Democracy without Equality?
Gender Policies in Japan, Germany and South Korea
Conference Report(1)Ludgera LEWERICH (Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf)

On November 30, 2017 the Japanese-German Center Berlin (JDZB) hosted the symposium on“Democracy without Equality? Gender Policies in Japan, Germany and South Korea” incooperation with the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) and with the support of the Japan Society for the
Promotion of Science (JSPS). The purpose of this symposium was to bring together preeminent
scholars in the field of gender studies from Germany, Japan and South Korea to present anddiscuss the state of gender equality in those countries. The title of the symposium “Democracy
without Equality” might at first seem contradictory. Democracy is after all built on the ideal thateveryone – men and women – is bestowed with equal rights. However, while Germany, Japan andSouth Korea can certainly be considered modern democratic states, full gender equality is
guaranteed in theory but remains contested in practice. The state of gender equality in thesestates differs as do the policies implemented to guarantee it as well as the activism undertaken by
civil society. The presenters at the conference all sought to shed light on different aspects ofgender equality in their respective countries and to answer the question: “What is the state ofgender equality and why is it so difficult to achieve?”

Opening
The secretary general of the JDZB Dr. Friederike BOSSE first addressed the symposium with an
opening remark, welcoming organizers, speakers and the large audience in attendance.
Afterwards Michèle AUGA of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) and Prof. Dr. KODAIRA Kei’ichi(2) of theJapan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) also welcomed everyone to the symposium. All
three speakers remarked the importance and timeliness of the subject of gender equality anddemocracy. BOSSE highlighted both the progress already made in all three countries and the
problems that still have to be solved – such as the fact that the number of female members of theBundestag has decreased. AUGA stressed the fact that gender equality is currently a contested
issue, under attack by nationalists in all three countries. She further emphasized that thefundamental goal of gender equality is to achieve more participation and thus democratization.
Lastly, KODAIRA remarked on the importance of creating international research networks through1. This report portrays the main line of argument of the conference and it summarizes the presentations and discussions
according to the understanding of the author. We therefore ask not to quote single remarks as literal remarks of the
speakers.
2. Conventional Japanese and Korean name order is generally followed: FAMILY NAME – given name.
Japanese-German Center Berlin ・JDZB

Az.: P1792_report_Esymposia such as this one as they provide the opportunity to shed light on democratic systems ofmodern societies.

Dr. Friederike BOSSE

Michèle AUGA

Prof. Dr. KODAIRA Kei’ichi

Introduction
After the opening remarks, Prof. Dr. MAE Michiko from
Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, the initiator andorganizer of the conference, introduced the topic of thesymposium. In her talk “Democracy Through Equal
Participation and Diversity” MAE started with a brief
account of the history of the Women’s Rights Movement in
the USA in 1848. She highlighted the importance of its
diverse roots, which included indigenous activists, andAfrican Americans such as Frederick DOUGLAS. MAE thenProf. Dr. MAE Michikoexplained the significance of comparing the cases ofGermany, Japan and South Korea and gave a short overview of some of the most important
aspects in their development of gender equality and gender equality policies. While all three
countries have enshrined gender equality constitutionally and made significant progress, thegender gap is still quite large and these days women are increasingly divided among themselves.
Noting that Germany influenced the formation of the modern nation-state in Japan, which in turninfluenced that of South Korea, she pointed out that the nexus of nation, culture and gender still liesat the core of the nation state. This prevents full gender equality and in light of worldwide
nationalistic and anti-democratic movements seems to even be a growing trend. MAE closed theintroduction by expressing her hope that the symposium “Democracy without Equality?” will help
create a more democratic and equal future by providing opportunities for participation anddiscussion.
Keynotes
The introduction was followed by three keynote speeches on “Gender Equality and Participation inGermany, Japan and South Korea: Learning from Each Other?”. The keynote section was chairedby Prof. Dr. Gesine FOLJANTY-JOST of the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg who introduced thethree speakers.
The first keynote speech was delivered by Dr. Eva HÖGL from the Social Democratic Party ofGermany (SPD), who has been a member of the German Federal Parliament since 2009. HÖGL first
touched upon important milestones in the history of women’s rights in Germany. She mentioned theJapanese-German Center Berlin ・JDZB

