Project Team for the Promotion of Women’s Active Engagement in Professional Life
March 26, 2025
[Provisional translation]
On March 26, 2025, Prime Minister Ishiba attended the 11th meeting of the Project Team for the Promotion of Women’s Active Engagement in Professional Life at the Prime Minister’s Office.
At the meeting, the participants engaged mainly in discussions on a draft Report by the Project Team for the Promotion of Women’s Active Engagement in Professional Life.
Following the discussion, the Prime Minister said:
“At the Project Team for the Promotion of Women’s Active Engagement in Professional Life, in-depth discussions on initiatives for the promotion of women’s active engagement have been held across the boundaries of the office, ministries, and agencies under the leadership of Special Advisor to the Prime Minister Yata, chair of the team. We have just received a briefing on the results. Thank you very much.
The first pillar of ‘Regional Revitalization 2.0,’ which our administration is pushing ahead with, is ‘local areas that are chosen by young people and women.’ In order to advance the creation of attractive workplaces where young people and women find it comfortable to work, we need to eliminate unconscious bias and rectify the wage gap between male and female employees.
I ask the relevant office, ministries, and agencies to take the latest report into consideration and continue to work on bridging the gender pay gap in each industry, including the formulation of action plans.
With a view to developing ‘local areas that are chosen by young people and women,’ we looked for municipalities willing to address regional working style and workplace reforms from all over the country, and over 60 local governments, including nearly half of the prefectures, responded. The Government, on its part, will take this occasion to re-establish a support system to back up those municipalities, including enhancement of the cooperation framework among the relevant office and ministries, so that we will be united in responding to their voices. I would appreciate your continued efforts. Thank you very much.”
