In October Japan got its first female prime minister, Sanae Takaichi. Her rise has been hailed as a ground-breaking moment for Japanese women, but some fear that her conservative politics won't change the country's gender inequality situation.

There's one thing that both her proponents and detractors agree on - Japan needs more women in leadership positions in both business and government.

The country has remarkably low gender equality relative to its high level of economic development. This year, it ranked 118th out of 148 countries on the World Economic Forum's Gender Gap Index.

That makes it the worst performing among the 38 member nations of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) group of free market democracies.

The Japanese government did set a target of having 30% of leadership roles across all sectors of society held by women by 2020, but at the end of that year the timeframe was quietly pushed back by a decade. Currently the level for businesses is 11.1%.

But change is slowly underway.

"Japan actually has done a really good job increasing female labour market participation," says Yumiko Murakami, co-founder of MPower Partners, Japan's first female-led venture capital (VC) company. VC firms invest in start-up companies.

The percentage of women aged 15-64 working has steadily increased over the past 15 years, surpassing the OECD average in the early 2010s, and going above 77% this year. That's higher than the 70% recorded in the US.

Japan's ageing population and labour shortages have made more women finding paid work an economic necessity for the country.

Ms Murakami also points to key policy interventions as an important factor. Such as the government moving to reduce nursery waiting lists, so that young mothers can return to the workforce more quickly.

There is, however, a catch – women in Japan earn on average only 70 to 80% of their male counterparts' wages, according to a 2024 government survey.

That's something Ms Murakami and her co-founders are aiming to change. Their firm's WPower fund focuses solely on supporting female founders and women-empowerment businesses.

"There are really, really interesting and good female founders or minority founders," says Ms Murakami. "But they may not get the same level of access to capital in the same way as male founders do, which creates opportunities for people like us [as investors]."

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government put up capital for half the fund, with the remainder coming from private sector companies.

Ms Murakami says it was encouraging how much interest they received. But she warns that the "clubby [male] environment" in Japan's wider VC community makes it tough for female entrepreneurs trying to get funding, or even access to information.

"The venture capital industry is very closed in a way. If you're in, if you're an insider, then it's great because you are connected with everybody and the information travels really quickly.

"But, if you are not, then it's really hard - you just don't get a lot of information. The sheer number of female founders is just tiny.

"And therefore, because there's no critical mass, they are really not part of the core of this small start-up village. And therefore, in my opinion we need to create critical mass."

The gender imbalance - female entrepreneurs and male cheque-writers - has also led to sexual harassment cases. More than half of female entrepreneurs said they had experienced sexual harassment in the past year, according to a 2024 survey.

The topic has gained increasing media attention in Japan, with several victims reporting sexual assault or being pressured to exchange sexual favours for investment. The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry announced a government survey in August 2025 to assess the scope of the problem.

Startup Lady is a support organisation focussed on female company founders - and safety is a key concern. Moeko Suzuki co-founded the organisation with her business partners a decade ago, when they realised there was a gap in support in Japan for aspiring or early-stage female entrepreneurs of all nationalities.

"We started to think that we should create some safe space for women, and also a place for female entrepreneurs to get together, talk about business, ease their mind, and also get the mindset," Ms Suzuki says. "We wanted to create somewhere very, very safe for female entrepreneurs in Japan, even if they're not Japanese."

This year, they are collaborating with a local government in Tokyo to run a series of lectures and workshops on topics from fundraising to how to close a deal, with one-to-one mentoring sessions and opportunities for networking.

So far, however, the events have attracted more non-Japanese female entrepreneurs than Japanese. Ms Suzuki says there's still a lack of female role models in Japan to inspire younger generations.

Gender stereotypes persist in education. The country has one of the lowest percentages of female students in stem subjects (sciences, technology, engineering and mathematics) compared to other OECD nations.

At Tokyo University, considered one of Japan's most prestigious educational institutions, only 20% of undergraduates are women, and even fewer are researchers.

To tackle this, the university launched an initiative called UTokyo Gender Equity #WeChange in 2022. The target is to increase the ratio of female faculty members from 16% in 2022 to 25% by the end of the 2027 academic year.

To help achieve this it is providing subsidies to departments that hire female faculty members, in some cases subsidising the costs of the new hires for up to three years or five years. So far, the ratio has risen to almost 18%.

Prof Kaori Hayashi, Tokyo University's executive vice president who is spearheading the initiative, says progress has been slow but significant.

The problem, she cautions, is they're still facing a limited candidate pool. Girls are sometimes actively discouraged from pursuing stem or entering Tokyo University.

To counteract this early-stage gender bias, the university runs outreach programs, sending female students back to their high schools to talk about life on campus and serve as role models.

Undoubtedly, the most visible role model for women in Japan, however, is the newly elected Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, who heads Japan's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).

Some have applauded her rise as the shattering of the glass ceiling, in a country that has extremely low female political empowerment compared to its OECD counterparts.

Others, however, bemoan her conservative viewpoints, such as her opposition to proposed legislation that would allow women to keep separate surnames after marriage. They worry little will change.

"I understand that some people are encouraged by the idea that a woman can become prime minister, but I don't think it will lead to the realisation of gender equality policies," says youth activist Momoko Nojo.

But in a country trying to open the doors to more female leaders across all sectors, it's impossible to ignore the significance of Sanae Takaichi's election. Whether some consider her a role model or not, a precedent has been set that women in Japan can become leaders at the very top.