Chapter 3
Japan's Foreign Policy to Promote National and Global Interests
8 Women
(1)G7 Taormina Summit
At the G7 Taormina Summit (Italy), the Leaders' Communique stated the countries' continued commitment towards mainstreaming gender equality in all policies. Furthermore, the G7 Roadmap for a Gender-Responsive Economic Environment was adopted with the aim of promoting the economic empowerment of women and girls.
(2) G20 Hamburg Summit
At the G20 Hamburg Summit (Germany), discussions were held on topics related to the empowerment of women, including digitalization and in the field of the sciences, women's access to training and employment, and scale up support for women entrepreneurs. Based on the discussions, the World Bank and 13 participating countries announced the launch of the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi). We-Fi aims to promote the rapid economic independence and participation in the economy and society of women in developing countries, as well as to realize regional stability, prosperity, and peacebuilding, by providing support to women entrepreneurs as well as SMEs owned and led by women in developing countries to help them overcome the various barriers they are confronted with. We-Fi complements and enhances the support for women entrepreneurs that Japan has been providing mainly through bilateral efforts. In addition, Japan announced its intention of contributing 50 million U.S. dollars to the fund, based on the perspective that it is aligned with Japan's policy that aims to realize a “society where women shine” both in Japan and abroad.
(3) World Assembly for Women, “WAW! 2017”
The Fourth World Assembly for Women (WAW! 2017) was held over three days from November 1, 2017. It gathered a total of about 2,400 participants, including 66 top leaders from 21 countries including Japan and eight international organizations, who are active in the field of women. The theme for 2017 was “WAW! in Changing World.” Based on this theme, and with a focus on concrete initiatives to support women and the results of these initiatives, discussions were carried out on measures to promote the continued activity and success of women in a changing world, among other themes. Participants engaged in discussions on a wide range of topics, including gender-related initiatives by corporations and international organizations, women's participation in the sciences, role-sharing in unpaid work, women's participation in peace and security, women in the media, and gender equality in natural disasters. Discussions, centered around youths, were also carried out about the future of women's empowerment. On the final day, recommendations for the direction of actions put forward by the participants were summarized and presented in the “WAW!2017 Tokyo Declaration” as the outcome of the three-day discussion.
Foreign Minister Kono delivering a speech at the World Assembly for Women WAW! (WAW! 2017) (November 2, Tokyo)
Debates at the World Assembly for Women WAW! (WAW! 2017) (November 2, Tokyo)
(4) International Cooperation for the Empowerment of Women in Developing Countries
During the General Debate Session at the UN General Assembly in 2013, Prime Minister Abe announced that the Government would be providing Official Development Assistance (ODA) of more than 3 billion dollars over three years until 2015 for three areas with a focus on the empowerment of women: (1) facilitating women's active participation in society and women's empowerment; (2) enhancing Japan's efforts in the area of women's health care as a part of the Strategy on Global Health Diplomacy; and (3) supporting women's participation and protecting their rights in the area of peace and security. These have been fully implemented. In May 2016, the Government announced the “Development Strategy for Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment,” formulated as one of the new thematic policies under the Development Cooperation Charter, and declared that measures would be implemented to train about 5,000 female government administrative officials and to improve the learning environment for about 50,000 girls over the three years from 2016 to 2018. At the Third World Assembly for Women (WAW! 2016) held in December the same year, Prime Minister Abe promised to provide support amounting to more than 3 billion US dollars for women in developing countries until 2018 focusing on: (1) promoting women's and girls' rights; (2) creating an enabling environment for women and girls to reach their full potential; and (3) advancing women's leadership in politics, economics, and other public fields. These measures are being steadily implemented.
(5) Initiatives in the UN
A United Nations Commission on the Status of Women
The 61st session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women was held in March, and Japan sent a delegation consisting of Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Takisawa as the Chief Delegate, Hiroko Hashimoto, representatives from various government ministries, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), and NGOs. At the conference, Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Takisawa chaired the Ministerial Roundtable and led discussion on the possible measures that can be put in place in order to promote the economic empowerment of women. In addition, he introduced Japan's initiatives on women's economic participation and its relationship with technological progress and innovation, and exchanged views with representatives from the respective countries.