2/8

Equal Rights Act in 1957 and the recent law change in 2017 legalizing same-sex marriage. She thenturned to current subjects that are the focus of her political activities. Some issues she mentioned
were the necessity to raise the quota for women in leadership positions, more transparency inwage allocation to fight the gender pay gap and better work-life-balance for working parents.
HÖGL closed her speech by stressing the importance of international solidarity to achieve equality inall areas of life.
In the second keynote speech Prof. Dr. KIM Eun-Shil of Ewha
Womans University used the currently popular South Korean
novel “KIM Ji Young, Born 1982” as the starting point of her
discussion on the state of gender equality in South Korea.
She compared the biography of the novel’s female
protagonist to important political advancements such as
the Special Law on Domestic Violence in 1995 and theGender Equality Act of 2014. KIM pointed out both
successful implementation of policies to further women’sProf. Dr. KIM Eun-Shilrights and instances of misogynistic pushback directed
towards feminist movements. Feminists in South Korea are also divided among themselves.
According to KIM the younger generation of feminist activists generally distrusts the moreestablished old-school feminists and female-lawmakers. Thus these new emerging womenps voicesneed to be heard and integrated so as to work together to combat the gender discrimination
women still often face in South Korea.
MAKIYAMA Hiroe, a member of The Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) and the House of Councilors
gave the third and final keynote speech on current gender policies in Japan and the challenges
faced today. After a brief history of the development of gender equality policies in Japan,
MAKIYAMA pointed out that many laws may have been implemented, but gender equality has notbeen achieved. She especially noted that many people still neither have a strong awareness of theissue of gender equality, nor do they have an interest in it. MAKIYAMA linked this lack of awareness toan “allergy” for the concept of gender equality, as many people neither know nor understand theterm. She stressed the many problems that women still face in the workplace and the lack of social
policies to support them. According to her, the DPJ campaigns for implementing social welfare
policies will address the wage gap, irregular employment and aim for better work-life-balance.
Pointing out that women are often burdened both with work for pay and unpaid household work,
she suggested more incentives for childcare leave for fathers, mandatory parental childcare leave
and an increase of women’s salaries as possible solutions.

MAKIYAMA Hiroe & Dr. Eva HÖGL

Japanese-German Center Berlin ・JDZB

3/8

The keynote speeches ended with a comment from Prof.
Dr. MIURA Mari of Sophia University who noted theimportance of critical actors such as politicians who
advocate for gender equality. She furthermore
acknowledged that while young feminists often havedoubts about politics, current issues of violence against
women could be a uniting issue, triggering a revival offeminism.
Prof. Dr. MIURA Mari

Panel IThe first panel of the day, “Participation, Diversity and Work in the Global Economy”, was chairedby Prof. Dr. Annette SCHAD-SEIFERT from Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf. It opened with apresentation by Prof. Dr. HONG Seung-Ah of the Korean
Women’s Development Institute on “Challenges for
Gender Equality in the Family and Work: from the Korean
Experience”. Like previous speakers, HONG acknowledged
the steady progress made in South Korea towards a moregender equal society but also pointed to persisting
unequal work opportunities for women in the South Korean
labor market. About 48.2 % of women were noteconomically active in 2015, many of them citing domestic
Prof. Dr. HONG Seung-Ah
work and childrearing as obstacles. Issues like unequal pay
and long working hours exacerbate the problem andwork-life-balance policies remain largely ineffective. Moving on to family structures, HONG shed lighton the unequal share of domestic work and care, where women still mostly carry the burden.
Persisting gender norms and a work-centered culture prevent men from taking more part inhousehold work and childrearing. Thus, HONG concluded that gender norms inside the family havenot significantly changed. She expressed hope that these issues will be tackled by the newadministration, so that men will accept a larger role and more responsibility in the family.
In the second presentation Prof. em. Dr. Ilse LENZ of the
University of Bochum talked about “Gender and Global
Flexibilised Capitalism: Old and New Segmentation Lines inGermany and Japan”. She first touched upon the problemof the terminology of “globalization”, citing different
possible definitions and the parallel processes involved(economic, political, cultural, ecological globalization).
Moving on to gendered work in globalization, LENZ pointed
out the different forms of paid and unpaid work women are
Prof. em. Dr. Ilse LENZ
engaged in worldwide. In many occupations women are
vulnerable to structural violence and exploitation – such assex work and surrogate pregnancy work. While globally women increasingly participate in the labormarket, they are more often part-time or temporary workers compared to men. In institutions that
regulate work in the globalized economy – such as polity, enterprises, civil society and the family –women are included to a varying degree. For example only a minority of women are among policy
makers in Germany, Japan and Korea. However, they are better represented in civil society as
activists and leaders in women’s movements. In her closing remarks, LENZ stressed various important
Japanese-German Center Berlin ・JDZB

