Women TodayFIG* Gender Equality Forum in Kitakyushu,
on the occasion of the 2021 Artistic and Rhythmic
Gymnastics World Championships

Gender equality from sports community:
message from the Olympic host nation
to the world
October 24, 2021

International Olympic Committee (IOC),
Chair of the Women in Sport Commission

Lydia Nsekera
Photo by PICSPORT

Keynote Speechthe whole society and change the public mentality. In
doing so, media’s involvement is particularly important.
Media professionals are to promote gender equality byvisiting villages and encouraging residents to change
their mindsets.
I believe that gender equality must be promoted
through teamwork between men and women, with andtoward common objectives. It is not effective if we justpromote women among women. It also takes courage tomove up to leadership positions. The leader needs tohave self-confidence, an impeccable personality, andself-mastery. The leader must also have sense of
security and curiosity. At the same time, a sense ofjustice and equality are just as important. Women inparticular, even more than men, must try hard to leave
no room for blame. It is also crucial to be certain about
one’s decision. When I make decisions, I take time andgive them my thorough consideration. After that, I
never change my decision once made. In addition, I try
my best to lead my team with the consent and sympathyof my staff members.
As we have a patrimonial system in Burundi and I
am a widow, I am not the first to speak at social events.
In the world of sports, however, I have the first word as
the head of the organization. If you have things to say,
you must say it. That is why I speak up. If we takeactions with tact and strategies, I believe it is possible
to gradually change the public mentality.

I was born in Burundi, a small country in central
Africa. The political context was very difficult when
Burundi transitioned from a kingdom to a republic after
its independence in 1962. My father was imprisoned for
14 years for political reasons. I was 11 years old when hewent to prison in 1977. He left me a letter in December
1977, which read “Lydia, you are the eldest of ourchildren. Help your mother and raise your siblings.” I
have always kept these words in my mild since then. The
presence of my father and his encouragement were likea guiding light for my future activities. In 2004, I
became the president of the Football Federation of
Burundi, and since 2017, I have been the president of the
Burundi National Olympic Committee.
In addition to these positions, I have been a memberof the International Olympic Committee since 2009. I
also became a member of the FIFA Council in 2012.
I believe that my education has lead me to mycurrent positions. My mother always told me that I
must take care of my sisters and brothers. That I must
be a role model for them with discipline and ethics. That
I should not be afraid to speak my mind politely ifsomething is important, no matter who I am speaking
to. Ever since the age of 11, my mother kept telling methese words, which I have always followed.
While I work in the world of football, I did not know
anything about sport administration until I entered theFootball Federation of Burundi in 1999. When I started
at the Federation, I read everything I could find,including the laws of the game, the federation structure,and the FIFA rules and regulations. I even met referees
to talk with them. I learned sport administration in thesame way as a manager in any organization would
learn office management. Since my first entry into theFederation office, I insisted a lot on education. Without
the education I received from my parents, who taught
me not to be afraid of society’s prejudices, I could nothave had access to my current positions. Thus, I stresseducation when I talk to young women, as my motherand father insisted that I should trust myself and leavebehind prejudices.
There are always barriers everywhere. Some of thebarriers for women's career advancement are financial.
There is the issue of balancing between family andcareer. There is also the issue of harassment, which
may include sexual, psychological, and sexist comments.
The fundamental solution to these problems is to involve

No.91 February 2022

*International Gymnastics Federation

Pro file
Lydia Nsekera, from Burundi, is the Chair of the Women inSport Commission of the IOC. She has been an IOC
member since 2009. She was awarded the Women andSport Award for Africa from the IOC in 2009, and became
the first woman to be elected to the FIFA Council in 2012.
In addition to her current position, Nsekera has served on
many committees at the IOC, including the Coordination
Commission for Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

Article provided by Future Investment Laboratory
Edited for Asian Breeze by KFAW

1

Current Issues Series
Computers and Women’s Empowerment (Part 2)
Pro file
Professor at the Graduate School of Governance Studies, Meiji University
since 2021. Previous academic positions include Vice-President andProfessor at Institute of Information Security as well as Vice-President
and Professor at Kyushu Kokusai (International) University. Yuasa’s
research focuses on legal and political aspects of internet and informationsociety, including protection of privacy and personal information as well as
administrative information handling and disclosure.

