Abe names five women to new cabinet

Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe  and his cabinet members attend a photo session after their first cabinet meeting at the prime minister’s official residence in Tokyo yesterday.

AFP/Tokyo

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe named five female cabinet ministers yesterday, leading by example in a country which economists say must make better use of its highly-educated but underemployed women.

The five represent more than a quarter of the 18-strong cabinet and come close to matching his declared aim for the proportion of women in senior positions.

“Creating a society where women can shine is a big challenge that the Abe cabinet is taking on,” Abe told a press conference.

“Whoever suggests it should be the first to do it. I believe the (female) ministers are highly capable people who can carry out their jobs,” he said.

He has said he wants 30% of senior business and political positions occupied by women by 2020.

Economists have for years urged Japan to get more women into the labour market to help offset the problem where an ever-shrinking workforce must provide for a growing number of retirees.

Government figures show only 11% of managerial jobs are occupied by women, compared with 43% in the US and 39% in France.

The reshuffle, Abe’s first since coming to power in December 2012, is seen partly as an exercise in shoring up his power base in the sometimes-fractious Liberal Democratic Party, and partly aimed at re-enlivening a flagging economic and security agenda.

Observers say the LDP, the bastion of age-based seniority that has ruled Japan for most of the last 60 years, is crammed with lawmakers who feel they have served their time on the back benches and deserve a shot at a government job.

Key figures of the administration remained in place, including Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, Finance Minister Taro Aso and Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, but the cabinet’s lower ranks saw fresh blood.

However, the female appointments -- up from two in the last cabinet -- marked a shift in emphasis for a body usually dominated by older men, where women frequently appear to be little more than a cosmetic afterthought.

One of those who won a ministerial portfolio was Yuko Obuchi, 40, the daughter of former premier Keizo Obuchi. She became the first woman to assume the powerful post of economy, trade and industry minister.  She has made the grade once before, at the age of 34, and holds the record for being the youngest female cabinet minister Japan has had.

Among other female politicians getting the nod were Midori Matsushima, 58, as justice minister, and Haruko Arimura, 43, as minister in charge of women’s activities.

“Abe is trying to give an example of his commitment to the better use of women by appointing five of them,” said Shinichi Nishikawa, professor of politics at Meiji University in Tokyo.

Appointing women was also expected to lead to a rise in support for him among female voters, Nishikawa said.

The staunchly conservative premier enjoyed sky-high public support when he came to power in December 2012 promising to kick-start Japan’s sputtering economy.

But a series of bruising battles over a consumption tax rise and an unpopular move to water down the pacifist constitution have taken some of the wind out of his sails.