INTRODUCTION

"Gender equality" aims to achieve genuine equality between men and women by planting the idea of respecting human rights deeply into society's soil.

This century is significant in that equality between men and women has become accepted as a universal value and that the construction of the social framework has taken place to materialize that concept for the first time in human history. Referring to suffrage, for example, which is one of the most basic indices of male-and-female equality, in the beginning of the century, only New Zealand had given women the right to vote at the national-government level; almost a century later, there are few countries today that do not extend suffrage to women.

In line with efforts made by the international community such as those by the United Nations, Japan has been endeavoring to establish laws and systems to realize gender equality in the post-war years, ever since gender equality was enshrined in the Japanese Constitution. As a result, it seems that gender equality has been achieved to a significant extent.

Yet, many problems remain unsolved, preventing a gender-equal society from being achieved. As the 21st century is only 4 years away, it is a pressing and important issue to realize a gender-equal society.

Although laws and systems may appear impartial to men and women, they sometimes maintain and reinforce discrimination against women and the entrenched norms imposing stereotyped roles for men and women. In some aspects, people's thoughts and actions, as well as customs and traditions, are discriminatory and prejudiced against women and are based on stereotyping regarding men and women's roles. Such a way of thinking in society makes it difficult to achieve genuine gender equality, and not only prevents women from reaching their full potential in various fields but also hinders men from seeking freedom in their lives. Hence, it is necessary to broadly analyze and reform people's thoughts, customs and traditions in society, not merely to consolidate laws and systems, in view of substantial equality between men and women.

Japan's socioeconomic environment is at a historic turning point, experiencing changes at an unprecedented rate, including the lower birth rate, the progress of an aging society, the maturation and internationalization of economic activities, and the sophistication of info-communications. Such socioeconomic changes raise the need to swiftly achieve a society with gender equality. Gender equality is basically an issue concerning human rights, and we need to make constant efforts to ensure it regardless of the socioeconomic conditions. At the same time, we should strongly recognize that it is absolutely essential for both men and women to participate in all corners of society as equal partners, in order to explore new frontiers for the development of Japanese society amid the rapidly changing socioeconomic environment. It will be extremely difficult to achieve any historic reforms -a pressing issue for the Japanese society- without making maximum efforts to achieve a gender-equal society.

The preamble of the Charter of the United Nations enshrines the "faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women." However, many women throughout the world still suffer from poverty and starvation and are threatened by the violation of their human rights due to civil war and regional conflicts. Looking at the facts in the real world, we must admit that many problems are serious and need to be tackled by the global community. It is impossible to raise women's status without solving problems at an international scale such as poverty, population and environmental issues. But on the other hand, such global-scale problems cannot be solved without pursuing gender equality.

The United Nations has been aiming for "equality, development, and peace" since 1975, the International Women's Year. Gender equality is indispensable to achieve harmonious, sustainable socioeconomic and human development. Fusae Ichikawa, the pioneer of the Japanese suffragette movement stated "no equality without peace, no peace without equality", stressing that peace and equality are mutually dependent to achieve either. The significance of her statement remains unchanged today. Peace, development and equality are closely correlated and are complements of each other, each one being equally indispensable.

Japan rose from the ruins after the war with the support of the international community, and today she is one of the greatest economic powers in the world. Much hope is placed on Japan to strive for the solution of her domestic problems to achieve a gender-equal society, and to assume a major role and responsibility -as a member of the world community- in international initiatives to raise the social status of women and to realize equality between men and women.

In August 1994, the Prime Minister referred the "Over-all Vision of a Gender-Equal Society towards the 21st Century" to the Council for Gender Equality. The Council deliberated on the subject from various angles for the following two years, and drew conclusions on the future prospects of a gender-equal society and the measures to be taken by the year 2010, in consideration of the fruits of the Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing last year and various opinions given by interested persons. The conclusions are set forth hereinafter.

The Council strongly hopes that the government swiftly reviews the existing New National Plan of Action toward the Year 2000 (First Revision), formulates a new action plan, and promotes the revised plan in a comprehensive and effective manner. In the process, the government must make sure that the new plan sufficiently reflects the views of local authorities, NGOs and the general public.

We sincerely hope that efforts made in the remaining years of this century and at the beginning of the 21st century will make the movement for a gender-equal society irreversible and create a new relationship between men and women based on genuine equality in the 21st century.