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Gender Equality Bureau, Cabinet Office
6-1, Nagata-cho 1-chome, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, 100-8914 Japan

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	Activities of the Government for Realizing a Gender-equal Society

Strengthening the national machinery for the advancement of women
In 1994, the Headquarters for the Promotion of Gender Equality (President: Prime Minister, Members: all Cabinet Ministers) was set up within the Cabinet. In addition, the Office for Gender Equality and the Council for Gender Equality were established by Cabinet Orders in the Prime Minister's Office. In the reform of the Central Government implemented on January 6, 2001, the Central Government was restructured from its former one Office and twenty-two Ministries to one Cabinet Office and twelve Ministries, to be able to deal effectively with complex policy issues in the 21st Century. As part of this reorganization, a Cabinet Office headed by the Prime Minister was established in the Cabinet, and a Council for Gender Equality and a Gender Equality Bureau were established within this Cabinet Office. The Gender Equality Bureau is mandated with the formulation and overall coordination of plans for matters related to promoting the formation of a gender-equal society, as well as promoting the Basic Plan for Gender Equality and formulating and implementing plans for matters not falling under the jurisdiction of any particular ministry.

(Figure: The structures of the national machinery)

Promoting women's participation in the policy decision-making process
One of the chief objectives of the Headquarters for the Promotion of Gender Equality has been to boost representation of women in the policy decision-making process. The Government, based on a resolution made by the Headquarters for the Promotion of Gender Equality in May 1996, has been pushing ahead with measures to achieve the goal "to achieve a 20% participation rate as early as possible before the end of FY2000".

When the survey of March 31, 2000 was conducted, the percentage of women committee members had reached 20.4%. It stood at 20.9% in September 30, 2000.(Table: Promotion of appointments of women as Council members)

Milestones in the Advancement of Women Since International Women's Year
(Table: Milestones in the Advancement of Women Since International Women's Year)

The Fourth World Conference on Women
The Fourth World Conference on Women was held in Beijing for the first time in Asia in September 1995, and the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action were adopted. Nearly 50,000 participants gathered including the participants of NGO Forum.

Twelve Critical Areas of Concern in the Platform for Action

A	Women and poverty		G	Women in power and decision-making
B	Education and training of women		H	Institutional mechanisms for theadvancement of women
C	Women and health		I	Human rights of women
D	Violence against women		J	Women and the media
E	Women and armed conflict		K	Women and the environment
F	Women and the economy		L	The girl-child

The Platform for Action of the Fourth World Conference on Women called for governments to develop their plan of action, as soon as possible.

In Japan, the Council for Gender Equality submitted its report, "Vision of Gender Equality -Creating New Values for the 21st Century-" to the Prime Minister on 30 July 1996. The Headquarters for the Promotion of Gender Equality, by taking into account the Platform for Action as well as the report, has comprehensively and systematically sorted policies and measures for realizing a gender-equal society and finalized a new national plan of action entitled "National Plan for Gender Equality toward year 2000" on December 13, 1996.

The Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society
The Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society went into effect in June 1999 to clarify basic concepts pertaining to formation of a gender-equal society and indicate the direction these should take, and to comprehensively and systematically promote the State's, local governments' and citizens' measures pertaining to formation of a gender-equal society.

The Basic Plan for Gender Equality
The Basic Plan for Gender Equality was formulated on December 12, 2000. The government approved by Cabinet decision the Basic Plan for Gender Equality, the first plan based on the Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society. Reports compiled by the former Council for Gender Equality entitled "Basic Philosophy behind Formulation of a Basic Plan for Gender Equality" and "Basic Measures pertaining to Violence against Women" and the results of "Women 2000" were taken into account when formulating the Plan.