Women's rights seen taking a backseat under Japan's new government
Reuters, By Beh Lih Yi
(Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Women’s rights campaigners in Japan have expressed disappointment about the appointment of only two women in the new government’s 21-member cabinet, saying they expect little progress to tackle wide gender disparities.
Yoshihide Suga, who took office as prime minister on Wednesday following the resignation of Shinzo Abe, has made no reference to women’s rights so far, and activists said his record in Abe’s government did not auger well for change.
“I have no hopes to see the new government breaking glass ceilings for women,” Hiroko Goto, a professor at Japan’s Chiba University who teaches gender and law, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone on Thursday.
“Suga will continue at the same pace going forward. He wants to keep the status quo, he has no intention to change - not only on women’s issues but also on other issues such as economics,” said Goto, who has studied Abe’s “womenomics” policy.
Abe pledged to boost the role of women in the economy and politics under a push dubbed “womenomics”, promising to create a “Japan in which women shine” as part of broader efforts to cope with the country’s low birth rate and ageing population.
But his administration failed to meet its target of raising the percentage of women in leadership posts to 30% this year.
Goto said Japanese women were still struggling with deep-rooted patriarchy that ranges from wage gaps with men to archaic laws that inadequately protect them from violence.
Suga, 71, who was the chief cabinet secretary in Abe’s government, has pledged to stick with his former boss’s economic growth policies while pushing reforms including deregulation, digitalisation and cutting down on bureaucracy.
About half of the new cabinet members served in Abe’s administration, and their average age is 60. The two women with cabinet jobs are Olympics Minister Seiko Hashimoto and Justice Minister Yoko Kamikawa.
“We’re disappointed with the composition of the cabinet,” said Kazuko Ito, a lawyer and the secretary general at Human Rights Now, a Tokyo-based advocacy group that has supported the country’s #MeToo movement.
She cited Japan’s poor record on gender parity and urged the new government to take bold actions to close the gap.
Japan’s global ranking on gender parity has fallen to 121st out of 153 countries in a World Economic Forum report for 2020 - the largest gap among advanced countries and down from 101st when Abe took office for a rare second term in 2012.
Japanese women spend more than three times as many hours as men doing unpaid work such as cleaning, cooking and caring for the elderly or children, according to United Nations data.
“The government needs to redouble its efforts to bridge the gap. We’re trying to be optimistic but we haven’t heard any holistic policies on women’s rights and gender equality so we’re a bit sceptical,” Ito said.
Others urged Suga to address gender inequality as next year’s postponed Olympic Games put the country in the global limelight.
“His personal record doesn’t show he will prioritise this area but if he wants to create a legacy - given the attention on Japan with the Olympics - he should push for change in gender equality,” said Kanae Doi, the Japan director of campaign group Human Rights Watch.
Tokyo mother arrested after daughter, 3, died after week on her own
*Where is the father!?
Japan to delay 'womenomics' goal by up to a decade, reports media
Japan to delay 'womenomics' goal by up to a decade, reports media | The Japan Times
REUTERS
Jun 30, 2020
Japan will delay by up to a decade its target to raise the percentage of women in leadership posts to 30 percent — part of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s campaign to empower women — after failing to hit the deadline this year, domestic media have reported.Abe’s policies to boost the role of women in the economy and politics, dubbed “womenomics,” is a pillar of his efforts to cope with Japan’s low birth rate and aging population.
Japan’s global ranking on gender parity, however, fell to 121st out of 153 countries in a World Economic Forum report for 2020, the largest gap among advanced countries and down from 101st when Abe took office for a rare second time as prime minister in 2012.
Only 15 percent of senior and leadership posts are held by women, the report said. Abe’s 19-member Cabinet has two female ministers and just shy of 10 percent of lawmakers in the Diet’s powerful Lower House are women.
“Achieving the target during 2020 is impossible, realistically speaking,” the Mainichi newspaper quoted a government source as saying, without identifying the source.
“I think there is a lack of commitment by the government and this is the proof,” said Machiko Osawa, a specialist in labor economics at Tokyo Women’s University, commenting on the delay.An official at the government’s Gender Equality Bureau said experts were currently discussing the new basic policy plan but she could not say when they would reach a conclusion.
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The new target date will be postponed to “as early as possible by 2030” in a fresh five-year gender equality plan to be approved by Abe’s Cabinet this year, the paper said Friday.
A LONG AND WINDING ROAD : TO SAFER ABORTION IN JAPAN
*Presentation material for IWAC 2019
Here is a powerpoint file used for my presentation at The 4th International Congress on Women’s Health and Unsafe Abortion (IWAC 2019) held in Bangkok, Thailand on February 21, 2019.
Artificial Interruption of Pregnancy Law of Japan
*Partial Revision of the Eugenic Protection Law and the Problems of the Motherhood Protection Law
Here is the link to an explanation written in English by Japan Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists:
Cost of abortion in Japan
The study we conducted in 2010 revealed the prices for abortion in Japan for the first time.