Harumichi Yuasa
Meiji University

With the evolution of computers and information andcommunication technology, there are more and more
opportunities for women to work in workplaces that wereonce thought to be difficult for them to enter. So is thenumber of women working in computer and information
communication related jobs increasing? In order toincrease the number of women who are active in thesefields, it is necessary to increase the number of women
who learn skills and knowledge in areas related to
information science and computer science.
The gap between men and women in the rate of goingto higher education in Japan has narrowed considerably
in recent years. According to the Basic School Survey by
the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science andTechnology, the rate of students entering university in2020 was recorded at 54%. The percentage of female
students among all students is 46%, so the gap between
men and women seems to be narrowing. In graduate
school, however, the percentage of female students is 33%of the total student population.
There is also a big difference in the percentage ofstudents who go to the humanities and social science
departments and those who go to the natural sciences
departments such as information science and computerrelated fields. Meiji University, where I work, has a
Department of Information Science in the Faculty of
Science and Technology, but the percentage of female
students in this Department is less than 10%. The
Faculty of Integrated Mathematics and Science has a
Department of Network Design but the percentage offemale students in this Department is only 15%.
Nationally, the percentage of female students is high infaculties and departments of humanities and social
sciences, where they study literature, history, foreign
languages, nursing, and nursing care, etc. The percentage
of female students in faculties and departments of naturalsciences, where they study information science andinformation engineering, is not high.
Why do so few female students enter natural sciencefaculties and departments to study information scienceand engineering? One of the reasons is that genderstereotyping in the professions remains strong andinfluential on the choice of faculties and departments.
Recently, career education has begun earlier than in thepast, so students are encouraged to think about the typeof work they want to do in the future from an early age.
Most students decide on the faculty and department they
will enter based on this. Because of the stereotype thatengineering is a male occupation and clerical work is afemale occupation, many female students do not decide to
go to faculties and departments in the natural sciences,where they are more likely to find only technical jobs.
Since there are few women who are active in the field ofcomputers and information and communication, there
are few role models and not many senior students who
can give the advice to students. It is difficult for female
students to have a concrete image of careers related to
information science and information engineering. For
this reason, various programs have recently been
implemented to support female junior high school andhigh school students in choosing a career in the sciences.
Recurrent education is also important in areas related tocomputers and information communications.
There is a term called the “dog year.” Dogs grow fasterthan people, and it is said that one year for a dog isequivalent to seven years for a person. The term “dogyear” is also used to describe the extremely rapid
development of computer-related technology. Even if you
have received higher education in computer-related fields
at university or graduate school, your abilities and skills
will become obsolete if you do not constantly supplement
your knowledge of the latest technology. For this reason,in the case of RISS (Registered Information Security
Specialist), a national qualification introduced in 2017,
the qualification is renewable, and everyone mustcomplete a course when renewing. Many overseas
information-related qualifications also require taking acourse in order to maintain the qualification.
In other words, even if you did not major in computerrelated fields at university or graduate school, you canstill learn the latest technical content and knowledge
through recurrent education. By doing so, you can acquire
the abilities and skills to play an active role in computerrelated and information-communication-related fields.
With the increasing availability of online recurrent
education opportunities in response to the newcoronavirus epidemic, it is never too late for women to
take advantage of empowerment opportunities.

2

No.91 February 2022

32nd Kitakyushu Conference on Asian Women (KCAW 2021)

ICT & WOMEN : empowering women in the digital age
Date
Location

November 5, 2021

Participants 83

Zoom (online)
Live screening at Kitakyushu Municipal Gender Equality Center MOVE

The 32nd Kitakyushu Conference on Asian Women was held on the theme of “ICT & women: empowering women in thedigital age.” It featured an expert dialogue, a report on a local company’s initiatives, and presentations by 3 individuals/
NGOs from Japan and Asia on their activities.

