G7 vows to narrow gender economic gaps

A picture is worth a thousand words.

Participants of the Group of Seven ministerial meeting on gender equality and women's empowerment pose for a group photo after the conclusion of their two-day gathering in Nikko, Tochigi Prefecture, on Sunday

One of these things is not like the other.... Could they embody their contradictions any more literally?

One of these national governments pandemic responses particularly impoverished female workers and lowered their living standards.

Along with a large majority of other precariously employed workers in Japan.

https://www.nippon.com/en/japan-topics/g01025/

From those countries, which country official that is not female but speak on behalf of female.

You choose to go into a high paying contractaly agreement that is not protected as an award or salary nor covered by a trade or labour Union where equal pay is a given. You sign the contract then cry when you find out that a bloke down the hall is marketing is on better contract. The male is under the same system as you. Where you front management and demand a better contract. Where under an award or salary position where male or female is pay the award rate that is governed by a tribunal. Stop you whining and get back to work which you are paid more then your value.

It's an embarrassing picture for Japan, alright. But so many would not even see what was wrong with the optics, leave alone what the symbolism really means for the country, unless it was explicitly pointed out.

Women should start studying more calculus, physics, chemistry, engineering, electronics, architecture, medicine, dentistry, programming, network management, become pilots, electricians, plumbers, construction forewomen, etc.

Leave the retail, customer service, elementary teacher, nursing and hairdresser jobs for men, or those who identify as men, since LGBT has to get dragged into any story.

That picture is perfect. It's just so Japanese government.

I wonder if Ogura felt embarrassed himself. Or is it all just somehow atarimae? Or did he feel like he was upholding the larger LDP policy of not taking it all seriously, despite all the bleating about womenomics? I guess he is a politician and doesn't have a sense of shame anyway. The higher up you go these days the less shame seems to feature in any aspect of your life. But, I mean to say, in a country with 60 million women, they could not find just one to chair this and avoid the embarrassment in front of the whole world.

Women have a voice, they must use it, in the home and in the office, no amount of legislation is going to prompt women from making the conscious decision to challenge cultural change.

I, a woman have a business, in Japan and the UK,

With the dedicated devotion of my staff, the business has thrived.

So what does that mean for women's empowerment. nothing to write home about, other than to state I achieved though luck and ambition.

And yes sometimes ruthless intent.

Either Mars or Venus, deep down, well...

Rudyard Kipling 1911........

The Female of the Species

https://www.ling.upenn.edu/courses/hum100/female.html

The Group of Seven industrialized nations pledged Sunday to take measures to eliminate gender economic gaps by bolstering female empowerment,

Discriminate against men? Force women to apply for certain jobs?

G7 does not really need to look outside to work on gender equality. The elephant is in the room with them.

Interesting that many of the posters in this comment section seem to think Japan should be embarrassed about the lone male participant in the photo above. How would a panel of all women be in alignment with the ideals of gender equality?

Good for you, itsonlyrocknoll. Respect!

I would like to champion the right of women to participate freely in the comments section.

Women make up over 50% of the population but less than 1% of the comments.

Many women are put off by the toxic atmosphere displayed by a minority of the commentators (and it's definitely not who you think..)

itsonlyrocknrollToday  07:51 am JST

I, a woman have a business, in Japan and the UK, 

With the dedicated devotion of my staff, the business has thrived. 

Good for you. Luck and persistence pay off, regardless of sex. That’s the way it should be. We all have roadblocks and speed bumps in our businesses.

What does the world need?

What’s your passion?

Are you good at it?

Can you make money at it?

Peter Neil, eug145,

We are all sales people, we sell ourselves, everything can hinge on luck and timing.

All to convince investors to invest, in my case with, other peoples money in a pitch regardless of gender.

I know that is over simplifying.

However, I have spent, what sometimes feels like a lifetime in the financial services industry.

And yet mid thirties

We have to convince motivate teams of people to create the business models that attract our customer base.

Women's empowerment is in my experience a pollical something or other.

"We reaffirmed our commitment to accelerating our efforts toward full gender equality and further empowering all women and girls,"

Look politicians are afraid to even define a biological female.

Please JT let me elaborate.

Now humor me, a friend invited me for a lunch and chat, there pet Shiba Inu did some whoopsees, hubby just stepped over, his wife leapt into action to clean up the mess.

He could have simply picked up the poo, a loo roll, on hand, was just an arms length away.

However not to be.

Now here's where women's empowerment could begin and end.

Respect, to treat each other equally, a level playing field.

The thousands on men who lost their jobs during the pandemic suffered as much as any woman in any G7 country and always do. For example the unemployment rate in Canada has always been higher for men than for woman and the pandemic did nothing to change that or the long suffering men trying to feed and house themselves.