4/8

steps necessary for changes at work, such as moving away from heteronormative regulations, anintersectional approach to gender equality and a general respect and recognition for women
both at paid and civic work.
Prof. Dr. ŌSAWA Mari from the University of Tōkyō gave thethird presentation of the panel, “Japan and Germany
have to make a Paradigm Shift to Contribute to World
Sustainability”. In her speech she focused on poverty andlivelihood security. She shone a light on Japan’s recent
major crises like the economic crisis in 2008 and the triple
disaster of 2011, which left half a million people without
basic livelihood security. Due to the gender pay gap
women were especially vulnerable. According to her,Prof. Dr. ŌSAWA Marisocial vulnerability and class poverty in Japan led to large
disaster risks. Globally speaking, an imbalance of current
accounts – over-consumption in the US and under-consumption in Japan, Germany and China –are root causes for economic crisis such as the Lehman shock. Moving on to poverty rates inGermany, Japan and Korea ŌSAWA noted that South Korea has shown much improvement in
reducing poverty among children in recent years, while the situation seems more stagnant inGermany and Japan. Furthermore, working single parents in Japan face high poverty rates on parwith countries like India or China. In her closing statement, she noted the relation between social
trust and poverty rates and emphasized the importance of social trust as the basis for economic
growth and disaster resilience.
An introductory statement followed the presentations of
the first panel. Dr. TSUJI Yuki from Tōkai Universitycommented on the presentations’ analysis of economic
processes in both national and global contexts. The
following discussion revolved mainly around questions
about the gender pay gap, ways to better utilize women’s
potential and a general discussion of the meaning andusage of the term “gender” in German, Japanese andKorean.

Dr. TSUJI Yuki

Panel II
After a coffee break the symposium continued with the second panel “The Future of Equality andDiversity: Perspectives from Germany, Japan and South Korea”. It was chaired by Prof. Dr. Verena
BLECHINGER-TALCOTT from the Freie Universität Berlin and opened with a presentation by Prof. Dr. Ute
KLAMMER of the University of Duisburg-Essen. In her paper“The Future of Equality and Diversity – Perspectives from
Germany” KLAMMER introduced the findings of the recently
published second report on gender equality in Germany.
She emphasized the continued gender inequality in thelabor market despite the rising employment rate, as
women continue to often work part-time. KLAMMER noted
the importance of looking at gender inequality through thelens of the life course perspective. Early phases – when
Prof. Dr. Ute KLAMMER
women for example take maternity leave or do unpaid
Japanese-German Center Berlin ・JDZB

5/8

work such as care – often affect later life stages. While norms are changing, the male breadwinnermodel often prevails after childbirth due to different reasons, such as the low rate of publicchildcare facilities. This leads to the re-traditionalization of gender arrangements once women
become mothers. In addition, the business culture of availability conflicts with family life and middle
management often blocks gender equality. Laws enacted to combat inequality in the workforce
remain ineffective in many areas. KLAMMER closed her talk with policy recommendations such as an
improvement of the infrastructure of childcare, a legal right to return to the same or an equivalent
job after parental leave, and the introduction of gender budgeting for the national budget.
According to her, persisting gender inequalities are very costly, while equal employment of women
would stabilize the social security systems, and as such gender equality is a prerequisite for amodern innovation policy.
Prof. em. Dr. UENO Chizuko of the University of Tōkyō andfounder of the Women’s Action Network (WAN) gave thesecond presentation of the panel, “Equal Representation
for What?: a Goal or a Tool?”. UENO noted that themobilization of women in the labor force is often animperative due to the shrinking workforce caused by a low
childbirth rate, and as a response to globalization.
Nevertheless, as noted by previous speakers, womencontinue to be marginalized in the labor market. In Japan
Prof. em. Dr. UENO Chizuko
for example, they are often systematically excluded by
the Japanese style management system. As more and more women participate in the labormarket, societies have to deal with the question of how to transfer the care burden that women
took on before. After introducing three options – socialization of care, marketization of care andfamilialization of care – UENO noted that each option comes at a price: either a high tax burden,
underpaid migrants (mostly women) having to shoulder the care work, or (Japanese) womencontinuing to work without pay if the care stays within the family. UENO raised many different
questions on how the goal of gender equality as equal representation can lead also tocontroversial discussion – such as the inclusion of women in the military. She also characterizedcare as a deeply human activity from birth until death. It is nonetheless often seen as a dependent
activity, thus framing women as dependent once they take on the role of caretaker. Men on theother hand are framed as active and independent. According to her, women do not want to bemale clones and the experience of caring can actually serve to learn and practice non-violence.
UENO proposed the involvement of men in caring activities as a solution to end sexual harassment
and violence and as a way to work towards a better society, friendly to women and social
minorities.

