September 30, 2025

The 70th Japan Mothers’ Congress took place on September 28 and 29 in Tokyo with 13,000 people, including women’s right activists and union workers, participating. On the first day of the 2-day event, workshops were organized on various topics, such as women’s rights and war and peace issues.

At a workshop on gender equality, participants exchanged views on efforts to tackle unconscious bias against women as it gets in the way of achieving gender equal communities and workplaces.

One of the panelists, lawyer Tsunoda Yukiko, who works on the issue of sexual violence and harassment, said that women in everyday life experience human rights violations arising from Japan’s outdated paternalistic family institution and ideology which deny women their dignity. She pointed out that in order to overcome the deep seated, unconscious gender bias, it is important not to tolerate such violations.

Another panelist, Waseda University Professor Emeritus Asakura Mutsuko stressed the need to establish a comprehensive anti-discrimination law. Vice President of the Federation of Japan Women’s Organizations (Fudanren) Shibata Masako said that efforts to eliminate gender inequality in schools will offer insights and opportunities to resolve this issue.

The participants agreed to strengthen their fight and press the government to implement the recommendations which the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) issued in October 2024. Actions recommended by the UN committee include the ratification of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women; the introduction of a selective dual surname system; the implementation of the “equal pay for equal work” principle; and the removal of the legal requirement for spousal consent for women seeking abortion.

Past related article:
> Japanese gov’t should take CEDAW observations and recommendations seriously [October 31, 2024]