Women's Empowerment and Gender Equality
Courtesy Call on Prime Minister Kishida by the Gender Equality Advisory Council (GEAC)
(Photo: Cabinet Public Affairs Office)
On May 8, 2023, Prime Minister KISHIDA Fumio received a courtesy call by representatives of the Gender Equality Advisory Council (GEAC), chaired by Dr. SHIRAHASE Sawako, Senior Vice-Rector of the United Nations University, and received a summary of the recommendations of the GEAC. The courtesy call was attended on the Japanese side by Mr. OGURA Masanobu, Minister of State for Special Missions, Cabinet Office; Ms. MORI Masako, Special Advisor to the Prime Minister; Mr. ONO Keiichi, Senior Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs; Mr. ICHIKAWA Keiichi, Director-General, Foreign Policy Bureau, Ministry of Foreign Affairs; on the visitors’ side by Dr. KURODA Reiko, Professor Emeritus at the University of Tokyo and Designated Professor at Chubu University; Ms. Hedwige Nuyens, Chair of European Women on Boards; and Dr. Maxime Houinato, Regional Director for UN Women East and Southern Africa Regional Office.
- Dr. Shirahase and three other GEAC members paid a courtesy call on Prime Minister Kishida and presented a summary of recommendations in order to achieve gender equality, and expressed their expectations for further promotion of gender equality by Japan and other G7 member states. They also stated that GEAC will continue its activities toward the submission of the final report at the end of this year.
- Prime Minister Kishida thanked for the recommendations, and touched upon initiatives such as "women's economic independence," which is core of his administration's key policy "new form of capitalism," and his own appointment as a champion for HeForShe campaign, an initiative promoted by the UN Women. He expressed his wish to further promote efforts toward gender equality through the G7 process and thanked GEAC for its valuable input to the G7 Hiroshima Summit.
The GEAC is an external advisory body that makes recommendations on gender equality for G7 leaders. Launched in 2018 by Canada, the then G7 Presidency, and convened by the respective G7 Presidency since then, the GEAC has submitted useful recommendations to the leaders of the G7 to achieve gender equality and promote the empowerment of women.
This year, 14 members actively involved in the gender field from the G7 and other countries as well as international organizations were appointed, and the first meeting was held on March 24.
The UN Women initiated the "HeForShe” in 2014, believing that the men’s engagement is essential for promoting gender equality. Prime Minister Abe backthen was appointed as one of the ten Heads of State and Government Champions (HeForShe Champions). Prime Minister Kishida was appointed as one of the HeForShe Champions in the second phase (from 2022 to the end of 2025).
