Government must comply with U.N. advice to redress heavy discrimination against women -- Akahata editorial, August 31 (excerpts)

The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women in August recommended the Japanese government to take steps to get rid of the ongoing discrimination against women, following an examination of the U.N. member countries' progress in implementing the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

Critical of slow progress

The U.N. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women was adopted by the U.N. General Assembly in December 1979. The Japanese government ratified it in June 1985. The Convention was epochal in that it internationally established the goal of eliminating discrimination against women in all aspects of society.

The U.N. Committee, in its final view of the progress in the Japanese government's implementation of the Convention, expressed concern and made requests and recommendations on 22 items. The delay in the elimination of discrimination in Japan is obvious.

The Committee also expressed concern about the existing wage gap between men and women, stemming largely from the difference in type of work, vertical and horizontal employment segregation, and about the high percentage of women in part-time work and women who are temporary workers, whose salaries are lower than those working in a regular situation. The recommendations state that the government must strengthen measures to enable women to fulfill their responsibilities at home and in workplaces, abolish civil law provisions discriminating against women, and ensure women's participation in decision-making bodies.

The Committee's view is marked by its explicit concern about discrimination against women in wages. The average wage for Japanese female workers, excluding part-timers, stands at 65.3, when the average wage for male worker is taken at 100. Japanese women are low paid even in an international comparison: USA 76.0, Britain 80.6, Germany 74.2, and France 79.8.

This situation needs to be remedied.

The Japanese Communist Party in its draft revised Program calls for equality and equal rights for men and women to be defended and measures established to guarantee them, and pledges to make every effort to accomplish this together with the people. (end)