• 
• 

On January 24, 2018, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe attended a meeting with the expert members of the Council for Gender Equality at the Prime Minister’s Office.

The Prime Minister said in his opening address,

“Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedules to attend this meeting today.

The Abe Cabinet is entering its sixth year in office. Since its inauguration, the active participation of women has consistently remained as a policy of utmost priority of the Cabinet.

This is not merely a social policy. It is rooted in our strong conviction that without the active participation of women, Japan will not be able to achieve any growth; without the abilities of women, Japan is not able to carve out a bright future.

The developer of Green Smoothie was a woman who had experienced childbirth and childrearing. This product offers an easy way to consume one serving of vegetables with just one pack, and is now a big hit with one pack sold every second. Amidst a trend of greater health consciousness, it is truly a product that could only have been developed by a woman.

Half of the consumers are women. It can be said that incorporating a woman’s perspective into corporate activities such as marketing is a matter of vital importance for the growth of companies.

In the past five years, we have put forward a succession of concrete policies in this respect.

We have worked to create an environment, which makes it easier for people to balance work and childrearing, such as by establishing childcare facilities for 590,000 children, expanding capacity at a speed that is more than 2.5 times that before the change in administration. As a result, the female employment rate among the childrearing generation has risen by 5%, achieving a record high. Today, our female employment rate for all age groups of women age 25 and above exceeds that of the United States. Overall, the number of employed women has increased by 1.5 million.

I requested member companies of Keidanren to appoint at least one female officer, and also revised the Cabinet Office Ordinance to make it mandatory to include the number of female officers in the annual securities report. In doing so, the number of female officers increased by 2.5 times in five years, and is now more than 1,500.

Indeed, if you put your mind to it, anything is possible. The important point is to formulate concrete policies and implement them, and thereby, bring about major reforms in the systems of society.

To that end, I hope you will further share your wisdom. In closing, I would like to ask you to offer your candid and unrestrained ideas to the powerful Minister Noda today. Thank you very much.”