海外ボランティア募集！大学生・高校生・社会人にオススメ。春休み夏休みも通年開催。

Is gender equality becoming more important for Japan’s development than it was in the past?
Many Japanese women answered yes because they feel they are discriminated against just because they are female.
And I also feel Japan hasn’t achieved it though it is important for our lives.
But, some others show no interest because they don’t understand why equality has been so emphasized recently.

I think this has been brought about by globalization and other countries’development.
Sadly, according to the world economic forum, the Gender gap index in Japan is 116th. It is quite low though many other developed countries like France and Germany already achieved it.
Even though we have high－level equality of education and health, our economy and working environment accept few women’s opinions.

In the status quo, there are few women regular employees, and a big wage gap between men and women.
Unfortunately, there are less than 30％ of female political leaders in Japan and this figure is the lowest among G7 nations.
If we have more female politicians, this will improve Japan’s gender gap.
And also, because of the system of paternity leave in which men only can have rest before their child becomes age 1, women are forced to do childcare a lot. Instead, men have to work hard to support their families.
This largely reflects the disparity between men and women.

Then, why do these problems occur?
I think this may be brought about by differences in job classifications between men and women.
Because of this stereotype, many companies are underestimating women’s abilities and have few women workers than men.
Practically, women’s regular employment rate is less than 20％ though men’s is more than 45％.
Working under this fixed idea, the difference between sexes in terms of years of service and job level will prevent women from reworking after giving birth.
According to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, women’s reemployment rate is only 26％. Due to this current condition, most women give up working after having children.
This is one of the biggest causes why Japan’s gender gaps are so low and we have to change this serious situation.


To achieve it, I think we have to raise awareness of gender discrimination and improve stereotypes.
For example, learning from other countries achieving gender equality, and accomplishing this problem is a good way.
For instance, in New Zealand, they have about 50％ of female politicians and some LGBTQ politicians.
Thanks to this situation, New Zealanders understood diversity on the political front and this led to the realization of gender equality.
Wonderfully, this was a good opportunity to show other countries gender equality in politics.
In this way, we have to reconsider how our society discriminates based on sex.

As I have stated above, I think we have to change our minds about the gender gap and achieve gender equality.
To achieve it, the first thing we have to do is rethink how much we discriminate against each other about their sexuality and hurt society.