Not so Nordic: Just two women in new Japan PM's cabinet

Japan's new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi named just two other women in her 19-strong cabinet on Tuesday, despite previously promising "Nordic" levels of representation in her government.

They included the country's first female finance minister, Satsuki Katayama.

Takaichi, an admirer of former British premier Margaret Thatcher, was named Japan's first woman prime minister earlier on Tuesday.

She had said last month that the gender balance in her cabinet and the executive committee of her ruling party "will be comparable to those of Nordic countries".

In Japanese politics and boardrooms, women are rare. The country ranked 118 out of 148 in the World Economic Forum's 2025 Gender Gap Report.

Nordic nations Iceland, Finland and Norway occupied the top three places.

Takaichi's other female pick was Kimi Onoda as economic security minister, new cabinet secretary Minoru Kihara said.

Toshimitsu Motegi was made foreign minister. He was credited with concluding a trade deal with US President Donald Trump's first administration.

New defence minister Shinjiro Koizumi was Takaichi's chief rival in the recent leadership race in the Liberal Democratic Party.

Takaichi, 64, has said she hopes to raise awareness about women's health struggles and has spoken candidly about her own experience with menopause.

But she is still seen as socially conservative.

She opposes revising a 19th-century law requiring married couples to share the same surname, and wants the imperial family to retain male-only succession. 

AFP