At the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Japan's President Shinzo Abe vowed to push women's education both in Japan and all across the globe. In March 2018, while Malala Yousafzai was in Tokyo, she told him that perhaps 100 million girls lack the skills they need to have a good command of modern technology because they don't undergo a minimum education of 12 years. Speaking on the issue, the President said that the fundamental pillar of Japanese policy has been the realization of a society where women shine. He added that his country has been able to capture what Malala said.

“We pledged to ‘promote inclusive quality education for all girls and women’ [and] Japan wishes to run at all times at the very front of the pack with respect to these efforts”, the President said.  

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Japan's commitment to the field of girls and women education

He assured the world leaders that over the next three years, Japan will provide enriched education to a minimum of nine million children. This will include young people in Sub-Saharan African and Asian nations, with a plan to expand e-learning for primary school children in Sri Lanka and Internet-based mathematics and science education in Rwanda. Noting his previous 6 addresses, Abe said that he had consistently emphasized the importance of empowering women and girls and the value of making health care universally available. He added that Japan has earnestly valued education and aspires to be a foster power that fosters human capacity. 

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Other steps towards women empowerment in Japan

As per Shinzo Abe's speech and official figures, more than 90,000 women have entered the Japanese labour market. Moreover, the goal for women to occupy about 30 per cent of leadership positions by 2020 has already been exceeded among newly hired national public servants. Promoting equality at work and society, Japan has enacted a new law to promote the active engagement of women in society, making it commonplace for both men and women to share responsibility for work, household chores, and child-rearing. Japan's donation to UN Women has also increased tenfold in the past two years. In the next three years, Japan pledges to contribute more than 42 billion yen in official development assistance towards continued actions to resolve challenges to gender equality, development, and peace.

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(With inputs from agencies)