著者

南コニー

出版者

国際基督教大学

雑誌

Gender and sexuality : journal of Center for Gender Studies, ICU (ISSN:18804764)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.6, pp.107-116, 2011-03-31

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The "International Women's Day" celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2010. The 2010 International Women's Conference was held in Copenhagen commemorating the day proposed by female activist Clara Zetkin at the International Socialist Conference in 1910. At theconference, feminists and politicians mainly from western countries had panel discussions in which they engaged in a number of debates concerning the necessity and the problems of modern feminism. According to the Gender Gap Report at the 2010 World Economic forum, Northern Europe nations such as Iceland, Finland, Norway and Sweden rank high on the list of countries where the gap between men and women is narrow. Unfortunately, the same report shows that Japan ranked 94th out of 134 countries. These results are calculated by the gender gap index in terms of women's employment opportunities, education, health, and political roles. Japan's particular concern is the lacking of women's participation in the spheres of employment and politics. In order to improve this situation, this report intends to highlight Northern European countries' past efforts and their current attitudes in the field of gender equality. On the other hand, the 2010 Corporate Gender Gap Report indicates that only 4% of CEOs in Japan are female, a fact that is caused by lack examples of women in positions of power, the cultural background of the male hegemony, and a shortage of networks and employee training. Moreover, there are many cases in which women leave their jobs when they marry or have children. It is therefore becoming more difficult for them to advance in society or to climb to managerial post. Japan faces a large number of challenges in terms of gender issues, which cannot be separated from the traditional Japanese understanding of hierarchy, family and image of women in the public sphere. This report is aiming at opening new perspectives on gender equality in Japan by introducing current views proposed by female activists from around the world at the 2010 International Women's Conference.