U.N. Panel Member Urges Japan to Create Gender Equality Bodies

Tokyo, March 8 (Jiji Press)–Hiroko Akizuki, a member of the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, called on Japan to create dedicated parliamentary and government bodies to confront its entrenched gender inequality. “Japanese people should face reality,” Akizuki said in a recent interview with Jiji Press, referring to Japan’s ranking 118th among 148 economies in the Global Gender Gap Index. The index is compiled annually by the Switzerland-based nonprofit World Economic Forum. In the most recent 2025 edition, Japan placed last among advanced economies, with political participation showing the starkest imbalance. Akizuki, also a professor at Japan’s Asia University, said, “The political sector is what obstructs gender equality in Japan.” The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, often called the world’s constitution for women, was adopted by the United Nations in 1979 and has been ratified by 189 parties, including Japan. Signatories are obligated to realize “substantive equality” between women and men in daily life and the workplace by reviewing and revising domestic laws and policies that conflict with the treaty. The U.N. committee monitors each party’s progress and issues recommendations calling for corrective measures when progress is deemed insufficient. After reviewing Japan in autumn 2024, it released concluding observations urging reforms, including the introduction of a system allowing married couples to assume different family names, steps to narrow gender pay gaps and the legal recognition of spousal sexual violence as a crime. Also, the panel requested that Japan pursue gender parity, or equal numbers of men and women, in leadership across politics, government, the judiciary and corporate management. “Gender inequality in Japan is structural and embedded in social consciousness,” Akizuki said. “With robust legislation and decisive policy, (Japan) must move society swiftly.” As a concrete step, she proposed establishing a “gender committee” in the Diet, Japan’s parliament, saying that “all laws need to be reviewed from a gender perspective.” She also called for creating a “gender agency” responsible for research on global human rights trends and public awareness campaigns in Japan. The current system, in which the minister in charge of gender equality holds the portfolio alongside other duties, is inadequate, she said. “This is not a task that can be handled on the side.” “I would like to ask Japanese lawmakers: Do you grasp how profound an impact the laws and institutions you design have?” Following the inauguration of Japan’s first female prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, Akizuki said she is “closely watching the administration’s gender policies.” END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]