B UN Women
Japan contributed approximately 30 million U.S. dollars in 2016 to the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) and the contributions are used in ways such as empowering Syrian refugee women and measures to counter violent extremism in Africa. In September 2017, Prime Minister Abe, who was on a visit to New York (U.S.) to attend the 72nd UN General Assembly, participated in the ceremony for the unveiling of the IMPACT 10x10x10 Parity Report of the HeForShe campaign organized by UN Women. In addition to introducing Japan's initiatives on promoting women's empowerment and the results of these efforts, he also spoke about the World Assembly for Women WAW! (WAW! 2017), and called for participants to connect through WAW! and work together with Japan to realize a “society where women shine” throughout the world. At UN Women, the HeForShe Campaign has been implemented to call for the involvement of men and boys in gender equality. Prime Minister Abe was selected as one of ten state leaders to champion the acceleration of the campaign. Japan plans to continue to deepen its cooperation with the UN Women.
C Dealing with sexual violence
Sexual violence as a tactic of war must not be overlooked, and it is important to put an end to impunity for perpetrators and to support victims of violence. To make the 21st century a world with no human rights violations against women, Japan is actively engaging in efforts in this field, and places importance on cooperating with international organizations including UN Action and Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, as well as participating in international discussions.
In 2017, Japan provided financial support of 1 million U.S. dollars to the Office of the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, contributing to strengthening the police and judicial capabilities of states concerned. Furthermore, Japan continues to make voluntary contributions to the Trust Fund for Victims of the International Criminal Court, earmarking approximately 550,000 Euros out of a cumulative contribution of about 750,000 Euros for victims of sexual and gender-based violence. Through such contributions, Japan engages in efforts to support victims of sexual violence in conflicts.
D Initiatives in Japan
In order to realize a peaceful society more effectively, it is important to secure women's participation in all stages in conflict prevention, conflict resolution, and peace keeping and peacebuilding with integration of gender perspective. Japan formulated national action plan to implement UN Security Council Resolution 1325 and other relevant resolutions on women, peace, and security. The action plan has been effective since 2016, and monitoring and evaluating of the implementation is conducted. The second annual report will be published by the end of FY 2017.
E Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
Since 1987, Japan has continued to provide members for the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. Currently, Yoko Hayashi (lawyer) serves as a member of the Committee.
On November 1, 2, and 3, the Government of Japan hosted the World Assembly for Women (WAW! 2017) which marked the fourth WAW! event since its launch. The event welcomed 66 speakers from 21 countries and eight international organizations, as well as a total of about 2,400 participants.
Based on the theme “WAW! in Changing World,” WAW! 2017 placed the focus on concrete initiatives to support women and the outcomes of these efforts, and discussions were held about the measures to ensure that women continued to play an active role in the changing world. The “WAW!2017 Tokyo Declaration” including recommendations for action-oriented measures from participants was drawn up and presented as the outcome of the discussions over the three days.
This section provides an overview of the special event, “Women's Empowerment,” held on the third day of WAW! 2017.
Prime Minister Abe and Advisor to the President of the U.S., Ivanka Trump (November 3, Tokyo, Photo: Cabinet Public Relations Office)
Prime Minister Abe delivered the opening speech and emphasized the Government's commitment towards promoting women's empowerment as well as its achievements. He also expressed Japan's strong support for the “Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative” (abbreviated as “We-Fi”), whose launch was announced by the World Bank and participating countries at the G20 Hamburg Summit this year, and reaffirmed Japan's intention to provide support of 50 million U.S. dollars towards the initiative, with mentioning the positive impact that women entrepreneurs have on the development of the global economy. Following that, a special speech was given by Ms. Ivanka Trump, Advisor to the President of the U.S. She pointed out that while the economic participation of women is beneficial and meaningful to society, at the same time, the job of full-time homemakers is just as important; hence, all women are “working women.” She also expressed her hopes for the realization of a society that women can embrace both the dignity of work and the gift of flourishing families. Furthermore, she touched on the importance of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education for women in an era of technological innovation and noted that assistance should be given to societies where women are prevented from reaching their full potential, and spoke about the importance of supporting women entrepreneurs in developing countries from this perspective.
