PART 3 IMPROVING/REINFORCING SYSTEMS TO PROMOTE COMPREHENSIVE EFFORTS

In order to realize a gender-equal society, it is necessary to have a long-term view as described in Part I and to stage a wide and diversified range of efforts as described in the Practical Measures of Part II. In order to promote and coordinate these efforts synthetically and effectively, we must establish a system and stage those efforts on a national scale in all fields of social activities.

  1. Clarifying the System and Reinforcing Organization/Functions of the National Machinery
    • [Objectives]
    • Diversified measures must be taken in order to solve women's problems. Also, it is necessary to reflect the viewpoint of gender equality in all policy fields. Therefore, the importance of the national machinery for advancement of women (*) has been indicated at each of the World Conferences on Women held since the International Year of Women in 1975. In response to this international movement, steady efforts to establish a national machinery have also been made in Japan. The Headquarters for the Promotion of Gender Equality, with the Prime Minister as its President, the Chief Cabinet Secretary and Minister for Women's Affairs as its Vice President, and with the Cabinet Ministers as its members, has lead in our efforts to execute various measures based on the plan of action.
      To achieve a gender-equal society, the national machinery is expected to perform a variety of functions. First, it is expected to clarify a vision to serve as a guideline. Then, it is to lay out an effective basic program. While noting what progress has been made in the execution of the program, it is expected to steadily promote various coordinated measures from a synthetic viewpoint. The following function are also important: gathering and providing information which contributes to the design of the program and the promotion of the measures, conducting research, publicity/enlightenment of the measures from the viewpoint of promoting efforts at community or grass-roots levels cooperating with local public bodies and NGOs. In addition, national machinery is strongly requested to perform the function of cooperating with international organizations and national machineries in other countries. This will contribute to the global solution of women's problems and help to have international movements reflected in Japan.
      The national machinery in Japan was significantly improved in 1994. However, because of the increased urgency of the realization of a gender-equal society is required as we approach the 21st century, the effort to further improve and strengthen the existing national machinery is positioned as one of the top priority efforts.
    • Note* :
      National machinery: It was defined as "a single body or a complex organized system of bodies, often under different authorities, but recognized by the Government as the institution dealing with the promotion of the status of women" at the Seminar on National Machinery for Monitoring for Improving the Status of Women held by the Secretariat of the United Nations in 1987. In Japan, the Headquarters for the Promotion of Gender Equality (including the Meeting of Coordinators for Gender Equality), the Council for Gender Equality, and the secretariat assisting the preceding two bodies in their activities are considered the national machinery.
    • [Practical Measures]
      1)
      The term for this council expires on March 31, 1997, after which a legally based advisory body should be installed that can provide advice and suggestions on government policies for concerning gender equality as requested by the Prime Minister and other Cabinet Ministers. This body should also understand how the policy measures are being executed, and express opinions to the Prime Minister and Ministers from a basic and comprehensive viewpoint. In addition, the enactment of basic laws to promote the realization of a gender-equal society should be studied.
      2)
      It is necessary for the national machinery to design an effective basic plan based on the vision of a gender-equal society as the comprehensive basic guidelines and to make efforts to promote various but coordinated measures from a synthetic viewpoint. The national machinery should review the plan appropriately so that it may meet changing economic and social conditions. It should periodically check the progress in the execution of the plan and publish the results..
      In addition, studies should be made on ombudsperson(s)(*) to settle problems concerning gender-equality as a new function in the national machinery.
      3)
      It is considered appropriate that for the time being the Chief Cabinet Secretary, who represents an important post in the Cabinet, should also continue to act as the Minister for Women's Affairs from the viewpoint of effectively coordinating related measures. In this case, the Secretary's support system should be further improved so that he/she may fully perform the functions of the Minister for Women's Affairs.
      To ensure the overall promotion of measures established by ministries concerned with gender equality, the Headquarters for the Promotion of Gender Equality and the ministries and agencies should hold coordinator meetings to discuss how to execute the measures. The coordinators should also seize every opportunity to exchange information to further activate their operations. In addition, it is necessary to conduct training and to provide information to enhance the administration personnel's knowledge of women's rights and gender-sensitive perspective.
      From the viewpoint of reinforcing the system in the offices which assist the national machinery in its affairs, we should further improve the divisions in charge of the promotion of gender equality in each ministry and agency and maintain close cooperation among them.
      4)
      It is necessary for state administrative agencies to appoint more women as administrative counselors and Civil Liberties Commissioners, who are set to the tasks of grievance counseling and providing relief services. It is also necessary to train these counselors/commissioners and to provide them with information to deepen their understanding of gender equality.
      Also, the Government should study on appointing some of the administrative counselors and Civil Liberties Commissioners who have great insight into women's problems as regional commissioners to handle problems concerning gender equality. It should also consider introduction of a system in which these regional commissioners closely cooperate with the ombudsperson described in 2) in order to make appropriate use of the knowledge they have accumulated from the cases they handled in the measures to be taken.
      In addition, concerning grievance counseling and providing relief, it is necessary for the Government to closely cooperate with and respect the activities in the administrative sections for policies related to women in each local public bodies.
      5)
      It is necessary to study the organization and functions of the national machinery along with the legal system pertaining to gender equality in other countries and to be aware of any international movements concerning gender equality. Also, it is necessary to research methods of analyzing the effects of various measures and the whole program on women and men, and then to reflect the results on various measures. In order to correct gender-based stereotypes and to reflect the gender-equal perspective on policies in all fields, efforts should be made to accumulate and provide statistical data which enables us to objectively grasp the present situation of women's lives and, at the same time, to immediately review the design of the statistical surveys and disseminate results from a gender-sensitive perspective.
      6)
