According to recent data, Japan recorded the lowest total births in 2021 at just about 8,10,000. Japan also ranked lowest among the developed countries in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index 2022. The two statistics are connected by one factor — gender norms. Usually, we associate low gender equality with poor developing countries. However, gender inequality emanates from many sources, lack of resources being one, gender norms being the other. As a country transitions from developing to developed, the former may be taken care of, the latter is not guaranteed. With a target of transforming India into a developed country by 2047, there are some lessons we should learn from our eastern friend, Japan, the world’s fourth largest economy.
Developed, yet a low rank
Japan ranked abysmally low (at 116 out of 146 countries) in the Gender Gap Index 2022. This makes Japan the worst performer amongst the G7 group, where most of the countries ranked between 10 and 27, barring Italy at 63.
