Tokyo (CNN) Despite years of promising to tackle Japan's yawning gender-gap, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe this week appeared to take a step backwards, halving the number of women in his cabinet from two to one.

But don't worry, he told reporters, Satsuki Katayama -- who is in a much more junior role than her predecessors -- could do the work of "two or three" women.

The cabinet reshuffle, which saw the country's most senior female official, Seiko Noda, leave government entirely, was greeted with disappointment by many observers, who said it highlighted how Abe's actions rarely match his rhetoric on the issue.

Noda, who had been a leading advocate of improving gender representation in politics, said it was "very worrying that the number of female ministers has decreased from three down to one in the last three reshuffles."

Her role as interior minister now falls to a man, but the gender equality portfolio passes to Katayama. She had a rough introduction to her new role, when she was forced to rush out and buy a new outfit for a photo call, after male colleagues reportedly complained about her original choices.

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