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2023 June 28 - July 4 TOP3 [SOCIAL ISSUES]

Japan's delay stands out in G7 Ministerial Meeting on Gender Equality

Akahata editorial (excerpts)

The G7 Ministerial Meeting on Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment took place in Nikko City in Tochigi Prefecture on June 24 and 25.

The G7 Gender Equality Ministers adopted the "Nikko Statement" reaffirming their commitment to accelerating their efforts "toward full gender equality". They set the following challenges in "Advancing Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women and Girls": Promoting economic empowerment; Recognizing, Reducing, and Redistributing Unpaid Care and Domestic Work, and Supporting Care Workers; Addressing Sexual and Gender-Based Violence; Advancing Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights; and Increasing Women's Representation in Decision-Making. They stated that they will continue their efforts toward "realizing a society where the human rights and dignity of all women, girls, and LGBTQIA+ persons are fully respected, promoted, and protected". They are also committed to "fighting the backlash against gender equality".

Ogura Masanobu, Japan's Minister of State for Gender Equality who presided at the ministerial meeting, boasted, "The meeting has produced significant results." However, all the challenges the joint statement put force are things that the Japanese government has long left behind in disregard of women's and concerned citizens' demands. As the host country, Japan is responsible to put the terms of agreement into practice.

In the runup to the G7 Hiroshima Summit and Nikko Equality Meeting, the Federation of Japan Women's Organizations (Fudanren) and many other women's groups demanded that the Japanese government ratify the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, introduce a selective dual-surname system, and legalize same-sex marriage. Nevertheless, the Japanese government did not put these tasks on the agenda for the Nikko Meeting.

The joint dialogue between G7 ministers and civil society was held on June 26 in Tokyo. Many concerned citizens criticized Japan for lagging behind international standards in efforts to support victims of domestic violence, guarantee sexual minorities' human rights, remove barriers to accessing safe contraception and safe abortion, and enhance women's participation in politics. The government should listen to and meet their demands.

Past related article:
> Ousting patriarchy advocates from political stage needed to realize gender-equal Japan [June 25, 2023]