It was in 1982 that I opened up "Women's Bookstore." Since it was the first women's bookstore in Japan, it caught people's attention. I was often interviewed by newspapers and women's magazines. It was also a time that society was starting to become interested in women's issues.

However, in those days, there was very little information published for women. Even simple information, such as the number of published books on feminism, wasn't available. I thought I could provide at least some book information, so I decided to publish "Women's Books," which was an information magazine about books for women. Not only did I collect information on existing publishers, I also contacted various women's groups and introduced the booklets and newspapers that were published by these groups. Although women's liberation had passed its peak, there were groups that continued to issue booklets, and new groups were constantly being formed. As a woman, I wanted to provide information for other women, and that effort eventually connected me to different women's networks. Unexpectedly it led to the publication of "Our Bodies, Ourselves” and "Herstory of Japanese Women's Lib."

In Japan, the women's suffrage movement existed before the war; however, it was the defeat in the war that brought suffrage to women. Up until that point, women couldn't vote, and only men were charged with the care of politics and economics. Under the new constitution, women gained positions as politicians and government officials, but long-lasting social customs and male prejudice weren't easily changed.

Despite a significant increase in working women in the 1960s, discrimination against women in the work place was still obvious. Being in the maledominated society, women themselves found it difficult to emerge from their own gender role consciousness and its customs. The women's labor movement became active, but unions were generally insensitive to discrimination against women. During this trend, there were women who questioned the
marriage retirement system and sued their companies (Sumitomo Cement, Onoda Cement). It was a time when policies such as public servants' marriage retirement and women's retirement at the age of 30 were acceptable; the court's decision that overruled their dismissals didn't take place until the late '60s.

During the 1960s and the 1970s, the women's liberation had become an international movement. In the '70s, there were many nationwide women's movements in Japan, which differed from typical women's movements of the past. It was difficult for a lot of women being surrounded by a strong family system and a discriminative gender consciousness. Women viewed these obstacles as their own issues and they took action in order to deal with them. Liberation, which was born from protests against the US/Japan security treaty and from the student movement, posed questions aimed at the root of various forms of discrimination against women.

Japan's liberation involved its own unique movement such as fighting against the attempt to distort the Eugenic Protection Act. The main departures from the past were the idea that without gender liberation there couldn't be women's liberation, and the declaration that personal matters were also political matters. However, this ideology was the subject of ridicule from the male-dominated media and caused great misunderstanding. As I participated in the editing and publishing of "History of Japanese Women's Lib," I once again read through a large number of booklets, fliers, and pamphlets. In those documents, current worldwide issues such as domestic violence, sexual harassment, and reproductive health had been looked at, even though those issues didn't yet have those names.
(These original documents were entrusted to the Dawn Center.)

The International Women's Year coincided with the 1975 World Conference on Women in Mexico that dealt with the subject of equality, development, and peace. This motivated the Japanese government, and in the same year the "Headquarters for the Planning and Promoting of Policies Relating to Women" was established in the Prime Minister's Office. Needless to say, women from NGOs became active during the International Women's Year and established the International "Women's Year Liaison Group," in which 41 organizations participated. Various women's organizations were involved in the movement against discrimination towards women; for example, one of the organizations Kokusaifujinnen wo kikkake toshite koudou wo okosu onnatachi no kai Women's action group that was formed following the International Women's Year) raised an objection to the TV commercial "I cook; I eat," which indicated that women cook for men and it was taken off the air.

Although the domestic action plan at this time was not the most efficient, the plan was significant in that administrative windows for women were established in each prefecture. It also encouraged local governments to make action plans and start developmental projects on issues concerning women. Furthermore, governments built women's centers to be a place for efficient and harmonious projects.

In the past 20 years, different laws have been established in order to eliminate discrimination against women; such as the "Equal Employment Opportunity Law," the "Basic Law for a Gender- Equal Society," and the "DV Prevention Law." The fact that there are more women actively working in different fields. such as politics and the UN's promotional crusade for human rights equality, is the result of patient effort. After the Beijing Conference, NGOs such as the "Japan NGO Report Preparatory Committee" and "Japan Accountability Caucus, Beijing" were formed, and the perspective and network in women's organizations expanded. The activities of the "Japan NGO Report Preparatory Committee" include submitting alternative reports to the UN in response to official government reports. The activities of the "Japan Accountability Caucus, Beijing" include regular lobbying at ministry and government offices. Women's centers also have been playing a significant role in communities.

However, it is a great disappointment that wage and promotion disparity between men and women still exists in many Japanese companies. In Japan, it is not rare to see someone in a position of leadership, like a politician, shamelessly, having a discriminatory attitude towards women. It is not easy to change that cultural attitude, and Japan still has a long way towards the realization of a genderequal society.