~The goals and plans for the Women's Resource Library specializing in women's issues~

Utilizing the Women's Resource Library, we provide support for solving gender issues and activities towards the realization of a gender-equal society. Not only do we provide reading and lending services, we also deal with specific and technical information needs through information and research consulting, providing workshops on how to utilize information, and providing reference materials. In order to be able to do these things, the information we gather has to be diversified, so we collect, edit, and provide various materials from various publishers in various forms. As a library that specializes in women's information, its size and services make it one of Japan's leading women's libraries.

After 10 years since opening our doors, we need to reorganize and adapt our services to address various changes and the trend towards more specific and technical information needs. In line with the philosophies and the achievements that we have built over the past 10 years, we'd like to develop the following services:
1. Provide off-premise access to our services.
2. Improve our information services through the Internet.
3. Improve our own distinctive services along with specialized and technical services.
4. Promote cooperation through networks, educational research organizations, and related facilities.
5. Establish and implement methods for service evaluation and operation analyses.

~Various counseling services for women's mental health~

The counseling services reflect the various issues and needs that women face. They include; "psychological counseling with specialists in clinical psychology," "phone counseling available anytime," "legal consultation with female lawyers," "physical counseling with female doctors," "fertility counseling hold type," and so on. We organize support groups several times a year on different topics where women who share similar problems and interests can work together to solve their common issues. We also have "counseling workshops for women" every year, where they learn about female psychology and relationship issues. Our counseling services are designed to encourage empowerment for women in various ways.

We also provide study and training workshops for those who provide women's counseling services and women who manage women's groups. For example, we provide "special feminist counseling workshops," "CR support group facilitator skills training workshops," "study workshops for people who are in women's related counseling services," to name a few. People from throughout the country come to participate in these workshops.

~Developmental Study Programs Relating to Cultural Expression~

The aim of the cultural expression program is to change the fixed image and social consciousness towards women through art and creative activities. At the Women's Performing Arts, we have performances once a year. They have included a musical with a child abuse prevention theme; a play that separately includes three different generation life styles, in adolescence, as working mothers, and as baby boomers; and a play by an all female theatrical company. At the Women's Film Festival, we screen films on topics of the family, marriage, issues facing the elderly, and more. We have also invited directors from other countries such as China, South Korea, and the Philippines and the participants have had the opportunity to interact with the directors face to face.

In 2004, which was the 10th anniversary of the "Osaka Gender Equality Foundation" and the Dawn Center, the foundation revealed its "New 10-Year Plan." This plan will be used to guide the management of the next 10 years by looking back at the past 10 years.

The motto for this plan is "10 years: From Creation to Completion," which takes into consideration the following facts.

In the past 10 years, different laws were established in the hope of realizing a gender equal society; namely, the Basic Law for a Gender Equal Society, the Equal Employment Opportunity Law, and the Osaka Prefectural Ordinance for Gender Equality. Along with these laws, the number of women's centers and gender equality centers increased, bringing the total number of these centers in Japan to 356, according to the National Women's Education Center's survey in December 2005.

However, various survey data still suggests the existence of a gender role consciousness, which causes various issues in homes, communities, schools, and companies. For example, the GEM (Gender Empowerment Measure), which measures women's participation in society, ranked Japan 43th out of 80 countries in 2005.

That is to say that policy-making regarding women's issues has been focusing on "legal equality," but for the next 10 years, the focus is to be on "actual equality." For "actual equality" to be realized, the "New 10-Year Plan" recommends the "three Cs" (Continue, Collaborate, and Change) for our organizational concept: specifically, continuing our gender-equal philosophy, collaborating with NPOs and private groups, and changing the social systems and traditions that prevent gender-equal participation by providing our services and programs.

In realizing a gender equal society, which the Basic Law for a Gender Equal Society states to be "the most critical issue facing Japanese society in the 21st century," the Osaka Gender Equality Foundation will surely progress strongly into the future.

Osaka Gender Equality Foundation Chief Executive Officer: Teiichiro Tokioka)