Gender gap index in Japan 2023, by category

In 2022, the overall gender gap index score in Japan reached approximately 0.65 points, with educational attainment being the highest ranked category with a score of one point. While Japan ranked very high in education and health categories, political empowerment stood well below 0.1 index points. This is rank 138 out of 146 nations covered by the global gender gap index.
Overall, Japan ranked 125th place out of 146 countries benchmarked, coming far behind other G-7 nations in gender equality.

Low female representation in politics

While Japan has closed its gender gap in educational attainment and ranked high in health and survival, the country scored low when it came to economic participation and political empowerment. Politics in Japan are still male-dominated. The lack of women’s political empowerment becomes evident when looking at the proportion of women holding leadership positions in politics. As of 2021, 23.1 percent of diet members in the House of Councilors were women. The underrepresentation of women in politics is even more evident in more rural parts of Japan.

Women's economic participation

A lack of female representation in politics is not conducive to shaping economic participation for women. Economic participation and opportunity in Japan scored 0.56 points, ranking place 123 out of 146. While the share of women in the workforce has increased significantly in past decades, women are more likely than men to work in non-regular employment and are less often in leadership positions. Japan’s non-favorable ranking in economic participation was mainly due to the small share of women holding leadership positions in the government, organizations, and the private sector.