Japan is one of the industrialized countries. But the country is still far behind in terms of gender equality. The country is now ranked 120th out of 157 countries in the world in terms of gender equality.
The World Economic Forum on Wednesday released its annual Global Gender Inequality Report-2021 on the situation of gender equality in different countries of the world. This information has come up in this report.Although Japan has taken a step forward in gender equality this year compared to last year, the country is still on the decline. Japan ranks very low among the industrialized countries. Even Japan lags far behind other Asian countries.Earlier last year, Japan was ranked 121st out of 153 countries in terms of gender equality. This year, the report is based on a survey of 156 countries. According to the report, Japan is the lowest in the world in terms of gender equality. Italy is on top of this country. The industrialized country ranks 73rd in the list. This shows how far behind Japan is compared to the advanced countries.Concerned about the global situation, the report said that the pace of progress towards gender equality around the world has slowed down. However, last year's report said that if the current trend continues, it will take the world about 99 years to achieve gender equality. And this time the report says, it will not be possible to reach that goal before 138 years.
The coronavirus epidemic has been largely blamed for the slowdown. According to the report, women have suffered a lot economically due to the epidemic. Coronavirus has had a devastating negative impact on the economy, forcing part-time workers to be laid off. There are more women than men in this list.Japan, meanwhile, has taken a number of steps in recent times to achieve gender equality and empower women, but no overall progress has been made. The reason for this is that experts are citing some recent incidents of hateful treatment of women. According to them, these events are pushing Japan backwards in terms of gender equality. Notable among these scandals are the former head of the Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee's derogatory remarks against women and his resignation.Compared to other countries in Asia, Japan's position is not good at all. The Philippines is the most advanced in Asia in terms of gender equality. The country ranks 16th in the new report. Bangladesh ranks 85th in the list. In other words, almost all the neighboring countries of Japan have left the country behind in terms of gender equality.Of course, Japan lags behind in all indicators of gender equality, but it is not. However, Japan did not make much progress on the two main indices. These two indicators are women's political empowerment and economic participation and opportunities. In Japan, the proportional representation of women in the lower house is 18 percent and in the upper house it is 28 percent. Women are not far ahead in local elections. On the other hand, the proportional representation of women in the Japanese cabinet is only 10 percent.This year's report by the World Economic Forum highlights these examples, as well as the fact that no woman in Japan's history has ever been seen as head of government.
On the other hand, Japan lags far behind in terms of women's participation and opportunities in the economy. According to the report, 72 percent of the total women in Japan are working, but their proportion in senior positions in various sectors of the economy is only 14.6 percent. On the other hand, there is a big disparity in the income of men and women.The number of women in part-time workers is almost double that of men. They are the most discriminated against in terms of income. As a result, the average income of women in Japan is 43.6 percent lower than that of men.
Japanese policymakers are also concerned about the country's backwardness in women's empowerment. The Japanese government held a press conference this morning after the publication of the Gender Equality Report 2021 Spokesman and Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato said that despite Japan's efforts to achieve gender equality, it lags behind other countries, as evidenced by the report on gender equality. He added that the government would work with the opposition to make strong efforts for women's empowerment.