Within the 2025 international gender hole index (GGGI), Japan ranks 118th out of 148 nations – nonetheless the bottom among the many G7 nations and among the many poorest performers globally. That is largely due to restricted political participation by girls. The present cupboard of prime minister Ishiba Shigeru says all of it. In October 2024, Japan’s new prime minister appointed solely two girls to a 20-member cupboard – down from 5 within the earlier lineup.
The choice was widely criticised as a setback for advancing feminine political illustration and a transparent signal that gender-equality insurance policies weren’t a precedence.
However the nation has continued to take backward steps on gender. In January, Japan introduced it would halt funding for the UN’s Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination in opposition to Ladies (Cedaw). The choice adopted Cedaw’s advice that Japan revise its male-only imperial succession legislation to make sure gender equality within the line to the throne.
The funding halt sparked a robust backlash from rights advocates, who considered it as additional proof of Japan’s resistance to addressing structural discrimination in opposition to girls.
The talk over Japan’s imperial succession has surfaced periodically for many years. Since 1947, the Imperial Household Law has stipulated that solely males from the patrilineal line can ascend what is named the Chrysanthemum throne. This rule has led to concerns over the way forward for the imperial household, given the shrinking variety of male heirs.
Japan’s Emperor Naruhito turned 65 on February 23 and has solely three male heirs. These are his uncle Prince Hitachi (aged 89), his youthful brother Crown Prince Fumihito (59), and his nephew Prince Hisahito, who is eighteen.
A ballot of round 2,000 individuals taken in April 2024 by Kyodo Information discovered 90% of respondents help permitting feminine emperors. But successive governments have remained steadfast in resisting change, with some citing the so-called unbroken imperial lineage (bansei ikkei).
Ishiba is known to favour permitting a feminine succession. However his administration’s monetary retaliation in opposition to Cedaw indicators in any other case. The choice just isn’t merely a response to a non-binding advice – it displays deeper discomfort with exterior scrutiny over Japan’s gender insurance policies, which the present authorities has deprioritised.
Cedaw’s advice to Japan that it’d rethink its imperial succession system was not an remoted critique. The UN committee has commonly known as on Japan to enhance gender equality in multiple areas. These embrace office discrimination, illustration in politics and authorized protections in opposition to gender-based violence.
Cedaw’s advice on inclusive succession is neither legally binding nor “throughout the purview of the Committee’s competence”, because the committee itself acknowledges. Consequently the federal government’s response – slicing funding – is greater than only a response to Cedaw’s advice. It raises issues about Japan’s dedication to gender equality full cease.
The United Nations has clashed with successive Japanese governments over a variety of gender-related points. These have included the refusal of Japan to permit brides to retain their maiden names. Cedaw has really helpful that Japan amend the Civil Code over the surname requirement in 2003, 2009 and 2016. The latest event is marked the advice as having excessive significance.
However crucial concern is over Japan’s remedy of what it known as “comfort women” – the system of navy sexual slavery earlier than and in the course of the second world battle. Cedaw and different UN our bodies have repeatedly urged Japan to resolve the difficulty by firstly recognising the gravity of the crimes concerned and coping with reparations for survivors and strengthen training on the difficulty.
Takuya Matsumoto/ The Yomiuri Shimbun by way of AP Photos
Japan has regularly been accused of downplaying this concern. Whereas official apologies have been made, they’ve regularly been coupled with denials or diplomatic efforts to dilute previous statements. In its final report in 2016, Cedaw known as on Japan to make sure its leaders and public officials “desist from making disparaging statements concerning accountability, which have the impact of retraumatising victims”.
Poor observe file
Japan’s relationship with worldwide organisations addressing gender points has lengthy been uneasy and its home insurance policies regularly lag behind worldwide expectations. Studies from the committee have criticised Japan’s inadequate legal definitions of discrimination in opposition to girls, restricted entry to justice for girls, and the persistence of deep-seated gender stereotypes and patriarchal attitudes.
This yr holds particular significance for the UN, marking two main anniversaries. It’s the thirtieth anniversary of the United Nations fourth world convention on girls. This produced the Beijing declaration and platform for motion – the most widely endorsed global agenda for girls’s rights. And it’s the twenty fifth anniversary of the UN’s adoption of Resolution 1325. This established the Ladies, Peace and Safety (WPS) agenda. WPS is now recognised as a key pillar of international peace and security, regarded by the European Parliament’s committee on girls’s rights and gender equality as “central to up to date international peace and safety challenges”.
Amid increasing global support for women-led initiatives, Japan’s choice to halt funding for Cedaw in 2025 dangers damaging its standing as a accountable and revered nation on the world stage. It additionally dangers alienating allies that prioritise gender equality in diplomacy.
In distancing itself from international norms, Japan dangers not simply falling behind, however falling out of step with most of its G7 friends.
