(Bloomberg) — Japan’s new Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has more than halved the number of women in the Cabinet, an indication that increasing women’s representation in key policy positions is unlikely to be one of his top priorities.
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Ishiba unveiled his Cabinet on Tuesday, naming only two of the 19 women, and in relatively low-profile roles. Junko Mihara will oversee policies on children and Toshiko Abe will take charge of education, science and culture.
Ishiba’s predecessor, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, had appointed five women to ministerial positions, including the Foreign Affairs and Economic Security portfolios. Although low by international standards, this was a record for Japan.
The decline in the number of female cabinet members is a disheartening development for a country that ranks low on the charts for female representation in positions of authority. Japan ranks 118th out of 146 countries in the World Economic Forum’s gender equality rankings, with particularly low scores for political and economic participation.
The deciding vote for the head of the ruling party on Friday pitted Ishiba against Sanae Takaichi, raising the prospect of Japan getting its first female leader before the US. That result would have been an important milestone in showing that women can reach the highest levels of power in Japan.
The resulting lack of female members in Ishiba’s cabinet adds to the disappointment for those who hoped the latest leadership race would see progress in women’s representation. Japan still has no female finance minister or central bank governor.
The new cabinet also shows less diversity in terms of age. While Kishida’s cabinet had two ministers in their 40s, Ishiba’s team is predominantly older. The average age of Cabinet members, including Ishiba, remains 63.5 years, making it one of the oldest countries in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.
Ishiba announced an almost all-male leadership lineup for his Liberal Democratic Party on Monday.
“The LDP must be reborn as a party that women, men and youth want to join,” Shinjiro Koizumi, 43, the new head of the LDP’s election strategy, said on Monday. The party says it aims to have 30% of legislators made up of women within ten years, but that goal seems far off considering the share was just 11.8% last year.
The new prime minister will call a general election on October 27.
–With help from Yuki Hagiwara, Paul Jackson and Alastair Gale.
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