The Council for Gender Equality established a Special Committee on Gender Impact Assessment and Evaluation to examine the impact of measures implemented by the government on the formation of a gender-equal society.

The Committee examined the taxation, social security system and labour market as examples of governmental schemes and social customs from the view point of neutrality to the life style. It compiled a report in December 2002. The gist of report is as follows.

Given that the various system and social customs were formulated by following the division of gender roles, and that mismatch between them and life style has expanded, it is necessary to review them to retain neutrality to life style as much as possible. Particularly serious issues in the current situation are; gender wage gap, difficulties associated with women re-entering labour market after raising children, the prevalence of part-time employment of middle-aged women, and adjustment of annual income and working hours. The report recommends to reform systems on an individual basis rather than household basis where necessary, for example, reducing or abolishing the ordinary special tax exemption for spouses with appropriate compensation for the increased tax burden, and expanding the application of pensions to cover people with shorter working hours such as part-time workers. The committee will place greater emphasis on the labour market and working style in its next stage of investigation.

The Government submitted the White Paper on Gender Equality 2002 (comprising the FY2001 Annual Report on the State of Formation of a Gender-equal Society and Policies to be Implemented in FY2002 to Promote the Formation of a Gender-equal Society) to the Diet on June 18, 2002, and made it public.

The White Paper on Gender Equality, which is submitted by the Government to the Diet each year in compliance with Article 12 of the Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society, is authored by the Cabinet Office and related ministries and agencies, and compiled by the Cabinet Office.

The FY2001 Annual Report on the State of Formation of a Gender-equal Society comprises two sections which are Section 1: The State of Formation of a Gender-equal Society, and Section 2: Policies Implemented in FY2001 to Promote the Formation of a Gender-equal Society. Policies to be Implemented in FY2002 to Promote the Formation of a Gender-equal Society mainly summarizes policies related to the promotion of gender equality provided for in the budget for FY2002.

Cabinet Office conducted survey of a Public Opinion Poll on a Gender-equal Society, targeting 5000 people nationwide aged twenty years and above in July 2002, to gain an understanding of pubic perceptions of a gender-equal society, and to use as a reference for future policies. Distinctive characteristics emerging from the poll are described below.

With regard to a sense of equality in terms of the status of men and women, the ratio of respondents selecting "equal" in "school education" stood at 63.1%, suggesting that a sense of approximate equality has been achieved in this area. However, the ratio of respondents selecting "equal" in "the workplace", "politics" and "common social perceptions, customs and practices" were 25.9%, 18.8% and 18.4% respectively, indicating that Japanese society continues to regard men as superior.

With regard to family life, when asked who is responsible for housework such as "cleaning", "washing" and "preparing meals", 82.4% responded "wife", indicating that housework remains mainly the wife's responsibility.

With regard to women having jobs, the percentage responding "women should continue working even if they have children" exceeded that of the previous survey (33.1% 37.6%), and the trend is for people to regard women who continue working in a positive light.

With regard to views on marriage and households, the ratio responding "agree" to the idea "husbands should work outside the home and wives should look after the household" decreased from the previous survey (57.8% 47.0%) to the same level as those selecting "disagree", revealing a change in perceptions of fixed gender-based role sharing (Fig. 1).

The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women requires the states parties to submit periodic reports on the implementation of the Convention in their respective countries to the Secretary-General of the United Nations. Japan submitted its fifth periodic report to the Secretary-General on September 13, 2002.

This report reports on the legislative, judicial, administrative or other measures which Japan has adopted to give effect to the provisions of the Convention and on the progress made in this respect, during the four years since submission of the Fourth Report in July 1998.In compiling the report, wide array of public opinions was collected by conducting the consultations in writing with intellectuals, inviting public opinions through internet website and so forth, so that these opinions could be reflected accordingly in the report. The Fourth and Fifth Periodic Reports will be considered at 29th session of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women.