Japan Sends Male Minister to Lead G7 Meeting on Women’s Empowerment

This one is bound to ruffle some feathers...

"Representatives from each of the Group of Seven (G7) nations gathered in the Japanese city of Nikko, 70 miles north of Tokyo, this weekend for a two-day summit on gender equality and women’s empowerment, where they discussed everything from sexual violence to LGBT rights to economic imbalances—vowing to reduce the wage gap and boost women’s representation in executive and managerial positions. "

[Keep in mind there is just under 10% of Japan's population that identifies as LGBT.]

"When asked how he [Masanobu Ogura] felt being the only male representative, Ogura, a Cabinet minister, said that male leaders with strong enthusiasm for gender equality are still needed, to local paper... "

[I doubt there's any written rule or guideline saying that representatives must be a specific gender... and if this would be such a problem why are people so concerned about other people identified as another gender within LGBT rights and then go back and complain about a male representative lol]

"... men still make up about 90% of parliamentary and ministerial posts [in Japan], and—like the U.S.—there has never yet been a female head of state."

[Again, this is in Japan. While there might be a percentage of women going into politics in Japan, those numbers will never be as high as compared to male politicians for the same reason there aren't many female plumbers or firefighters or other careers... This might be a weak argument but it's the same with women's soccer and women complain that there aren't enough women in pro soccer and how they are being outnumbered by men's soccer when the reality is simply that not many women are interested in sports to begin with... I think you can make a reasonable argument that it's the same with politics. Would it really be that different with someone of a different gender or sexual orientation in a Senate seat???]

The article has conveniently left out Masanobu Ogura's background as a Minister for Japan and his efforts to increase public programs for men and women and has personally tackled the declining birth and marriage rates in Japan by " ... increasing subsidies for childrearing and education and a salary increase for younger generations to incentivize marrying and having kids."

[I'll post article about him in comments section so keep an eye out. He's really a stand up guy, he's even made a push for himself and other male representatives in government to understand more women's issues and has even gone as far as getting this sort of pregnancy simulator vest to understand how pregnant mothers struggle to do everyday activities]