Changes must be made across a wide range of settings to overcome deeply rooted gender roles and achieve gender equality, Tomoko Yoshino, president of the Japanese Trade Union Confederation, the umbrella organization for labor unions in the country, said in a recent interview.

¡°We need to take gender equality more seriously in the economic sector,¡± said Yoshino, who in 2021 became the first female leader of the group, known as Rengo.

In Japan, the proportion of women in management positions is low and the number of women who rise through the ranks to become board directors is small, Yoshino said.