[floatl][/floatl]Asahi: Women account for only 14% of lawyers
Women account for only 14.4 percent of all lawyers in Japan, despite the overall increase in lawyers created through reforms of the judicial system. The percentage falls far behind 48.7 percent in France, 42.2 percent in Britain and 30.1 percent in the United States. As of the end of March 2008, 3,599 of Japan's 25,000 lawyers were women. "Because our profession is based on qualification (through the national bar exam), the notion that there is no sexual discrimination dies hard," said Tomoko Suganuma, a lawyer and vice chairwoman of the Japan Federation of Bar Associations' Committee on Equality of Men and Women. "Bar associations have lagged behind in coping with the issue," she said...more...