Lagarde to press Japan on women

WASHINGTON: IMF chief Christine Lagarde said she would raise with Japan ways to increase women’s participation in the work force as she looks for clarity on structural reforms.
The International Monetary Fund has cut its 2014 growth forecast for Japan as it waits for a promised “third arrow” of structural reforms promised by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Lagarde said she would speak with Finance Minister Taro Aso, who is in Washington for annual IMF/World Bank spring meetings, about “what the timetable is, and what the extent of the reform is.”
“I will particularly focus on the reform of the labor market in order to facilitate access for Japanese women to the job market, because we believe it is a very important component of structural reform,” she said.
Abe has pledged to focus efforts on boosting female participation in the labor force, which lags behind the level in many other developed economies despite high education and health standards for Japanese women.


Studies have identified greater participation by women as a way to boost Japan’s economic growth, which has been tepid for most of the past two decades amid a rapidly graying population.