Commentary / World May 19, 2020
The pandemic’s gender bias needs urgent fixing
by Elisa Martinuzzi
Women faced a century-long wait to reach parity with men before the coronavirus. Now that timeline is looking ambitious.
World / Social Issues Apr 24, 2020
Women have lost the lion's share of U.S. jobs during the coronavirus pandemic, researchers said on Thursday, as family responsibilities and the industries they dominate make them especially vulnerable. Two out of every three new jobless claims in the 17 U.S. states studied were from ...
Commentary / World Feb 29, 2020
Men should help fight overwork
by Sarah Green Carmichael
A new survey paints a portrait of silent male suffering, and the way in which male silence and female openness conspire to maintain the status quo.
World / Social Issues Feb 7, 2020
At current rate, female genital mutilation will take centuries to eradicate, U.N. says
Female genital mutilation (FGM) will take centuries to eradicate despite world leaders promising to end the practice by 2030, according to United Nations data released on Thursday. FGM remains as common today as 30 years ago in Somalia, Mali, Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Chad and Senegal, ...
World / Science & Health Feb 6, 2020
Record-breaking astronaut Christina Koch set to return to Earth
U.S. astronaut Christina Koch is set to return to Earth on Thursday after shattering the spaceflight record for female astronauts by spending almost a year aboard the International Space Station. Koch is to touch down in the Kazakh steppes with colleagues Luca Parmitano of the ...
National Feb 5, 2020
JR East to test new app for reporting train gropers on notorious Saikyo Line
East Japan Railway Co. (JR East) said Tuesday that it has developed a smartphone app for sharing reports of train gropers that it will test on its Saikyo Line, notorious for the frequency of such incidents. Around 25 passengers including employees of JR East will ...
National Feb 5, 2020
Japan to improve how its passports show birth names of married citizens
The Foreign Ministry will change the way it records birth names in passports for those who adopt the surname of their spouse, in order to display both names more clearly, Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said Wednesday. "The current method of using parentheses makes it hard ...
National / History | JAPAN TIMES GONE BY Feb 1, 2020
The Japan Broadcasting Corp. (NHK) was deluged with phone calls from mothers Monday morning after it presented a 45-minute television program on sex education, the first of its kind ever shown on the public broadcasting station’s channel.
Asia Pacific / Crime & Legal Jan 31, 2020
Indonesia's Aceh unveils female flogging squad as more women run afoul of Islamic law
The masked woman nervously approaches her target, shuffles into position and then unleashes a flurry of lashes — proving herself as the newest member of the first female flogging squad in Indonesia's Aceh province. The new recruit initially needed some coaxing to punish the offender, ...
Asia Pacific / Science & Health Jan 30, 2020
Indian Cabinet approves extending abortion deadline from 20 to 24 weeks
In a boost to female reproductive rights, India's Cabinet on Wednesday backed giving women more time to seek an abortion in a bill aimed at helping the young, disadvantaged and the raped. The government said the Cabinet had approved extending the abortion deadline to 24 ...
Commentary / Japan Jan 27, 2020
Closing Japan's gender gap: The role of women in media
by Toko Shirakawa
Women in media are discriminated against first by being women, and then in the way they work once they have children.
Business / Corporate Jan 27, 2020
Goldman's diversity pledge won't apply to boards in Asia
by Kiuyan Wong, Julia Fioretti and Cathy Chan
As Goldman Sachs Group Inc. moves to increase diversity on corporate boards, the investment bank isn't extending the initiative to a particularly challenged region: Asia. Chief Executive Officer David Solomon revealed last week that starting in July the bank won't handle initial public offerings for ...