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wGender & Law in JapanxMiyoko TSUJIMURA Emi YANO (eds.)
Preface
Dr. Miyoko TSUJIMURA
Professor of Constitutional Law, School of Law, Tohoku University
Director, Gender, Law and Policy Center
This volume aims to introduce the myriad practical challenges of realizing gender equality in Japan. At the same time,it is meant as a comprehensive critique of the relative lack of progress on gender equality in Japan,despite its international status as an economic powerhouse and longstanding membership within the club of established or'advanced'democracies.
Indeed,Japanese women's suffrage was achieved as late as 1946,and over the course of the post-WWII period,the feudalistic and patriarchal household ('ie' ) system was abolished in light of the newly adopted guarantees of equality between men and women enshrined in the Japanese Constitution. Nonetheless, fully 60 years after the affirmation of gender equality as an ideal of modern democracy in Japan,women's participation in the public sphere lags far behind that witnessed in other likeminded nations. In 2007,the ratio of female Members of the House of Representatives sits at 9.4 percent,placing Japan in the 126th position(dataset from October 2006)among 189 nation states around the world. Moreover,women's average salary,relative to men,hovers at a mere 67.5 percent,despite the fact that the rate of female labour force participation is approaching 50 percent.
Since the adoption of the Basic Law for a Gender Equal Society in 1999, the national government and local municipalities,among other public institutions, have taken a more active role in advancing policies destined to improve the status of women in Japan. At the same time,traditional attitudes on gender roles and the appropriate division of labour between men and women continue to hold sway throughout Japanese society and remain firmly embedded within social and familial practices,as well as the very structure of the economy,as evidenced in the persistent expectation that employees work overtime hours within private companies. Not surprisingly,women therefore continue to face significant challenges in terms of balancing paid-work responsibilities with Preface 1 ongoing childrearing and eldercare obligations,notably,as a result of the declining birthrates and the dramatic increase in the aging population.
The Gender Law and Policy Center of Tohoku University was established in 2003 with a mandate to both document the spectrum of challenges facing contemporary Japan,as well as analyse these practical realities in light of theoretical insights on the foundations of a gender equal society. Funded by the Japanese Government in order to facilitate research and education on cutting -edge research on gender equality worldwide,the Center has pursued a broad range of activities within the context of the 21st Century Centers of Excellence (COE)Programme. Collaborating with research institutions both abroad and across Japan,such as prefectural and local governments,public institutions, research institutes and professional legal associations,to name a few,over the past four years,the Center has hosted nearly 90 international symposia,seminars and workshops focusing on concrete legislative practices and public policy solutions. The fruits of these international and interdisciplinary endeavours has been disseminated to the Japanese and international research community through diverse publications : a) a book series entitled, Gender Law and Policy (12 volumes), b) Annual Reviews (available in both English and Japanese,c) Monthly Newsletters,d)a multilingual website,among other medium. With respect to the educational component,the Center has welcomed graduate students, research fellows and overseas students,providing training and research opportunities such as COE research workshops,the collection of qualitative and quantitative data,and access to short-term fieldwork and overseas research projects. Through the use of seminars at the Law School and School of Public Policy(Tohoku University), we have provided training on gender equality issues and mentoring to legal practitioners and public policy-makers as to the technical challenges of producing gender-sensitive outcomes.
Compiling the results of the aforementioned activities and academic efforts, the present volume aspires to demonstrate the research results and best practices relative to the contemporary realities and practical challenges to implementing gender equality in Japan.
Authored by Miyoko TSUJIMURA,Chapter 1 begins this volume with an overview of policies enacted by the central and local governments in Japan to 2 promote a gender-equal society,including in the field of women's political participation. In Chapter 2,using the consultations on the 2003 Japanese Report,Kiyomi NAKASHIMA analyses the monitoring system of the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)and discusses the effectiveness of the individual complaints scheme provided by the convention's Optional Protocol. In Chapter 3,Josuke IKEDA illuminates the gap between Japan and its international counterparts as concerns gender issues generally. More specifically,he discusses the ongoing tensions surrounding Japan's wartime use of'Comfort Women',in light of contemporary concerns related to human security and the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children(CSECs). Written by Tomoya KAMINO,Chapter 4 investigates the links between trafficking and the sexual exploitation of women in Japan, documenting the implementation processes of the Government's Action Plan on Trafficking,and the specific improvements integrated into relevant legislation such as the Criminal Code and Immigration/Refugee Law. In contrast,in Chapter 5,Kaoru AOYAMA makes connections between the micro and macro -level perspectives on anti-trafficking policies and points to the need for more pragmatic strategies that treat trafficked women as actors capable of individual agency,rather than victims or criminals.
Authored by Jackie F.Steele,the focus in Chapter 6 shifts towards women's right to active self-government via the Japanese House of Representatives. Placing the feminist literature on citizenship and electoral systems design in a dialogue with the experiences of women elected to the 164th Ordinary Session, Steele presents a holistic picture of both women's electoral opportunities under the current Parallel(Mixed)System,and Japan's overall performance in terms of women's representation,as compared to other modern democratic societies.
Analysing the history of Japanese family law,in Chapter 7,Noriko MIZUNO exposes the reality that the move to bring the Meiji Civil Code and household'ie'system in line with the post-war Constitution has not secured equality between husbands and wives in practice,as a result of contemporary family law's failure to protect the weaker party within family law disputes. On a related theme,in Chapter 8,Sun Hee LEE sheds light on the history of Japanese family through case studies(Tohoku region)of actual transformations in women's roles and relationships within their families. In Chapter 9, Yojiro SHIBATA examines the historical changes and contemporary effectiveness of the Preface 3 Equal Employment Opportunity Law through the use of quantitative measurements of women's advancement into employment,placed in a comparative dialogue with other laws aimed at equalizing gendered disparities.
In Chapter 10,Emi YANO brings in the comparative aspect of gender law and policy studies by evaluating the different approaches to sex crimes and domestic violence in Japan and Sweden. Notably,she notes the difficulties of contemporary countermeasures used in Japan,and suggests the amendment of Japanese Criminal Law in light of insights gained from the Swedish model. Written by Noriko INUZUKA,Chapter 11 concludes the volume by outlining the current state of education statistics,practices and policies in Japan,including revisions to the Fundamental Law on Education,Japanese national policies and programmes on gender and education,and recent trends in terms of programmes aimed at empowering women.
The aforementioned contributors to this publication include teaching staff associated with the 21st Century COE Program,research fellows and former fellows of the Gender Law and Policy Center,Tohoku University. By making the fruits of our research efforts available to the international research community, it is our sincerest hope that this volume may serve to further stimulate international collaboration around this fascinating field of inquiry,as well as practically contribute to the advancement of gender equality policies in countries worldwide.
Finally,we wish to convey our deepest appreciation to the Tohoku University Institute for International Advanced Interdisciplinary Research for their generous support of this publication.
July 2007
Miyoko Tsujimura