Japan Slides to 125th in WEF Gender Equality Rankings

Jiji Press

11:50 JST, June 21, 2023

London (Jiji Press)—Japan came 125th among the 146 countries in the World Economic Forum’s global gender equality rankings in 2023, released Wednesday, down nine notches from the previous year.

Japan was ranked last in the developed world and also last among 19 countries in the East Asia and Pacific region, remaining far behind in the political and economic fields in particular.

The WEF ranked Japan in 138th in political empowerment, compared with 139th in the previous year, as the share of women in parliament and ministerial positions remained low.

Japan was ranked 123rd in economic participation and opportunity, down from 121st, due to gaps in labor force participation and wage equality.

The country dropped to 47th in educational attainment because of a decline in women’s enrollment in tertiary education after being tied for first place last year.

Iceland topped the overall rankings for the 14th consecutive year, followed by Norway and Finland. Among Japan’s neighbors, South Korea was ranked 105th and China 107th.

“While the global parity score has recovered to pre-pandemic levels, the overall rate of change has slowed down significantly,” the WEF said. “At the current rate of progress, it will take 131 years to reach full parity,” it said.