Japanese women still suffer sizable gender gap even after getting suffrage 69 years ago
April 10, 2015
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2015 April 8 - 14 [SOCIAL ISSUES]
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In the elections of prefectural and major city assemblies scheduled for April 12, the Japanese Communist Party puts up 210 female candidates which accounts for 45.6% of all JCP candidates.
When looking at the Liberal Democratic Party, only 4.4% of the party’s candidates are women, although the party is calling for a “society in which women can shine”. Some major newspapers have reported that regarding the ratio of female candidates, the JCP took the lead while the LDP ranked last among major parties. The JCP has ten female parliamentarians occupying 31.3% of its Diet seats, the highest female ratio among political parties in the Diet.
April 10 is the day when the first 39 female Dietmembers were elected in the 1946 general election held for the first time after women got the right to vote. After three years, the labor ministry designated the day as women’s day. However, Japanese women’s empowerment is still insufficient.
On this particular day, this year’s global Equal Pay Day (EPD) campaign took place in Japan. The campaign is designed to increase public awareness of gender pay gaps. It reveals how many days women have to work to earn the same amount of annual income as that of men.
Each country’s organization joining the EPD campaign publishes its calculations every year. In Japan, the labor ministry’s data shows that female workers are paid around 30% less than men, which means women have to work an extra three months to obtain what men earn in a year.
Male workers in Japan are forced to work excessively long hours. This is reportedly a major factor in women’s heavy family responsibilities, such as housework and child rearing. In order to achieve a society in which both men and women can shine, it is essential to establish rules for a decent work-life balance.
Past related articles:
> Japanese single mothers hard to escape from poverty despite having jobs [December 18, 2014]
> Japan falling far behind in gender equality [November 23, 2014]
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