Japan appointed five women to the 18-member Cabinet yesterday in a small but symbolic step toward gender equality in government, which remains male dominated in many nations.
Globally, the percentage of women in ministerial posts stood at 17% in January, up from 16% in 2008, according to data compiled by the Geneva-based Inter-Parliamentary Union, an association of the world’s parliaments.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who has made the empowerment of women a centerpiece of his economic revival strategy, has set a goal of having women in 30% of leadership positions in both the private and public sectors by 2020. He had just two female ministers in his previous Cabinet. Now, women make up 28%.
The number of countries with at least 30% female ministers rose to 36, up from 26 in 2012, the Inter-Parliamentary Union said. Nicaragua had the highest percentage at 57%, followed by Sweden, Finland and France.
With some exceptions, female ministers remain well outnumbered by men in most countries.
Great Britain: Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron, who has been accused of packing his government with middle-aged, private-school-educated white men like himself, appointed more women in a Cabinet shakeup in July. Five of the 22 members are now female.
France: About half the 34-member Cabinet is female, fulfilling a 2012 election promise of Socialist President Francois Hollande.
United States: Three of the 16 members of President Barack Obama’s Cabinet are women: the secretaries of the interior, commerce and health and human services. Obama has also appointed women to Cabinet-rank positions including the administrators of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Small Business Administration.
China: Three women are members of the Chinese government’s 36-member Cabinet, or State Council — one vice premier and the ministers of health and justice. The country’s apex of political power, the ruling Communist Party’s powerful seven-member Politburo Standing Committee, is all male.
