Takaichi's Personnel Picks Fall Short of Pledge on Women

Tokyo, Sept. 28 (Jiji Press)--In the recent cabinet reshuffle and Liberal Democratic Party executive personnel changes, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, also president of the LDP, appointed only a few women, despite her earlier pledge to increase women's representation to levels seen in Northern European countries.

Two fewer women are now serving as cabinet ministers or in other top government posts, while the four key party executive posts all went to men. This also deviates from the government's gender equality target.

At the cabinet level, the number of female ministers remains unchanged from before the reshuffle, with only Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama and economic security minister Kimi Onoda. Including the prime minister, women make up about 16 pct of total cabinet members.

Meanwhile, among noncabinet top government officials, the number of female state ministers and parliamentary vice ministers fell from eight to six. In the LDP, Haruko Arimura was removed as chair of the General Council, and only two of the 14 senior party executives, Takaichi and Takako Suzuki, head of the Public Relations Headquarters, are women.

In last year's LDP presidential election, Takaichi pledged to create a "cabinet and party leadership with as many women as in Northern European countries." Even so, women's representation in Japan remains far below levels in Northern European countries, where about half of ministers are women.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]