Expert Dialogue

Fusako Utsumi, President of the National Women’s Education Center (NWEC), Japan
Harumichi Yuasa, Professor at the Graduate School of Governance Studies, Meiji Univ., JapanThe two experts discussed human resources developmentin the ICT fields, ICT’s impact on the lives of people, andinformation security issues.
In terms of human resources development, the focus wason the current low enrollment rate of female students in thescience and technology fields. At the Summer School forHigh and Junior High School Girls, the NWEC helps female
secondary school students aiming to go into science
programs at universities with their career decisions byproviding them with opportunities to listen to women who
pursue a career in science and technology. Recent surveys
administered on school teachers show that as many as 23%of them were of the opinion that “male students are better atmathematics and science subjects.” Eliminating such
unconscious bias is necessary to encourage more women to
enroll in university science programs.
Life amid the COVID-19 pandemic has seen the rapid
expansion of telework and online classes/seminars using
ICT. This has the benefit of enabling the participation ofpeople from distantlocationsorofmaking it easierfor students to ask
instructors questions. However, there are also many
people who are left behind by this rapid digitization. A
hybrid mode of training and education combining inperson and remote methods is necessary to resolve this
digital divide.
Lastly, today’s diversified internet use raises the issue
of information security. For example, there have beencases in which the location of someone’s home was
identified based on the background shown in ateleconference. This is a serious problem that may resultin the violation of privacy or in violence and must be
addressed. It is also critical for women to acquire a level ofliteracy that enables them to identify appropriate
information from the deluge of data on the internet.

Good Practice in the Private Sector

ICT to build bright future for all !

Yuki Nishino, Director of the DX Center, SOLNET Corporation, Japan
Yuki Nishino reported on theefforts of her company inKitakyushu to build a better
society through the use of ICT.
SOLNET Corporation, founded
in 1967 as a data entry company,
has expanded its operations to areas such as systemengineering and business infrastructure development inrecent years. As such, its female employees have also
expanded their work to system development, digitaltransformation (DX), etc. While not all of them joined thecompany equipped with the required skills, they havecome to acquire them through in-house training, on-thejob training, and self-study.
As an example of how ICT supported telework during
the COVID-19 pandemic, SOLNET upgraded web
conferencing tools, converted a safety confirmation app forNo.91 February 2022

disasters into a health management tool, and combined
them with information sharing tools to create a safe
environment for remote system engineering. In addition,
by running apps for simplifying administrative procedures,it achieved over 90% telework when a COVID-19 state of
emergency was first declared in Japan in April 2020. As aresult, not only was the employees’ risk of infection by the
new coronavirus reduced, but the company was also able
to create an improved work-life balance environment for
employees who wished to use their commuting time forchildcare or for those caring for the elderly at home.
SOLNET also provides workers’ health management
and monitoring services to other companies, contributing
to the creation of their safer workplaces. ICT not only
contributes to cost reduction and greater operational
efficiency, but can also be leveraged significantly to create
employee-friendly workplaces.

3

1

CSO Presentations
Learning from “online trials” for women with disabilities
Kumiko Usui, DPI (Disabled Peoples’ International) Women’s Network Japan

Kumiko Usui spoke on theimportance of the participationof women with disabilities in
the ICT sector based on her
work with “online trials.”
Women with disabilities
share the same obstacles
experienced by women in general when it comes to ICT
utilization. They suffer from intersectional discriminationon the grounds of their disabilities and gender. This,
combined with educational disparity, aggravates their ICT
illiteracy. The poverty stemming from the intersectional
discrimination is also an issue since it is difficult for themto secure necessary equipment or communication2

environment of their own with their meager income. If
unable to participate in rapidly increasing online eventsamid the COVID-19 pandemic, that would inevitably
further widen the digital divide and render them isolated.
To prevent women with disabilities from being left behindin the area of ICT, the DPI Women’s Network Japan
organized online trials to practice holding online meetings.
This enhanced each individual’s potential for social
participation, thus contributing to their empowerment.
ICT need to be developed and popularized with theparticipation of minorities and women who havetraditionally been left behind, and the availability and theusability must be enhanced for them.

F-commerce and Businesswomen in Bangladesh
Nishat Taslin Mohana, KFAW Foreign Correspondent 2021–2022, Bangladesh

Citing the success storiesof two businesswomen, Nishat
Taslin Mohana explained how
F-commerce (i.e., Facebookbased business) contributes tothe advancement of women
entrepreneurs in Bangladesh.
With the large number of users on social media, it has
become easier for women entrepreneurs to build networks
according to their products and services. This potential
customer base generates business opportunities, andFacebook serves as the business platform to build buyer-

seller relationships. Of the products sold on F-commerce,
90% are targeted for women, such as clothes, jewellery,accessories, etc.
F-commerce also helps create a business-friendly
environment by enhancing entrepreneurs’ knowledge,
improving their skills, sharing information and technicalproficiency, and enabling business owners to be financiallyindependent. Women’s entrepreneurship is not only an
income-generating activity, but also contributes tocreating a gender-equal business environment where
women can achieve economic independence.

