TOKYO, September 12 (RIA Novosti) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will host a forum called "Women's Power as the Source of Growth" in Tokyo on Friday to address the challenge of improving ratio of women in the workforce and in management.
Opening remarks at the forum, held as a part of a three-day World Assembly for Women in the Japanese capital, will be presented by Shinzo Abe, International Monetary Fund head Christine Lagarde and Caroline Kennedy, US ambassador to Japan.
The percentage of females in the management of Japanese companies is, according to the data provided by the Japanese government, at 10 percent. That is compared with 31 percent in Singapore, 38 percent in Germany and 43 percent in the United States.
The Japanese prime minister took the lead in improving the situation in the country by appointing five women the new Cabinet on September 3. This step increased the female representation in the Cabinet to 26 percent from 10 percent.
"I believe that the hard work of the women in the cabinet will bring on social change," Abe said after their appointments.
In 2013, the World Economic Forum ranked Japan 105th in the Global Gender Gap report. The index in the report benchmarks national gender gaps on economic, political, education and health-based criteria.