      In the effort to correct gender-based stereotypes, it is particularly necessary for the national machinery to publicize more actively, while giving special consideration to the influence of men, young women, and leaders of companies/organizations. In this case, the national machinery should work out methods of publicizing which give all the members of a nation a feeling of gender equality close to her/him.
      7)
      It is necessary for the national machinery to provide local public bodies and NGOs with information. At the same time, it should cooperate more closely with its overseas counterparts and international organizations while introducing them to our efforts and results. The national machinery is expected to pay special attention to cooperation with countries in the Asian Pacific region and to try to improve exchange opportunities with them because of their geological proximity and common cultural backgrounds. New media forms, such as the Internet should also be utilized.
      Note:
      Ombudsperson: The bisexual form of "ombudsman," which was used also in the Platform for Action adopted at the Fourth World Conference on Women.
  2. Strengthening Cooperation among the State, Local Public Bodies and NGOs
    • [Objectives]
    • Local public bodies, which are close to residents, and NGOs, which stage independent activities from their own viewpoints, play an extremely important role in realizing a gender-equal society. The reason for this is that, if the state, local public bodies and NGOs sufficiently perform their respective roles, and closely cooperate with one another, the formation of a gender-equal society is further accelerated.
      The degree of realization of gender equality varies with the area; depending on the climate, traditions, culture, customs, awareness of the residents, and economic conditions. Therefore, it is necessary to make effective efforts to tackle problems only after understanding the actual conditions of each of these factors. Consequently, it is important that the local public bodies concerned, which is close to the residents, should play the major role in promoting gender equality in the area. Special attention should be paid to the fact that the decentralization of power, which has been promoted in recent years, can be expected to bear fruit only when it is accompanied by a mature democracy with gender equality.
      On the other hand, NGOs, which have been formed from various ideas and serve various purposes, stage independent activities in specialized fields. They are also engaged in activities in fields where sufficient efforts are not made by the state or local public bodies. Many of these organizations can be expected to make policy proposals and pass constructive criticism based on experience and knowledge they have obtained through their activities. In order for the state and local public bodies to plan, design and execute better measures, it is necessary for them to reflect these opinions upon the measures. Essentially, NGOs stage their activities independently at certain distances from the state and local public bodies. It is not desirable, therefore, for public organizations to intervene or interfere with their activities. However, the establishment of cooperation between them contributes significantly to the realization of a gender-equal society. From this viewpoint, the state and local public bodies are expected to constantly share a wide range of information with NGOs and to encourage various exchanges including exchanges among NGOs.
    • [Practical Measures]
      1)
      For the realization of a gender-equal society, local public bodies are expected to play an extremely important role. Therefore, it is necessary to further strengthen the cooperation between the state and local public bodies in the provision of information and training, and in publicity.
      the prefectures and designated cities where the system of promoting efforts to realize a gender-equal society have almost been established and the plan of action has already been designed, it is expected that their efforts will continue to make steady progress and that their quality will be improved further. On the other hand, in many of the cities, wards, towns and villages, which are in charge of that part of administration which is the closest to residents, the effort to create a gender-equal society has just started. Their efforts are expected to develop further in the future. Accordingly, it is necessary for the state to extend positive help to these municipalities in areas such as the improvement of the promotion system, design/promotion of a plan of action, making the most of characteristics of the region, the execution of various activities including publicity, and training of the staff.
      Particularly, the plan of action, which performs a central role in synthetically and effectively promoting various measures, should be designed independently by each municipality according to its own conditions. However, to help the municipality design the plan of action, the creation of a set of guidelines by the state on the design, including the procedure and basic items to be included should be considered. It is also necessary for the state to provide information on those plans of action making the most of local characteristics and advanced examples of efforts at gender equality which have been produced by local public bodies up until that time.
      In addition, in order to encourage independent efforts by the municipalities, it is necessary to provide information to the municipal authorities which have issued formal declarations to promote gender equality'(*1) as well as to the National Urban Conference on Women's Issues(*2) and to encourage information exchange among these cities.
      2)
      The effort to create a gender-equal society by a local public body is largely dependent upon how aware the head of the organization is of the importance of the issue. Therefore, it is necessary to seize every opportunity to deepen the heads of the local bodies' understanding of how good the gender-equal society would be.
      3)
      It is hoped that the local public bodies' administrative sections in charge of female issues will work closely with government mechanism for counseling and relief services, and will appoint its personnel to specialize in this field, with the aim to consolidate counseling and relief programs with regard to women's problems.
      4)
      It is necessary to further improve various projects carried out jointly by the state and local public bodies for the realization of a gender-equal society . It is necessary to closely cooperate in all the stages, from planning through execution, of projects concerning publicity/ enlightenment with local NGOs as needed so that effects of the projects may be further enhanced.
      5)
      It is necessary for the state, local public bodies and NGOs to share information on state measures, trends announced at international conferences, daily activities and pioneering efforts by local public bodies and NGOs. In the information exchanges, it is necessary to give consideration so that, while utilizing new media, appropriate contents for the medium concerned may be exchanged at appropriate times, and so that even very small NGOs that stage activities in their own local public bodies or still smaller areas may receive and send information.
      Note:
       
      (*1)
      National Urban Conference on Women's Issues: A society organized independently by 68 cities across the country in November, 1995, for the purposes of studying/discussing women's problems from a synthetic viewpoint while promoting exchanges among the cities and seeking the practical development of measures related to women.
      (*2)
      Municipal authorities which have issued formal declarations to promote gender equality: Municipalities which have expressed their determination to make an all-out effort to create a gender-equal society and have staged various measures to promote gender equality.