Concerns are rising over the women's policies of Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, the country's first female leader, as Japan received a poor score in the global gender equality rankings released by the World Economic Forum (WEF).

According to the 2026 Global Gender Gap Report released by the WEF on the 16th (local time), Japan's gender gap index stood at 0.67 (with 1 being closer to gender equality), placing it 117th out of 145 surveyed countries.

The closer the index is to 1, the higher the level of gender equality.

Although it rose one notch from last year (118th), Japan remains in the bottom tier, ranking lower than China (96th) and South Korea (101th).

The Asahi Shimbun analyzed that "while education and health have improved to the global average, scores in the political and economic sectors remain low."

It added, "Even though the first female prime minister has emerged, the proportion of female winners in the House of Representatives election is low at 14%, and there are only two female cabinet ministers excluding the prime minister."

Prime Minister Takaichi drew expectations as the first female prime minister in Japanese history, but she has been criticized for being passive in appointing women.

She has faced criticism for pushing ahead with the handling of the Imperial House Law to exclude the possibility of female imperial succession, and she remains negative about introducing a quota system that allocates a certain percentage of candidates or seats to women in elections, as well as a "selective separate surname system" that would allow married couples to keep separate surnames.

Asahi noted, "In Japanese society, there is a climate where the burden of housework and childcare falls heavily on women, yet women cannot take on important roles unless they work long hours," while also introducing criticism regarding a controversial social media post by Prime Minister Takaichi concerning "ironing."

Right after taking office, Prime Minister Takaichi stated, "I will discard the term work-life balance." In July, she posted on X (formerly Twitter), boasting, "After returning home on weekdays, I was chased by laundry, washing dishes, and cleaning, and spent my precious holiday doing a massive amount of ironing and sewing."

Critics argued that this revealed a misguided value system regarding the role of women.

(Photo: Yonhap News)