Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will fall well short of his pledge for women to hold 30% of the nation’s leadership positions this year as the coronavirus pandemic highlights the fragility of women’s employment gains.
In April the number of women employed fell for the first time in more than eight years. That broke a streak of increases since Abe returned to office in December 2012, calling for better utilization of the talents of the country’s female population.
