G7: Japan sends man to women’s equality summit

equal rights
G7 summit wants to strengthen the role of women – and Japan is the only country to send a man

The countries of the G7 want to further strengthen equality and the role of women. They agreed on this at the Japanese Nikko. But in the end it’s not the final declaration that makes the headlines. It’s the Japanese minister – the only man around.

At the weekend in Japan, the gender equality ministers of the G7 countries discussed how the role of women could be strengthened. Although: only women ministers were not there. Host Japan was the only country to send a man to the summit.

Pretty ironic, one might think, given that the G7 countries USA, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Canada, Japan and France as well as the EU are campaigning for more women in management positions. The fact that Japan’s Minister for Equal Opportunities, Masanobu Ogura, was the only male among the ministers was more of a focus than the joint final declaration. Japan hosted the G7 Gender Equality Summit for the first time, held for the first time in 2017.

Japan has problems with equality between men and women

When asked how he felt being the only male representative, Ogura replied that male leaders with a strong commitment to the Gender equality was still needed, Time Magazine quoted local newspaper Shimotsuke Shimbun as saying.

However, the fact that Ogura was the only man in the G7 round shows how bad things are in Japan when it comes to equality between men and women. The Asian country lags far behind its G7 partners on this point. In this year’s Global Gender Gap Report by the World Economic Forum, Japan ranks 125th out of 146 economies – one of the lowest values ​​ever, as reported by the news portal “Nikkei Asia”.

Japan also performs worse than the other G7 countries when it comes to women in managerial positions. The proportion of women on the executive boards of the largest listed companies in the G7 countries averaged 35.5 percent in 2022. Japan had the lowest proportion of female board members among the seven countries at around 15 percent, Nikkei reported.

Japanese minister ‘inspired’ by his female colleagues

According to Nikkei, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida was under national and international pressure to make progress in this area during his G7 presidency. As early as April, he set the goal that companies listed on the Tokyo stock exchange should have at least 30 percent women on the supervisory boards by 2030.

To achieve this goal, “we will strive to create a pipeline of women leaders and support women’s entrepreneurship,” Minister Ogura told journalists in Nikko on Sunday, adding that narrowing the pay gap between men and Women in Japan – the largest of the G7 at 22 percent – is a priority.

Not only in the economy, but also in politics, the situation is bad for gender equality. According to “Time”, around 90 percent of parliamentary and ministerial posts are still held by men. Japan has never had a woman prime minister.

Speaking at a press conference, Ogura said: “I stated at the event that Japan is slow in promoting (women) in politics, but this trend is slowly gaining momentum. Although I was the only male minister, I was promoted by warmly supported the other representatives.” His colleagues would have inspired him with their “suggestions and practices”.

Sources: G7 final declaration, Global Gender Gap Report, “Nikkei Asia”, “time”, “The Japan News”