Seriously,the picture says everything.

This is how Japan a very patriarchal male oriented society present itself in front of the liberal world.

Three guesses on who is representing Japan in that picture...

Talk about mansplaining; Japan should be embarrassed as hell.

The photo actually made be burst out laughing

@itsonlyrocknroll

I spent over a quarter of a century in Japan, and the stepping over the poo thing is something I can see and expect. Maybe too vividly. I can only imagine how that’s a symbol of challenges you’ve faced.

There's a tunnel we pass through from being smart to wisdom. Most people never make it all the way through.

I trust if you keep being true to your ideals, you’ll thrive and feel a contentment in the evenings when your days are over. Best of luck.

Women should start studying more calculus, physics, chemistry, engineering, electronics, architecture, medicine, dentistry, programming, network management, become pilots, electricians, plumbers, construction forewomen, etc.

In science and medicine they do, and amusingly, they are much better in these fields than their male counterparts. At least thats the impression I have from my students.

TBH I wouldnt be too worried about the gender equality gap. Very very soon the young women of Japan are going to take over. They are just waiting or the fossils to die. I cant bloody wait.

"Women's full, equal, and meaningful participation in decision-making at all levels is a matter of human rights and it also benefits everyone."

I think Japan ranks #1 in the world for this regarding the household where Mother is the Empress and has the final say on decision making at all levels.

Seriously,the picture says everything.

This is how Japan a very patriarchal male oriented society present itself in front of the liberal world.

Three guesses on who is representing Japan in that picture...

Talk about mansplaining; Japan should be embarrassed as hell.

Agree with you both.

The photo actually made be burst out laughing

same here.

To me, the problem is that society expects us (men and women) to work (at least) 8h/day and then also take care of the house, the kids, ourselves and sleep. This is not possible. So either rich people outsource everything they can (housekeeper, nanny) or someone works less and this is usually the mother.

Biologically, women carry babies and feed them during their first year so it's impossible to have a career with this kind of society if you do this, especially if you have more than 1 kid.

We should aim to have everybody (men and women) work less and spend the additional time they have making things (instead of buying them) and spend some time with other people.

I GUESS you could say Japan is "moving up" if you consider a higher number than before to be "up". I mean, that's what I'd be trying to tell myself if my country consistently slides down in gender equality ranking and leading politicians are "starting to buckle down" and set dates for goals that will occur when they are out of office.

Pretty embarrassing.

G7 should vow to take women's decisions into account. In a recent poll in the Japan Times, 1/3 of working women indicated that they would rather not work at all. This mirrors a poll taken in 2015 in which 5000 high school girls in Japan were asked what they want to be in the future. 1/3 of the girls responded "homemaker". This reflects the reality that 63% of women in Japan have entered the workforce while 27% have not. So, do the ministers from the G7 summit want to "take measures" to force women who value being a homemaker to get a job? At the same time they are warning Japan about their falling birthrate? Maybe there should be a G7 summit about putting more value on what is really important in society...they can ask 1/3 of working women and high school girls in Japan about what that is.

There was a lady in the Japanese delegation. She was wearing a kimono and serving tea to Ogura san.

Just by reading the title, I was thinking "Japan left the planet..."

In my household, it's been the wife or children's mother who held the purse strings for the whole family. Men are like worker bees here, earning only monthly salaries..                                                   s

So, when you talk about gender gaps, you must take cultural differences into consideration as well.

Bending low, they want to uplift the lowly. The ministers from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United States, and the European Union are blessed with skill, courage, goodwill, ideas, vision, and a burning hunger to serve fellow mortals and Planet Earth during their tenure in positions of service.

In a recent poll in the Japan Times, 1/3 of working women indicated that they would rather not work at all.

I think that a large percentage of men would concur with that.

"I think that a large percentage of men would concur with that."

It really should be up to women what they want to do with their lives. Future G7 summits might consider that.

Plenty of economic opportunities in skilled worker & trade industries where you are paid based on quality of work. Or is it that those are jobs are too manly? Where’s the equality now?

@SAME# My grandmothers and grandfathers, raised a lot of kids, tilled the fields, worked long hard hours and led fulfilling lives. Working 8 hours a day would have seemed like a holiday for them. Put your phone down, get off your butt and do something meaningful with your life. There are 16 waking hours a day, how do you spend them watching cat videos or actually doing something.

Is it me or is there something wrong with that picture?

Just like trying to bring peace, keep trying or pretending.

"The photo actually made be burst out laughing."

Yes, me too...its so representative of this place.