Nestle's Thailand coffee troubles raise doubts for foreign joint ventures
BANGKOK -- Trouble is brewing between Swiss food products giant Nestle and its Thai partner over Nestle's Nescafe brand of instant coffee.
Nestle seeks to dissolve a partnership with Thai conglomerate PM Group and continue sales independently. But its Thai partner is resisting, citing a loss of profits, and the dispute has turned into a legal battle.
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The Mainichi
15 hours ago
- The Mainichi
Japan remains 118th in 2025 gender gap report, worst among G7
GENEVA (Kyodo) -- Japan remained at 118th among 148 countries in the gender gap rankings in 2025, still worst among the Group of Seven nations, affected by poor political participation by women, the World Economic Forum said Thursday. The report by the Swiss think tank showed Japan improved women's participation in the economic arena, but ranked 125th in political empowerment, reflecting how few female government ministers it has and the fact the country has never had a female prime minister. The country lags far behind other G7 advanced economies, with Italy ranking second-lowest at 85th but still well ahead of Japan, according to the report, which tracks progress toward gender equality in the fields of economy, politics, education and health. While the world has seen major improvements in women's economic participation and political empowerment, the think tank estimated it "will take 123 years to reach full parity globally." Japan recorded the most progress in economic participation and opportunity, reflecting the increased presence of women in the workforce, but remained poorly ranked at 127th in the category showing female participation in management positions. The country's overall performance slightly improved from last year, scoring 0.666 compared with 0.663 in 2024. The benchmark used in the study ranges between 0 and 1, with 1 being full parity between men and women. Japan's progress in narrowing the gender gap has been slow, with its score improving marginally from 0.6447 in the 2006 edition, below the average trend of improvement for the 100 countries analyzed since the report's inception. In 2025, Iceland topped the overall ranking, followed by Finland and Norway. New Zealand was the highest-ranked country in the East Asia and Pacific region in fifth place and Japan was 17th in the area.
Kyodo News
19 hours ago
- Kyodo News
Japan remains 118th in 2025 gender gap report, worst among G7
KYODO NEWS - 7 minutes ago - 12:08 | All, Japan Japan remained at 118th among 148 countries in the gender gap rankings in 2025, still worst among the Group of Seven nations, affected by poor political participation by women, the World Economic Forum said Thursday. The report by the Swiss think tank showed Japan improved women's participation in the economic arena, but ranked 125th in political empowerment, reflecting how few female government ministers it has and the fact the country has never had a female prime minister. The country lags far behind other G7 advanced economies, with Italy ranking second-lowest at 85th but still well ahead of Japan, according to the report, which tracks progress toward gender equality in the fields of economy, politics, education and health. While the world has seen major improvements in women's economic participation and political empowerment, the think tank estimated it "will take 123 years to reach full parity globally." Japan recorded the most progress in economic participation and opportunity, reflecting the increased presence of women in the workforce, but remained poorly ranked at 127th in the category showing female participation in management positions. The country's overall performance slightly improved from last year, scoring 0.666 compared with 0.663 in 2024. The benchmark used in the study ranges between 0 and 1, with 1 being full parity between men and women. Japan's progress in narrowing the gender gap has been slow, with its score improving marginally from 0.6447 in the 2006 edition, below the average trend of improvement for the 100 countries analyzed since the report's inception. In 2025, Iceland topped the overall ranking, followed by Finland and Norway. New Zealand was the highest-ranked country in the East Asia and Pacific region in fifth place and Japan was 17th in the area. Related coverage: Japan lags in closing gender gap: government report Pioneering women's sports bar draws crowds, eyes path to equality
The Mainichi
2 days ago
- The Mainichi
Japan lags in closing gender gap: government report
TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Japan lags many other countries in addressing gender inequality, particularly in raising the share of women in leadership positions, according to a government report released Tuesday. A task force led by Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba to promote the U.N. sustainable development goals met at the prime minister's office the same day and reviewed the current status of efforts to close the gaps by 2030. Referring to the 2024 Global Gender Gap Index released by the World Economic Forum, in which Japan ranked 118th out of 146 economies and last among the Group of Seven nations, the government acknowledged that its efforts remain clearly insufficient. The index benchmarks the current state of gender parity across four key dimensions -- economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment, according to the Swiss think tank. The Japanese government set a goal in 2003 to raise the share of women in leadership positions across fields such as politics and business to about 30 percent by 2020. But it later delayed the target to "the earliest possible time in the 2020s," as the proportion at major firms remains stuck in the low teens. The government report says it will step up efforts to advance gender equality by ensuring women have more opportunities to participate in decision-making across a range of fields. Gender equality and women's empowerment are among the 17 sustainable development goals adopted at a U.N. summit in 2015. Japan aims to lead in implementing the SDGs both at home and abroad. The government on Tuesday adopted its latest basic policy on gender equality and women's empowerment, with a focus on local economies and small businesses, amid a trend of female brain drain in rural areas. "We will advance our efforts to realize a society where everyone can live life to the fullest in their own ways," Ishiba said. The policy cited a lack of entrepreneurial role models and advisory resources outside major cities and pledged to build a support network for entrepreneurs. The government plans to create a database of professionals and dispatch experts to places in need nationwide through a new gender equality body slated for launch in fiscal 2026. Other measures include sexual harassment prevention training at firms investing in start-ups, advisory support for small- and medium-sized companies in rural areas to promote women into leadership roles, and initiatives to address the gender pay gap.