Prof. Dr. KIM Kyoung-Hee

Japanese-German Center Berlin ・JDZBThe third and last presentation of the panel, “Mismatch
between Democracy and Gender Equality in Attitudes in
Korea”, was given by Prof. Dr. KIM Kyoung-Hee of ChungAng University. Comparing South Korea and Japan, KIM
noted that both countries are ranked highly in global
indexes for levels of democracy but do not do very well in
the Global Gender Gap Index. The lack of women’s
economic participation in South Korea is one reason for the
low rating served as the starting point for her research.
Looking at survey data on attitudes towards democracy
and gender, she focused on two sub-variables: gender role
6/8

attitude and sex-related tolerance. While Japan and South Korea show similar attitudes towards
gender roles and democracy, a difference in the variable of sex-related tolerance – such as
homosexuality or abortion – was noticeable. South Korea showed less tolerance on these issues inthe data than Japan. After introducing four different clusters, KIM linked the lower sex-related
tolerance to current hot issues in South Korean society, where misogyny continues to be a problem,
abortion remains a strongly debated topic and anti-homosexuality activists retain a strong
influence. In her conclusion, she pointed out different attitudinal patterns on gender anddemocracy in Japan and South Korea and proposed that the factors making up those differences
need to be considered further.
The subsequent discussion started with an introductory
statement given by Dr. SHIN Ki-Young from Ochanomizu
University who summarized the important points from all
three presentations. SHIN highlighted the generalinefficiency of government policies to tackle the problems
raised in the talks, as well as the slow progress madetowards gender equality. Gender equality needs to berealized in all areas of life, as no gender equality means notrue democracy. The subsequent lively discussion revolved
around questions of how to better prioritize gender in thepolitical field, ways to fight rising precariousness, and thepotential success of recently implemented laws.

Dr. SHIN Ki-Young

Panel Discussion
In the following panel discussion – chaired by MAE – the panelists ŌSAWA, HONG, KLAMMER, UENO andKIM Kyoung-Hee talked about important strategies and means to promote more gender equality,
political participation of younger generations and the concept of democracy in general.
Comments from the audience raised the issue of different, often contesting feminisms and theneed for an intersectional approach, that also looked more closely at issues of class, ethnicity,
sexuality etc. All panelists agreed on the importance of such an approach. UENO stressed that if
gender equality is achieved on the back of other disenfranchised groups, it is not social justice.
The active participation of the audience in the panel discussion and the high attendance showed
a great interest in the topic of gender equality and democracy and the timeliness of the issue. The
symposium managed to shed light both on goals achieved and issues still remaining to be resolved.
Through the comparison between Germany, South Korea and Japan, many similarities anddifferences in the social situation of women and policy responses for more equality became
apparent. The manifold ways in which societies and governments try to work towards a genderequal and thus, a more democratic society broadened the knowledge of and perspective on thediscussed topics. While it became clear that much work still remains to be done in order to achieve
gender equality, the symposium served as a great opportunity to bring together scholars from all
three countries. It has helped to create the international networks whose importance was stressedin many of the presentations.

Japanese-German Center Berlin ・JDZB

7/8

Japanese-German Center Berlin ・JDZB

8/8