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| "DAWN" Newsletter of The DAWN CENTER |
International standards of gender equality and Japan
- the impact on Japan - |
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| Masumi Yoneda |
| Introduction |
The Constitution of Japan, Article 14,stipulates equality under
the law, giving Japanese people the right of freedom from gender discrimination.
Article 24 prescribes the equal rights of husband and wife in their marriage.
The draft of the New Constitution was drawn up by GHQ during the occupation soon
after World War II. The regulation on gender equality was written by Beate Sirota
Gordon, a member of the drafting committee. Today, the exploits of Beate Sirota
are highly regarded, especially among Japanese women.
Regardless of the equality regulation of the Constitution, the realization of
gender equality in Japan is far from the goal. However, we cannot deny that significant
progress has been made. This progress has been greatly influenced by international
standards on gender equality which were set up and developed by the United Nations.
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| CEDAW impact |
The United Nations called 1975 "the International Women's
Year" and the subsequent ten years from 1976 to 1985 "the United Nations'
Decade for Women". (Please refer to the homepage of Gender Equality Bureau,
Cabinet Office, URL:http://www.gender.go.jp/english-contents/index.html)
Since 1975, the UN has taken the initiative to realize equality between men and
women, sponsored World Women's Conferences, and in 1979 adopted the Convention
for Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). The Japanese
government has held "respect for the United Nations," or "international
cooperation," as one national policy since entry into the UN in 1956. Japan's
gender equality policy began in concordance with such movements of the UN.
Among all UN initiatives, CEDAW has had the largest influence. After signing the
Convention in 1980, Japan adjusted national laws and ratified the CEDAW in 1985,
the last year of the UN Decade for Women. (As of June 2002, 170 countries have
ratified the convention, which account for 90% of all signatories of the UN.)
At the time of the ratification, Japan made three main adjustments to national
laws. The first was the revision of the Nationality Law so that Japanese citizenship
is inheritable through mothers just as it is through fathers. The second was the
revision of Education and Science Ministry's teaching guidelines, in which home
economics was to be learned by both boys and girls. This came into effect in 1993
in junior high schools, and in 1994 in senior high schools. The third was the
enactment of the Equal Employment Opportunity Law and the revision of the protection
prescriptions for women in the Labor Standards Law. Japan's Labor Standards Law
prescribed only equal pay for equal work between men and women, but not gender
equality in employment because of the stipulation of special protection for women.
CEDAW sets a report system in which ratified countries are committed to submit
national reports regularly to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination
against Women on new measures they have taken to comply with their treaty obligations
and on existing obstacles. Japan has great concern for the consideration of the
report by the Committee, and this report system has contributed to the acceleration
of gender equality policies in Japan.
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| A review of gender equality in Japan since 1980s - positive
aspects |
In the 1980s, in addition to these legal reforms, it is worthwhile
to notice that working women began to protest against sexual harassment. In 1989,
the first suit was filed and the word "sekuhara," meaning sexual harassment,
became heard in Japanese.
In the 1990s, the Childcare Leave Law, applicable to both mothers and fathers,
was enacted, the national machinery for the advancement of gender equality policy
was strengthened, and many other reforms were advanced. Above all, the Fourth
Women's Conference (Beijing Conference) in 1995 empowered Japanese women and backed
up further development of gender equality policies. Women who came home from the
Beijing Conference or NGO Forums set up NGOs in various districts for implementation
of the Beijing Platform for Action and extended networks among them. A lot of
lawsuits were filed against sexual discrimination in wages and promotions. A large
number of women came to participate in politics both in national and regional
governments, though participation by women is still less than other developed
countries. Above all, in 1999 the Basic Law for a Gender- Equal Society was enforced,
and thereafter ordinances about gender equality were prepared in local governments.
As the problem of violence against women was one of the major concerns in the
Beijing Platform for Action, policies for the abolition of violence against women
have been enacted. In 1999, as the Equal Employment Opportunity Law was revised
and enforced, a new regulation for employers to make efforts to prevent sexual
harassment in the workplace was added. Shelters for victims of domestic violence
were established by NGOs and the actual conditions of DV harm came to light. In
the latter half of the 1990s, violence against women and girls became recognized
as a social problem. In 1999, the Prohibition of Child Prostitution and Child
Pornography Law was enacted. In 2000, the Child Abuse Prevention Law and the Anti-Stalker
Law were enacted. In 2001, the Domestic Violence Prevention Law was instituted
and brought fully into effect in April 2002. The Outcome Document adopted at the
Women's Conference 2000 exerted great influence on the establishment of the DV
Prevention Law.
Lastly, the establishment of public women's centers should be mentioned. The Dawn
Center itself was opened in 1994 and sent a delegation to Beijing in 1995. In
the latter half of 1990s, following the Beijing Women's Conference, the Japanese
women's movement became more active, which resulted in the building of many public
women's centers. So far, 38 prefectural women's centers have been established
and 200 more centers have been built by local governments. These centers organize
various courses to empower women, and women make use of the centers to undertake
their own activities.
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| Challenges to overcome |
There still exist, however, various problems. In Japan, working
women face more serious gender-based differences than in other developed countries.
The average wages for women workers (including part-timers) are about 50% of their
male counterparts'. Women overwhelmingly do the bulk of unpaid work such as housework,
childcare, and care for the old. Husbands in double-income households spend on
average only 27 minutes in housekeeping and childcare a day. (See Table 1.)
Furthermore, Japan is notorious for the sex trade's high demand, and foreign women
often become victims of human trafficking. In the deliberations of the Japanese
government's report, The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against
Women pointed out that the status of foreign women staying in Japan was not reported.
Japan has not yet signed the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking
in Persons, Especially Women and Children, Supplementing the UN Convention against
Transnational Organized Crime adopted by the UN. The issue of comfort women was
discussed in the United Nations. In Japan, atonement money is paid by a private
fund, but the Japanese government has not paid compensation to individual victims.
Japan has not yet signed the Optional Protocol of the CEDAW, which came into effect
in 2000 and provides for the communication and inquiry procedures. (As of June
2002, 41 countries have ratified it.)
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| Conclusion |
The rate of people who approve of allocating market work to men
and unpaid work to women is diminishing every year. In the National Public Opinion
Poll 2000, the number who approved of this gender discrimination fell to 25%,
the lowest on record. However, along with positive development of gender equality
policies accompanying the Basic Law for a Gender-Equal Society, strong backlash
can be seen; some still believe that the division of labor between the sexes is
a part of Japanese culture and tradition. The World Conference on Human Rights
in 1993 confirmed that "culture" and "tradition" of a country
should not justify discrimination against women.
Japan's future task is to become not only a receiver of international standards,
but also a contributor to setting higher international standards, by sending Japan's
experience and development, including its negative parts, into the world.
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| Masumi Yoneda, Part-time researcher at Kyoto
Human Rights Research Center (Foundation), Part-time lecturer at Osaka University,
Ryukoku University, and other colleges She gives lectures on international human
rights and gender equality at seminars to various local groups and citizen courses.
She is one of the representatives of The Community of Supporting Members Osaka
(COSMO) which supports DV victims. |
| Note: Number inside brackets [ ] gives fluctuation compared with 1991.'Housekeeping'
means housework, nursing, childcare and shopping.(http://www.gender.go.jp/) |
Copyright (C) DawnCenter. All Rights Reserved.
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