Japan's land ministry said Monday it has added 15 women to the lineup of lecturers for a planned online course on community development for public servants, after it came under fire for having initially filled all 25 speaker spots with men.
The decision follows numerous complaints that the Japanese government has failed to implement more effective measures to increase female participation in the political and economic arenas.
Following the revision, the course hosted by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism will consist of 37 lecturers, with three of the men originally appointed having been replaced.
The cap on attendees of the course, which the ministry will begin from September, has also been doubled to 400 people.
The land ministry was criticized in the wake of its announcement of the course in July on its website and via social media. Twitter users asked why there was not a single woman on the panel, with some saying the community building would be male-centric.
Last month, the ministry said it had considered recruiting female instructors, but "could not secure" any due mainly to "scheduling reasons."
Among the newly-revealed addition to the roster is Norie Miwa, a professor in urban social and cultural studies at Yokohama City University, who will speak on raising children with methods that interact with the urban environment.
Another is Wakako Kawajiri, head of the marketing department at the Nagareyama city government in Chiba Prefecture near Tokyo. The city's population grew 14.6 percent between 2015 and 2020, central government data showed last year.
Regarding the changes, an official at the land ministry said, "In response to the criticism, we have not just added women to the lineup. We have also chosen lecturers with a variety of specialties such as a carbon-free society, childrearing and barrier-free initiatives."
Japan continues to lag behind in the gender gap rankings. This year it was ranked 116th among 146 countries, making it the worst performing in both the East Asia and Pacific group, and the Group of Seven major economies, according to a report by the Swiss-based World Economic Forum.
In February 2021, former Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori resigned as president of the Tokyo Olympic organizing committee following uproar over his comments that having women participate in meetings meant they tended to "drag on."
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