Japan is “extremely behind” in promoting gender equality, its government said on Friday, as it delayed an almost two decades-old target to have at least 30 per cent of leadership positions occupied by women by the end of 2020.
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s government approved a new five-year plan on gender equality, which says it will make efforts to meet the 30 per cent target “at the earliest possible time” during the next decade.
While Japan ranks highly on a range of international indicators, it persistently trails on promoting gender equality, ranking 121 out of 153 nations surveyed in the 2020 global gender gap report of the World Economic Forum.
Just 14.8 per cent of leadership positions in politics and business in Japan are occupied by women, “lagging extremely behind internationally”, the Cabinet Office said in the new five-year plan.
The new plan replaces the government’s last five-year plan, which included the 2020 target.
But the 30 per cent target was originally set in 2003 by the cabinet of then-Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, who adopted the ambitious goal in a bid to force the nation’s male-dominated bureaucracy and Japan businesses to accept diversity.
Former prime minister Shinzo Abe, who stepped down earlier this year, also repeatedly pledged to meet the same target, and made “womenomics” initiatives to include more women in the work force a key plank of his economic policy.
The Cabinet Office blamed social acceptance of traditional gender roles for the slow progress, saying the government would “make efforts so that women will occupy around 30 per cent of leadership positions in the early part of the 2020s”.
In the political sphere, women are having to balance political activities and domestic tasks and they face various harassments based on their gender, it said.
Overall, society as a whole still leans toward stereotypical gender roles and has unconscious bias
And businesses have not been enthusiastic about promoting women, it added.
“Overall, society as a whole still leans toward stereotypical gender roles and has unconscious bias,” it said.
The new five-year plan had been expected to include mention of a growing social acceptance of allowing women to keep their maiden names after marriage.
Japanese law currently requires married couples to share the same surname, a law that usually results in women changing their names.
But while polling shows public support for changing the law, the new five-year plan stopped short of backing the move, with conservative politicians in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party pushing to strike down the idea.
Instead, the plan refers to the issue as a matter for “further discussions”.
info-box
COMPANY PROFILE
Company name: Happy Tenant
Started: January 2019
Co-founders: Joe Moufarrej and Umar Rana
Based: Dubai
Sector: Technology, real-estate
Initial investment: Dh2.5 million
Investors: Self-funded
Total customers: 4,000
if you go
The flights
Etihad and Emirates fly direct to Kolkata from Dh1,504 and Dh1,450 return including taxes, respectively. The flight takes four hours 30 minutes outbound and 5 hours 30 minute returning.
The trains
Numerous trains link Kolkata and Murshidabad but the daily early morning Hazarduari Express (3’ 52”) is the fastest and most convenient; this service also stops in Plassey. The return train departs Murshidabad late afternoon. Though just about feasible as a day trip, staying overnight is recommended.
The hotels
Mursidabad’s hotels are less than modest but Berhampore, 11km south, offers more accommodation and facilities (and the Hazarduari Express also pauses here). Try Hotel The Fame, with an array of rooms from doubles at Rs1,596/Dh90 to a ‘grand presidential suite’ at Rs7,854/Dh443.
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Vidaamuyarchi
Director: Magizh Thirumeni
Stars: Ajith Kumar, Arjun Sarja, Trisha Krishnan, Regina Cassandra
Rating: 4/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The specs: 2019 Haval H6
Price, base: Dh69,900
Engine: 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Power: 197hp @ 5,500rpm
Torque: 315Nm @ 2,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 7.0L / 100km
History's medical milestones
1799 - First small pox vaccine administered
1846 - First public demonstration of anaesthesia in surgery
1861 - Louis Pasteur published his germ theory which proved that bacteria caused diseases
1895 - Discovery of x-rays
1923 - Heart valve surgery performed successfully for first time
1928 - Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin
1953 - Structure of DNA discovered
1952 - First organ transplant - a kidney - takes place
1954 - Clinical trials of birth control pill
1979 - MRI, or magnetic resonance imaging, scanned used to diagnose illness and injury.
1998 - The first adult live-donor liver transplant is carried out
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
Read more from Aya Iskandarani
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
Biography
Her family: She has four sons, aged 29, 27, 25 and 24 and is a grandmother-of-nine
Favourite book: Flashes of Thought by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid
Favourite drink: Water
Her hobbies: Reading and volunteer work
Favourite music: Classical music
Her motto: I don't wait, I initiate
War
Director: Siddharth Anand
Cast: Hrithik Roshan, Tiger Shroff, Ashutosh Rana, Vaani Kapoor
Rating: Two out of five stars
The specs: 2018 Honda City
Price, base: From Dh57,000
Engine: 1.5L, in-line four-cylinder
Transmission: Continuously variable transmission
Power: 118hp @ 6,600rpm
Torque: 146Nm @ 4,600rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 5.8L / 100km
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
