NEWSWORTHY
Ethiopia's new Cabinet is 50% women, including country's first female defense minister
Ethiopia's new Cabinet is now a record 50 percent female, including the country's first woman defense minister, after lawmakers on Tuesday unanimously approved the nominations put forward by reformist Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. "Our women ministers will disprove the old adage that women can't lead," ...
Japan's female sailors serve on front line of gender equality
Women serving on Japan's biggest warship, the Kaga, are a tight-knit group on the front line of a push to transform the Japanese navy into a mixed-gender fighting force, where men outnumber them more than 10 to one. The Maritime Self Defense Force needs more ...
Abe's latest Cabinet reshuffle casts doubt on 'womenomics' policy
While the prime minister has declared boosting the profile of professional women a top policy priority, Tuesday’s reshuffle reduced the number of female ministers to just one.
Women's university in Tokyo to accept transgender students from 2020
A national women's university in Tokyo will start accepting students in April 2020 who were assigned male at birth but identify as female. The education ministry said it believes Ochanomizu University will become Japan's first women's university to accept transgender students. Ochanomizu, founded in 1875, ...
Government white paper highlights health care issues faced by female athletes
In an annual gender equality report released Friday, the government noted health problems — such as amenorrhea and osteoporosis — that are frequently faced by female athletes. The white paper said 16.7 percent of the surveyed female collegiate athletes who play gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics, figure ...
Finance Ministry 'sisters' needed
Japan's male-centric workplace culture is a breeding ground for scandals.
In a life-threatening moment, Maizuru Mayor Ryozo Tatami suddenly collapsed while delivering a speech during a sumo exhibition in Kyoto. He was having a stroke. Several men rushed to the dohyō (ring) to help, but they appeared at a loss over what to do. Seconds later, ...
The Japan Sumo Association will hold an extraordinary meeting of its board of directors on Saturday to discuss its long-standing policy of excluding women from the sumo ring, the governing body said Monday. The meeting comes after the association faced heavy criticism following an incident ...
The Bank of Japan looks to empower women with new ETF index pick
In Japan’s latest attempt to change corporate behavior, the Bank of Japan decides to put money into an index of firms selected for the way they treat women.
The past five years of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's much-touted "womenomics" measures, aimed at advancing female economic empowerment, have shown clear-cut progress, with about 70 percent of Japanese women and girls aged between 15 to 64 now being employed or seeking jobs. Efforts to further ...
Toyota's only female executive says her mission has always been to 'speak her mind'
Chika Kako is a rarity in Toyota Motor Corp.'s upper echelons. Last month, the 50-year-old was promoted to the No. 2 job at the luxury Lexus division, becoming the only woman among the automaker's top 53 managers. President Akio Toyoda has made diversifying his executive ...