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The price ranges from JPY60,000 to 200,000, or $600 to $2,000 (average JPY101,000, or $1,010, if $1 =JPY100) for an early-term abortion, while a mid-term abortion ranges from JPY90,000 to JPY600,000, or $900 to $6,000 (average JPY285,000, or $2,850).
Abortion is not covered by national health, so every clinic decides their price at their will.
Fighting for the pill in Japan
*BBC interview to Yoriko Madoka, an long-time activist in Japan
Fighting for the pill in Japan
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Fighting for the pill in Japan
After decades of campaigning in Japan, the pill was finally legalised in 1999.
In contrast, the male impotency drug Viagra was approved for use in just six months, and legalised before the contraceptive pill for women.
Politician Yoriko Madoka tells Witness History how she pushed hard for the right to take the pill, and says sexism and male dominance in Parliament is why it took so long.
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Childbirth and Childcare Lump-Sum Grant
*IBM Japan
What a generous benefit packaget of Big Blue!?
No, it's not special. Every women working or deopending on a worker who pays health insurance in Japan is entitled to this national system of the childbirth and childcare lump-sum grant when she has a misscarriage or a mid-term abortion at and over 12 weeks of pregnancy.
Due to the fact this grant is paid for the stillbirth including mid-term abortion, sometimes doctors advise girls with no money to wait until 12 weeks of pregnancy to have a mid-term abortion and take a fee from this grunt. What a pitty!
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“The Childbirth and Childcare Lump-Sum Grant” is paid when an insured person gives birth and “the Dependents' Childbirth and Childcare Lump-Sum Grant” is paid when a dependent family member gives birth.
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When an insured person gives birth
When a dependent family member gives birth
- ** For childbirth (including stillbirth) after at least 22 weeks of pregnancy under the medical administration of a medical care institution or other institution that is a member of the maternity medical care compensation scheme; 404,000 yen for childbirth at an institution that is not a member of the maternity medical care compensation scheme.
- ** Paid per child for multiple births
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Measures drawn up to protect pregnant women from COVID-19
*Japan Times
Japanese society with declining birth-rate is relatively friendly toward pregnant women but cold to women who seek contraceptives and abortion. Sigh!
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The health ministry has compiled measures to prevent pregnant women from being infected with COVID-19, sources have said.
The ministry will call on companies and business organizations to promote teleworking and staggered commuting, create an environment in which pregnant women find it easier to take leave when they feel unwell and take measures to prevent group infections among employees including such women, according to the sources.
In addition, the ministry will distribute a booklet detailing infection prevention measures to pregnant women through municipal governments.
The booklet will say there have been no reports that the new coronavirus that causes COVID-19 is prone to cause fetal abnormalities or lead to stillbirth or miscarriage.
But it will cite the possibility of pregnant women suffering severe symptoms if they get pneumonia, calling on them to take thorough measures to protect themselves from the virus, such as avoiding crowds and washing hands frequently, according to the sources.
The ministry plans to provide cloth masks to pregnant women through municipal governments, separately from a government program to distribute two such masks to each of the over 50 million households in the country.
Meanwhile, the Japan Society for Reproductive Medicine said Wednesday that it recommends postponing fertility treatment until COVID-19 is under control in Japan.
In a statement posted on its website, the society calls for treatments as artificial insemination, external fertilization and embryo transfer to be reconsidered until a preventive or curative medicine for the new virus is developed for use during pregnancy or the danger of its spread decreases.
The statement said pregnant women may suffer severe symptoms if they catch COVID-19 and that some drugs being tested on patients cannot be used during pregnancy.
The society also expressed concerns about the possibility of infections during hospital visits for fertility or other medical treatments.
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International Campaign for Women's Right to Safe Abortion
*JAPAN/INDIA – abortion access in the context of COVID-19
www.safeabortionwomensright.org
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Abortion in Japan before Covid-19 and the way ahead
In a conversation with ASAP member Dr Kumi Tsukahara, a part-time lecturer at Kanazawa University, she reported that manual vacuum aspiration is the only safe abortion method approved in Japan while dilatation & curettage (D&C) is still the first and only prerequisite method taught in training, and remains the most prevalent procedure for abortion. Termination of pregnancy of less than 12 weeks LMP costs about US$928. Mifepristone has not been registered for use in Japan. It is under evaluation in clinical trials but the approval may take two or three more years. The current law authorizes the Japan Medical Association to designate abortion providers who can perform abortion legally. Low-dose contraceptive pills were approved in 1999, but have not been widely used until now due to poor accessibility and high price. Condoms are still the number one contraceptive method in Japan, and cause many unwanted pregnancies. The emergency contraceptive pill was approved in 2011, but is only available after seeing a doctor and getting a prescription. Women in Japan are demanding that EC be made available on an over-the-counter basis.
From April 2020, the Ministry temporarily lifted these strict conditions because of Covid-19, so every Ob-Gyn doctor is now allowed to prescribe both contraceptive pills and emergency contraceptive pills to any woman who seeks them by telephone or internet. However, the Ministry is not actively publicising this decision, so most women do not know about it.
SOURCE: Asia Safe Abortion Partnership, 23 April 2020
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