SESSION 3: TEXT FOR WEDNESDAY 4TH FEBRUARY
JAPANESE WOMEN TO HAVE MORE EQUALITY
Text taken and adapted from:
THE ARTICLE:
The Japanese government has endorsed a set of measures that aims to increase the number of women in top-level government posts to 30 percent from the current 21.5 percent by 2020. The ambitious plans also cater for working mothers as the government attempts to stem the tide of a shrinking workforce. Further plans aim to help more women into management. Only nine percent of managers in Japan are female, compared with 46 percent in the U.S. The new directives will allow full-time female civil servants to work shorter hours to cope with the demands of raising children. They recommend companies rehire women after their maternity leave ends to entice back to work a portion of the two thirds of mothers who leave the workforce permanently following childbirth. The government will also urge male civil servants to take paternity leave.
The new targets consolidate on the Gender Equality Basic Plan, which was introduced in 2000. They include many measures to address institutionalized inequalities, discrimination and harassment. One of the focal points is the drive to support female entrepreneurs by making available more information regarding business start-ups and introducing a mentor system to aid would-be businesswomen. Prime Minister Koizumi said he wanted "to create a gender-equality society in which men and women can have dreams and expectations by fully exercising their individuality and abilities". Japan lags behind many industrialized nations in gender equality. It ranks a lowly 43rd amond 80 countries in the 2005 United Nations Gender Empowerment Measure index.
Japanese women to have more equality- December 28th, 2005
http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/
http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/
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