⁍ Yoshihide Suga took office as prime minister on Wednesday following the resignation of Shinzo Abe.
⁍ He has made no reference to women’s rights so far.
⁍ Activists said his record in Abe’s government did not auger well for change.
– Japan’s Shinzo Abe has stepped down as prime minister—but he’s not leaving behind a woman in the top job. Only two of the 21 members of Abe’s new Cabinet are women, including his former chief cabinet secretary, Yoshihide Suga, who took the helm Wednesday, the BBC reports. “I want to make sure that the Cabinet is filled with people who respect women’s rights,” Suga said in his first press conference Thursday, per the AP. “I want to make sure that we take effective measures to deal with women’s rights issues.” The only other woman in the Cabinet is Seiko Hashimoto, minister in charge of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Activists say they’re disappointed with the Cabinet’s makeup. “We’re trying to be optimistic, but we haven’t heard any holistic policies on women’s rights and gender equality, so we’re a bit skeptical,” Kazuko Ito of Human Rights Now tells the Thomson Reuters Foundation. “The government needs to redouble its efforts to bridge the gap,” she says. “We’re trying to be optimistic, but we haven’t heard any holistic policies on women’s rights and gender equality, so we’re a bit skeptical.” A professor at Japan’s Chiba University says Suga “has no intention to change—not only on women’s issues but also on other issues such as economics.”
Source: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-japan-women-rights/womens-rights-seen-taking-a-backseat-under-japans-new-government-idUSKBN2682L8