There’s good news and bad news in the World Economic Forum’s 2025 Gender Gap Report for Japan. The good news is that the country made slight improvements in multiple categories. The bad news is that it slipped in political representation. That places Japan at the same ranking as last year and at the bottom of its fellow G7 countries.
Still at 118th, despite some progress
In this most recent report, Japan retained last year’s rank of 118 out of 148 countries. In its analysis, the WEF report says that the country actually made progress in several areas:
- A 0.3% improvement in gender parity, putting it on track to surpass its record of 67% set in 2015
- An increase in Economic Participation and Opportunity from 56.8% to 61.3%, spurred by more women in the labor force
- More women in management and legislative bodies – an increase from 14.6% to 16.1%
- Increased parity in estimated earned income, from 58.3% to 59.2%
However, the country dipped in Political Empowerment, down from 11.8% to 8.5%. The reason? A marked decline in ministerial representation of women in Japan’s national government. In the current Ishiba Shigeru government, only 10% of ministerial positions are filled by women. That’s down from 25% in the last report.
WEF says this political setback is notable, as Japan set its highest ever Political Empowerment score last year.
Japan has a very low representation of women in government in general. The phenomenon is particularly marked in the country’s local legislative bodies. On the plus side, a number of new female politicians secured positions in Japan’s Diet in last year’s Lower House elections. It remains to be seen whether women make more forward progress in next month’s Upper House elections.
Another factor is Japan’s lack of a female Prime Minister. Not a single woman has held the top position in the history of post-war Japan.
Lowest in the G7
The score continues to put Japan last among its G7 partners. The rankings for the G7 are:
United Kingdom: 4
Germany: 9
Canada: 32
France: 35
United States: 42
Italy: 85
The top countries in the world for gender equality were Iceland, Finland, and Norway.
As we wrote recently on social media, Japan’s Emperor, Naruhito, made news recently when he asked Iceland’s President Halla Tómasdóttir how the country had managed to achieve such progress for Icelandic women. In 1975, Iceland’s women went on strike, effectively paralyzing the nation for a day. Since then, Tómasdóttir told the Emperor, the country has worked hard to improve conditions for women.
While the Emperor’s question was promising, he has no involvement, by law, in Japanese politics. So far, no Japanese politicians in power seem inspired to ask the same question.
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Sources
男女平等度、日本は118位 G7で最下位、格差解消も遅れ. Kyodo News
Global Gender Gap Report 2025. World Economic Forum
