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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1F497D">FYI</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2017/11/02/national/social-issues/japan-drops-114th-gender-equality-rankings-world-economic-forum/%23.WwGjve6FPIU">https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2017/11/02/national/social-issues/japan-drops-114th-gender-equality-rankings-world-economic-forum/#.WwGjve6FPIU</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#333333">Gender Equality Rankings by the World Economic Forum - Analysis</span></b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:18.0pt;vertical-align:baseline"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Pluto;color:#333333"><img border="0" width="652" height="436" id="Picture_x0020_5" src="cid:image002.jpg@01D43C8D.D270F360" alt="Japan drops by three to 114th in gender equality rankings by World Economic Forum"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:18.0pt;vertical-align:baseline"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Pluto;color:#333333">Although more Japanese women are enrolled in higher education and the income gap with men is narrowing, the nation ranks 123rd
out of 144 in political empowerment for women. | GETTY IMAGES<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:18.0pt;vertical-align:baseline"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Pluto;color:#333333"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:18.0pt;vertical-align:baseline"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Pluto;color:#333333">FULL GLOBAL GENDER GAP REPORT 2017</span></b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Pluto;color:#333333"> -
<a href="http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GGGR_2017.pdf">http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GGGR_2017.pdf</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:18.0pt;vertical-align:baseline"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Pluto;color:#333333"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:18.0pt;vertical-align:baseline"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Pluto;color:#333333"><a href="https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2017/11/02/national/social-issues/japan-drops-114th-gender-equality-rankings-world-economic-forum/%23.W4EWxO_8JrQ">https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2017/11/02/national/social-issues/japan-drops-114th-gender-equality-rankings-world-economic-forum/#.W4EWxO_8JrQ</a></span><b><span style="font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#333333"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;line-height:18.0pt;vertical-align:baseline">
<span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#333333">JIJI, AFP-JIJI -
</span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Pluto;color:#333333">Nov 2, 2017
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;line-height:18.0pt;vertical-align:baseline">
<span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#333333">LONDON – Japan was placed at 114th in the World Economic Forum’s global gender equality rankings for 2017, down from 111th last year and the worst standing among the Group of Seven major
economies.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;line-height:18.0pt;vertical-align:baseline">
<span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#333333">The fall chiefly reflected a decline in the political empowerment of women in the country, the Geneva-based think tank said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;line-height:18.0pt;vertical-align:baseline">
<span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#333333">The WEF survey, covering 144 countries, measures gender equality by analyzing women’s participation rates and gaps between men and women in the categories of politics, the economy, education
and health.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;line-height:18.0pt;vertical-align:baseline">
<span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#333333">Japan’s rating improved in educational attainment because more women were enrolled in higher education. In economic participation and opportunity, it rose to 114th from 118th due to a
narrower income gap.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;line-height:18.0pt;vertical-align:baseline">
<span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#333333">However, Japan fell from 103rd to 123rd in political empowerment due to low proportions of female lawmakers and Cabinet ministers.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;line-height:18.0pt;vertical-align:baseline">
<span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#333333">Iceland topped the rankings for the ninth straight year, followed by Norway and Finland, according to the WEF, the organizer of the annual Davos meeting of business and political leaders.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;line-height:18.0pt;vertical-align:baseline">
<span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#333333">Rwanda came fourth, up from fifth, thanks to a rise in women’s economic participation.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;line-height:18.0pt;vertical-align:baseline">
<span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#C00000">The WEF warned that the global gender gap is now widening, following a decade of slow progress toward parity between the sexes.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;line-height:18.0pt;vertical-align:baseline">
<span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#333333">In recent years, women have made significant progress toward equality in a number of areas such as education and health, with the Nordic countries leading the fray.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;line-height:18.0pt;vertical-align:baseline">
<span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#333333">But the global trend now seems to have made a U-turn, especially in workplaces, where full gender equality is not expected to materialize until 2234.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;line-height:18.0pt;vertical-align:baseline">
<span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#333333">“A decade of slow but steady progress on improving parity between the sexes came to a halt in 2017, with the global gender gap widening for the first time since the World Economic Forum’s
Global Gender Gap Report was first published in 2006,” the report said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;line-height:18.0pt;vertical-align:baseline">
<span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#333333">A year ago, WEF estimated that it would take 83 years to close the remaining gap.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;line-height:18.0pt;vertical-align:baseline">
<span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#333333">But since then women’s steady advances in the areas of education, health and political representation have plateaued, and for the fourth year running, equality in the workplace has slipped
further from view.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;line-height:18.0pt;vertical-align:baseline">
<span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#333333">The report said that at the current rate of progress, it will take a full century on average to achieve overall gender equality.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;line-height:18.0pt;vertical-align:baseline">
<span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#333333">The estimated time needed to ensure full equality in the workplace meanwhile has jumped from 80 years in 2014 to 170 years last year to 217 years now, according to the report.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;line-height:18.0pt;vertical-align:baseline">
<span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#333333">“In 2017, we should not be seeing progress towards gender parity shift into reverse,” Saadia Zahidi, WEF head of education, gender and work, said in a statement.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;line-height:18.0pt;vertical-align:baseline">
<span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#333333">Even more than in the workplace, political participation stubbornly lagged behind, with women still accounting for just 23 percent of the world’s decision makers, according to the report.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;line-height:18.0pt;vertical-align:baseline">
<span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#333333">But political representation is also the area where women have made the most advances in recent years, the report said, estimating it will take 99 years to fully rectify the situation.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;line-height:18.0pt;vertical-align:baseline">
<span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#333333">The picture is not all bleak. The march toward gender equality in education could reach the finish line within a mere 13 years, it said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;line-height:18.0pt;vertical-align:baseline">
<span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#333333">And the situation varies greatly in different countries and regions.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;line-height:18.0pt;vertical-align:baseline">
<span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#333333">For instance, while Western European countries could close their gender gaps within 61 years, countries in the Middle East and North Africa will take 157 years, the report estimated.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;line-height:18.0pt;vertical-align:baseline">
<span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#333333">Overall, the Nordic countries once again dominated the top of the table: Men and women were most equal in Iceland, followed by Norway, Finland and Sweden in fifth place, after Rwanda.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;line-height:18.0pt;vertical-align:baseline">
<span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#333333">They were joined by Nicaragua, Slovenia, Ireland, New Zealand and the Philippines in the top 10, with Syria, Pakistan and finally Yemen at the bottom of the rankings.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;line-height:18.0pt;vertical-align:baseline">
<span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#333333">Among the world’s 20 leading economies, France fared the best, taking 11th place overall, up from 17th place last year and 70th place in 2006.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;line-height:18.0pt;vertical-align:baseline">
<span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#333333">France’s rise is largely thanks to increasing numbers of women in politics, including complete parity among government ministers.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;line-height:18.0pt;vertical-align:baseline">
<span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#333333">The United States meanwhile dropped four spots to 49th place due to women’s dwindling political representation, with a “significant decrease in gender parity in ministerial level positions,”
the report said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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