice ministers and 28 parliamentary secretaries, totaling 54 positions, in which not a single woman was selected.

Kishida mentioned in a news conference after the reshuffle that the ruling Liberal Democratic Party had made "the promotion of female lawmakers a top priority," but it is difficult to dispute that these words were nothing but empty rhetoric.

In the Fifth Basic Plan for Gender Equality, which was formally endorsed by the Cabinet at the end of 2020, the government itself stressed that it was particularly crucial to expand and upgrade the roles of women in politics to fairly and justly reflect the diverse opinions of the people in policy decisions.

The plan set a target of having women occupy around 30 percent of leadership positions "as early as possible in the 2020s," a step back from the Fourth Basic Plan's goal of "around 30 percent by 2020."

Given that Kishida’s all-male list of 54 junior ministerial appointments blatantly backtracks on even this revised goal, the passage in the plan saying "the field of politics should lead by setting an example" rings hollow.

In explaining his male-dominated appointments, Kishida stated that the selections (for the ministers, senior vice ministers, parliamentary secretaries) were made "as a team (for each ministry)."

If you consider the two female special advisers to the prime minister, there is “a good balance across different age groups and between genders,” he claimed.

However, Kishida, in reality, focused on the wishes of the various factions within the LDP and the balance among these factions. The LDP currently has 45 female lawmakers, 21 in the Lower House and 24 in the Upper House, yet many factions did not include women on their lists of candidates for the junior ministerial posts.

In such a situation, the prime minister's office should step in to make necessary adjustments to ensure a well-balanced picture of appointments to these senior government posts.

The fact that the key staff members who support the prime minister's decision-making are dominated by men may be one reason why Kishida is so insensitive to the importance of diversity in top government appointments.

It is crucial for politicians who aspire to become ministers, either male or female ones, to gain experience and policy expertise by serving as a senior vice minister or parliamentary secretary. Appointing more women to these roles is an effective way to increase the number of female ministers.

It is also essential to increase the number of female lawmakers, which is currently extremely low by international standards.

Women account for only 10 percent of the Lower House members and progress toward higher representation of women in the legislature has been disturbingly slow even after the law to promote gender equality among candidates for elections came into force in 2018.

The LDP, which had been particularly slow in taking action on the issue, finally worked out a "basic plan” for developing and appointing more female lawmakers in June, setting a goal of raising the share of women among the overall LDP Diet members to 30 percent from the current 11 percent within a decade.

The ruling party needs to make serious systematic efforts from scouting candidates to supporting their career development to ensure that this will not end up being just a token gesture.

The Asahi Shimbun, Sept. 20

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