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After nearly two years without a single resignation from Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s cabinet, two female ministers — appointed only last month — stepped down on the same day.

Yuko Obuchi, 40, trade and industry minister, resigned over allegations of improper use of political funds, and Justice Minister Midori Matsushima, 58, quit over claims she breached election laws. The resignations are a double blow to Abe who has made promoting women a pillar of his economic policy.

Abe’s government has enjoyed unusually stable voter approval since he took office in December 2012, helped by economic policies that have boosted the stock market and an absence of scandals. Faced with a shrinking workforce, he has sought to attract more women to paid employment, emphasized a goal of having women in 30 percent of leadership positions by 2020, and appointed women to high profile government positions.

“This is the first real bump in the road for Abe, who has been doing well, keeping support rates high even though his policies are not that popular,” said Steven Reed, professor of political science at Chuo University in Tokyo. With the resignation of the two ministers “one of his ways of distracting people from his less popular policies is no longer a distraction.”

via Bloomberg

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Alfonso Esparza

Alfonso Esparza

Senior Currency Analyst at Market Pulse
Alfonso Esparza specializes in macro forex strategies for North American and major currency pairs. Upon joining OANDA in 2007, Alfonso Esparza established the MarketPulseFX blog and he has since written extensively about central banks and global economic and political trends. Alfonso has also worked as a professional currency trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He has been published by The MarketWatch, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, and he also appears regularly as a guest commentator on networks including Bloomberg and BNN. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.
Alfonso Esparza