Foreign Minister Kono
Foreign Minister Kono presented some examples of successful Japanese women entrepreneurs and touched on the difficulties that entrepreneurs face in procuring financing and acquiring specialized knowledge. He emphasized the importance of We-Fi, which aims to provide support to entrepreneurs in overcoming these barriers.
Next, CEO of the World Bank, Georgieva, talked about the current status and challenges concerning access to funds for women in developing countries. For example, she explained that there are 35 countries in the world where married women are unable to inherit real estate, and 17 countries in the world where women are unable to leave the home unaccompanied and without the permission of their husbands. Furthermore, there are about 2 billion people in the world who are unable to acquire loans or other forms of financing when starting a business, and there are also people who do not even have a bank account. More than 60% of these people are women. CEO Georgieva described these current conditions, and emphasized that support to women through We-Fi can contribute to economic development. She also stated that the World Bank will continue to promote initiatives to support women entrepreneurs.
Kristalina Georgieva
After the speeches, a panel discussion entitled “Supporting Women Entrepreneurs” was held. Vice Chair of Goldman Sachs Japan Co., Ltd, Kathy Matsui, served as the moderator for this discussion, with the participation of seven panelists: Minister of Marine Affairs and Fisheries of the Republic of Indonesia, Susi Pudjiastuti; Founder & CEO of UNICAL International, Inc., Kaori Sasaki, Founder &CEO of ewomen, Inc.; CEO of Fair Trade (Korea), Miyoung Lee; Founder and CEO of The Job Factory (Democratic Republic of the Congo), Patricia Veringa-Gieskes,; Vice President of Blended Finance and Partnerships of the International Finance Corporation, Nena Stoiljkovic; and, CEO and Creative Director of aeru, Rika Yajima. To kick off the discussion, Ms. Matsui commented that investing in women contributes to economic growth. Then, the panelists shared their experiences of the challenges and difficulties that they had faced and overcome when they started their businesses, and engaged in discussion about the approaches taken by governments and international organizations in providing support to women entrepreneurs.
Minister Susi addressed the importance of active financial assistance provided by governments when entrepreneurs start up their businesses, explaining her actual experiences in utilizing SME funds to expand her own business. At the same time, she also spoke about the need for women to demonstrate their own capabilities without any restraint, while making use of education and mentoring. With regard to the procurement of funds when starting a business, Ms. Lee also talked about the need for a platform that facilitates the exchange of views and sharing of resources among women entrepreneurs of various generations, based on her own experience of a lack in funding, business plans, human resources, and networks when she started her business. Ms. Veringa-Gieskes explained that poorly developed legal systems were another stumbling block in addition to financing when starting a business in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. She appreciated the We-Fi initiative highly, and made concrete suggestions to assist entrepreneurs more effectively by including women entrepreneurs as executive officers in financing institutions, disseminating information about assistance offered by the government and support organizations, and establishing incubation centers which enable to resolve the problems women entrepreneurs face.
Scene at the panel discussion entitled “Supporting Women Entrepreneurs,” at the special event of WAW! 2017 (November 3, Tokyo)
Ms. Stoiljkovic spoke about access to funds as a common barrier for women entrepreneurs in the world, and pointed out the importance of considering deregulation in order to solve the problem of collateral, and of eliminating discrimination against women that prevents them from working without permission from their husbands. In this regard, Ms. Yajima also recommended reducing corporate tax on entrepreneurs immediately after the launch of their businesses, with a view to business advancement and growth, and legalizing the retention of the respective family names of husband and wife so as to reduce the burden on women to change their family names. Ms. Sasaki, who had been subjected to discrimination as a female company president, shared her experience of overcoming discrimination by changing the ways in which she talks and delivers presentations. She also spoke about the importance of establishing women entrepreneurs-friendly work policies, and having all members of the community support women entrepreneurs by purchasing the products or using the services provided by their businesses.