First female head of Japan labor lobby vows to empower women

By MARI YAMAGUCHI
Associated Press

TOKYO (AP) — The first female president of Japan’s powerful labor union federation says she will work to correct the gender gap in wages and working conditions to help empower women. Tomoko Yoshino, who was elected this month as head of the 7 million-member Japanese Trade Union Confederation, says progress in achieving gender equality has been extremely slow. Among her first important missions are negotiations for better salaries and working conditions, including for women, and participation in an economic forum launched by new Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who has called for better income distribution and economic growth through higher salaries.