A United Nations panel has urged Japan to take stronger measures to eliminate gender inequality.
The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women said the country’s efforts were “insufficient”.
It pointed to unequal laws on marriage, the treatment of women in the labour market and the low representation of women on elected bodies.
But the committee said Japan had made great progress reducing the already low maternal mortality rate.
It said the world’s second-biggest economy ranked 54th in the world in terms of gender equality.
It was concerned over the low legal penalty for rape and the widespread availability in Japan of violent pornography, it added.
And the committee said Japan should set goals to increase the number of women in senior decision-making positions in the workplace and politics.
It said the age at which women can marry should be raised from 16 to 18 in line with men.
And a six-month waiting period before remarriage after divorce that applies only to women should be scrapped.
The committee called for immediate action, but did note that Japan had already put in place numerous laws to promote gender equality.
Discrimination
U.N. panel raps Japan on gender gap
Japan has not made sufficient efforts to eliminate discrimination against women, the U.N. committee against gender discrimination here said Tuesday.
The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women urged the government to revise Civil Code stipulations obliging husbands and wives to use the same surname and allowing females to marry at younger ages than males.
The committee also asked Japan to rectify discriminatory work practices, such as different promotion courses and wage inequities.
The committee examined the government’s efforts for gender equality for the first time in six years based on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.
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Do more to ban gender bias, U.N. panel urges
A U.N. committee is recommending that the Japanese government immediately implement remedial measures to eradicate discrimination against women.
Japan’s efforts to implement antidiscrimination measures as a party to the international convention against such discrimination are “insufficient,” the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women said.
It said Tokyo has failed to address problems affecting women that the committee identified in a 2003 report. It listed discriminatory provisions in the Civil Code, unequal treatment of women in the labor market and low representation of women in high-level elected bodies.
In a new report, the committee said it “regrets” these issues have been left unresolved and urged Japan to “make every effort” to remedy the situation.
On the Civil Code, the committee urged Japan to abolish a six-month waiting period required for women but not men before remarriage and to adopt a system allowing for the choice of surnames for married couples. The panel committee called on Japan to repeal Civil Code and family registration law provisions that discriminate against children born out of wedlock.
The latest report accuses Japan of making light of the fact that the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women is binding.
Japan should recognize the convention as “the most pertinent, broad and legally binding international instrument in the sphere of the elimination against women,” the report says, urging the country to take “immediate measures” so the convention will become fully applicable in the legal system.
Prejudice among obstacles facing non-Japanese tenants
With a falling population, a shrinking tax base and a shortage of carers for its increasing number of elderly, calls are growing for Japan to allow in a large influx of foreign workers to plug the gap. The question is: When they come, will they be able to find a place to stay?
With its “shikikin” (deposit) and “reikin” (key money) which mean forking out several months’ rent upfront and tracking down a guarantor willing to take on the payments in case of default Japan’s real estate system is notorious for the high demands it makes of potential tenants. Even if an individual is able to pay all the fees and find a guarantor, foreigners often hit a brick wall when looking for a place to live simply because they are not native-born Japanese.
“You often hear about racial prejudice in the U.S., but it seems the Japanese aren’t really ones to talk,” Morii said with a sad smile. “We Japanese have been going abroad for the past 100 years, and maybe experienced some discrimination there, but we’ve still been able to establish ourselves. . . . I feel bad for foreigners who studied hard to come here, and who are treated like this.”
Discrimination is an issue that will need to be tackled if Japan is serious about creating a more international society. Tourism minister Nariaki Nakayama alluded to this problem days after his appointment in September, when he bemoaned the fact that Japanese “do not like nor desire foreigners” and called for Japanese to “open their hearts” to diverse cultures. Nakayama was sacked days later.
Calls to allow in more foreign workers to Japan have grown louder as the implications of a rapidly graying society on Japan’s global clout and industrial might have sunk in. The Japan Business Federation (Keidanren) last month urgently called for an influx of “medium-skilled” immigrant labor. In June, former Liberal Democratic Party Secretary General Hidenao Nakagawa presented a proposal on behalf of some 80 lawmakers calling for the government to raise the ratio of foreign residents in Japan to 10 percent of the population within 50 years.