Japan's blue-chip companies have added more women directors amid demands from the stock exchange and investors to raise board diversity, Nikkei Asia reported Friday.
Female directors accounted for 19% of the board seats of companies listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's top-tier Prime market in 2025, a two percentage point rise, the report cited data from the Japan Business Federation, or Keidanren, as saying.
The Nikkei report pointed to the bourse's corporate governance rules urging companies to have greater diversity as a factor in the rise.
The government's goal of at least 30% composition of female directors at Prime-listed companies by 2030 is also a driver, the report said.
However, Japan majors still lag their Western peers in board diversity, with a 24% board composition at constituents of the Tokyo bourse's Topix 100 index versus 35% at the S&P 100 companies and 45% at FTSE 100 entities, the report cited a 2025 Japan Research Institute survey as saying.
Japanese companies have shown slow progress, especially with women as inside directors, the report cited the institute's Eiji Yamada as saying.
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