(Bloomberg) -- The Bank of Japan announced the appointment of its first female head of media relations, in one sign that long-closed doors are beginning to open for women at the central bank.
Mikari Kashima, previously head of the Financial Infrastructure Studies Division, was appointed to the position Monday, meaning women now hold the position of chief spokesperson at both the BOJ and the Ministry of Finance.
In 2014, the BOJ followed Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s lead and said it would try to hire women for 30% of career-track positions. It said it topped that goal in fiscal 2016, when a third of such new positions went to women, after achieving a similar rate the previous year.
Still, Japan remains far behind in promoting women, who held only 13% of managerial positions in 2017. As of September, 10% of managers at the BOJ were women.
According to the World Economic Forum’s global gender gap report, Japan ranks 110th out of 149 countries, with particularly low scores for economic participation and opportunity, and political empowerment.
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