By KOSUKE SO/ Correspondent
June 12, 2024 at 15:29 JST
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who has promoted gender equality in Japan, poses with vice ministers on Sept. 15, 2023. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
Japan placed 118th among 146 countries in terms of gender equality in 2024, an improvement from the previous year’s rank of 125th but still the lowest among Group of Seven nations.
The World Economic Forum’s Gender Gap Report 2024 released on June 12 showed that Iceland was again the country closest to achieving full gender equality.
The annual report analyzes the degree of gender equality in four areas: education, health, politics and the economy. It assumes full gender equality at 100 percent.
The latest report covering 146 countries showed global gender equality was 68.5 percent, up 0.1 percentage point from 2023.
Although gender equality in the economic sector showed improvement, equality in the political sector was stagnating, the report said.
The WEF estimated that at the current pace, it will take 134 years for the world to achieve full gender equality.
Japan’s achievement rate was 66.3 percent, up 1.6 percentage points from the previous year. Italy was the second lowest among G-7 members, ranking 87th.
The WEF first survey in 2006 covered 115 countries.
Since then, Japan’s ranking has been on a downward trend. Its achievement rate has remained flat while other countries have made progress in gender equality efforts.
Japan’s struggles to narrow the gap have been evident particularly in the economic and political sectors.
The achievement rate in the economic sector was 56.8 percent, reflecting the low number of women in managerial and executive positions at Japanese companies.
The rate was 11.8 percent for politics, which improved with the appointments of a record-tying five women to the Cabinet in autumn last year.
But women accounted for only about 10 percent of Lower House members, reflecting the low participation of women in politics.
For the 15th straight year, Iceland topped the list, with an achievement rate of 93.5 percent. Finland placed second while Norway was ranked third.
Among Japan’s neighbors, South Korea ranked 94th, at 69.6 percent, and China ranked 106th, at 68.4 percent.
The bottom-ranked nation was Sudan.
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