Toward Aligning with International Gender Goals? Analysis of the Gender Equality Landscape in Japan under the Laws on Women’s Economic and Political Participation and Leadership

Abstract Gender equality and women’s empowerment is taken as an important precondition and driving force for the achievement of all the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Despite its highly developed economy and democratic governance system, Japan’s record of gender equality, in particular, women’s political and economic leadership, has stalled for a number of years. Even after the promulgation of laws for promoting economic and political participation and leadership of women, namely, the Act on Promotion of Women’s Participation and Advancement in the Workplace (2015) and the Act on Promotion of Gender Equality in the Political Field (2018), Japan’s global ranking on gender equality was lowered further by a widening of the political gender gap and remaining dearth of female managers. This study analyses the effectiveness of the legal frameworks aimed at improving gender equality, through assessing their regulatory design, compliance, and implementation. It also highlights how gender norms underlining the international human rights law and international development agenda have affected the development and implementation of those legal frameworks. The paper concludes that the laws aimed to promote women’s leadership in the economic and political spheres have not fully performed to achieve intended goals because of their weak enforcement mechanism, the lack of strong political will as well as insufficient awareness raising and advocacy to bring about transformative changes of gendered practices embedded in social context and practice. The partnerships among global and local stakeholders including international organisations, governments, business, media, civil society, and people with diverse backgrounds are essential to provide the necessary momentum to drive the laws to work effectively on the ground, through transnational and local advocacy. Japanese society is standing at a critical juncture to advance equal voice in economic and political decision making, which is a core of democratic governance and sustainable development based on the principle of leaving no one behind.