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On June 12, 2018, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held the seventh meeting of the Headquarters for Creating a Society in which All Women Shine, at the Prime Minister’s Office.
 
At the meeting, the Intensive Policy to Accelerate the Empowerment of Women 2018, as well as the strengthening of sexual harassment countermeasures were approved, and a discussion took place on the status of the implementation of the Act on Promotion of Women's Participation and Advancement in the Workplace.
 
Based on the discussion, the Prime Minister said,
 
“For more than five years till now, the Abe Cabinet has hoisted the flag high for the active participation of women, and carried out various policies including measures to reduce the number of children on day care waiting lists.   
 
As a result, the number of female employees has increased by 2 million, and our female employment rate for all age groups of women age 25 and above exceeds that of the United States. The number of female executives has also increased by more than 2 times.
 
  We will continue our efforts to eliminate various difficulties faced by women and further increase this momentum. To that end, we approved the Intensive Policy 2018 today.
 
We will change the mindset among men, with the aim of moving toward a society where the involvement of men in child-rearing is taken for granted. The first step toward the active participation of women is that the men must first change their mindsets.
 
‘Practice what you preach’; we will introduce a new system that links whether or not a subordinate is allowed to take maternity or childcare leave, with the supervisor’s personnel evaluation to improve the rate for taking childcare leave, and the 100% use of maternity leave, among male civil servants.
 
A uniquely female perspective, as well as female leadership, are indispensable amidst the growing diversification of the world and the changes occurring rapidly across the world.
 
Alongside with the enhancement of recurrent education (continuing education), we will increase the appointment of female executives by actively seeking explanations from publicly listed companies through corporate governance reforms.
 
I would like all Ministers to boldly execute these policies based on the 2018 Priority Policy.
 
Moving forward, the Abe Cabinet will continue to take bold steps in reforming the male-dominant system that has been in place till now, across the whole of the economy and society, toward the realization of active participation by women.
 
The Act on Promotion of Women's Participation and Advancement in the Workplace is the main engine for that. I would like Minister Noda and Minister Kato to carry out a review three years after the enforcement of this act, taking into account the current situation of the enforcement of the existing act.
 
Today, we also decided to strengthen the measures against sexual harassment. It is a regrettable situation. Meanwhile, these measure are what I had instructed Minister Noda to compile as emergency measures in response to the occurrence of recent sexual harassment cases.
 
Sexual harassment is clearly an infringement of human rights, and cannot be tolerated. I would like all the Ministers to swiftly implement these emergency countermeasures and exert all efforts to prevent damage, provide help to victims, and prevent recurrence.”