Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says he wants to put more women to work, to help make up for the country's shrinking population. His Liberal Democratic Party seems to have other ideas. Of the 1,093 people who ran for office in recent snap elections, a mere 169 were women. Once the votes were counted, the Lower House was 91 percent male.
That ratio falls a long way short of Abe's goal for corporate Japan: to have women in 30 percent of leadership roles in all sectors by 2020. Such ambitious targets are laudable.
Studies routinely show diversity at companies and in politics increases innovation and economic growth. The problem is that thus far, Abe's policies have been too incremental and unimaginative to have much impact.