The Japanese Cabinet Bureau of Personnel Affairs has reported that of 8,461 Public Servants hired in fiscal 2020, 3,117 were women.
The Bureau said this was a rise of 1.4 points from the previous year to a rate of 36.8 per cent.
By position, 35.4 per cent of those hired in career-track positions (eligible for promotion to the most senior roles) were women; women comprised 39.1 per cent in general positions, and 33.8 per cent in specialist work.
All these rates showed an increase compared to 2019.
In a statement, the Bureau said the increase was the result of the Fourth Basic Plan for Gender Equality, which was approved by the Cabinet in December 2015.
“As part of this plan, the Government set a goal to increase the annual ratio of women recruited through the exams for national Public Service positions and the national Public Service career-track positions to more than 30 per cent every year,” the Bureau said.
Some organisations actually recruited more than 50 per cent women with the Personal Information Protection Commission having the highest percentage at 66.7 per cent, as four of their total six new hires were women.
This was followed by the Cabinet Secretariat (total 17 hires) with 58.8 per cent; the Consumer Affairs Agency (total seven hires) with 57.1 per cent; the Japan Fair Trade Commission (total 18 hires) at 55.6 per cent; the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (total 145 hires) at 52.4 per cent, and the Board of Audit of Japan (total 32 hires) at 53.1 per cent.
Ranking low were the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism (total 1,756 hires) with 26.1 per cent and the National Public Safety Commission, which administers the National Police Agency (total 221 hires) with 33 per cent.
Tokyo, 8 July 2020