Leave no she behind: amplifying the voice of grassroots women in Sumatra
3 Island through hybrid learning & collective action in pandemic period
Dina Lumbantobing, Co-founder/Coordinator, PERMAMPU Consortium, Indonesia
Focusing on Target 5.b of
the Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs), i.e., “Enhance
the use of enabling technology,
in particular information andcommunications technology, topromote the empowerment of
women,” Dina Lumbantobing reported on a grassroots
women’s movement project using ICT.
The first outcome of this project is the economic
empowerment of women through women credit unions.
The main activities of this first outcome were to raiseawareness for women’s rights, self-worth, and selfknowledge; to provide training on management of savings
and income; and eventually to educate members to build

up together through collective action the courage to speak,take action and shape their lives.
In the past, the members of NGOs used to gather for
campaigning on women’s rights, such as elimination ofchild marriage and legislation of the Sexual Violence Bill.
However, since the outbreak of COVID-19, any collective
action for capacity building and awareness raising haveshifted to virtual with the use of ICT. This, combined withoffline discussions, is referred to as “hybrid learning &meeting,” which is now used to organize workshops,
seminars, and courses. Women groups use smartphones
and apps for training, strategizing, and voicing. With
access to ICT, it is possible to amplify voice and influenceof grassroots women and to sustain their movement,
regardless of any obstacle.

4

No.91 February 2022

KFAW Career Development Program for High School Students

Let’s think about your future: how to work, how to live
Date/Time August 8, 2021

Location

Zoom (online)

Participants 57

Organized by Kitakyushu Hitomirai / KFAWPart 1

Research presentation on the assigned topic “Working and Living”
Presenter Fumika Sunagawa, Third Year, Fukuoka Prefectural Tochiku Senior High School

Part 2Cherish Yourself

Lecturer

Mariko Kurose, Clinical Psychologist

In Part 1, Fumika Sunagawa presented to an audience of
educational booklet on dating and sexual violence for youth
her generation the findings of her research on the backgroundissued by the Kitakyushu Municipal Gender Equality Center
to the government’s failure to achieve its target of “increasing
MOVE. Using this booklet as material for her talk, Kurose
the share of women in leadership positions to at least 30% by
focused on physical, psychological, social, and economic violence2020 in all fields in society.” She analyzed that the followingthat may occur in an intimate relationship and asked the young
4 factors were behind this failure: 1) the basic intent of thisaudience to ask themselves whether they are in a relationshippolicy was not gender equality but to secure workforce; 2)
in which only one member maintains power and control overlack of awareness of the need to train female employees; 3)
the other. She talked about the importance of building a
insufficient number of female regular employees to become
relationship of mutual respect in which both parties are able topotential managers; and 4) the anachronistic workstyle
say no to the partner when faced with things they do not like.
premised on long working hours. Fumika reported thatreform of the traditional Japanese working environmentand better understanding for people with responsibilities
both at home and at work are necessary to achieve thegovernment’s goal. Lastly, she suggested that young
people need to take an interest in social issues, pay
attention to politics, and go out to vote for the sake of
their own future.
In Part 2, Mariko Kurose lectured on dating violence.
Extract from Fumika’s PPT presentation Extract from Kurose’s PPT presentation
She had supervised the production of Cherish Yourself, an

KFAW International Understanding Seminar

Consulate Series

Women’s empowerment: from the standpoint of multicultural coexistence
Date

September 4, 2021

Location

Zoom (online)

Participants 68

Organized by KFAW / Kitakyushu Municipal Gender Equality Center MOVE
Speaker

Yuki Kondo-Shah (Public Affairs Officer at the U.S. Consulate Fukuoka; Director of the Fukuoka American Center)

Discussion with Masako Katsuki (Executive Officer of the Nishinippon Shimbun; Sales Manager and Chief Executive at the Kitakyushu Head Office)In the first half, Ms. Kondo-Shah cited statistics to explain
the importance of the Biden administration’s priority issue of
realizing a government with a high level of diversity thatmirrors the U.S. society. Women make up over 50% of the total
population as well as of bachelor’s and master’s degree holders.
Women also account for about half of the workforce, butpolitical participation is still less than 30%. Yet, the promotionof diversity in the government is important for policymaking
in the interest of all American people. For example, in light of
the increase in violence against Asian Americans amid the
COVID-19 pandemic, the House of Representatives enacted a
law against hate crimes in May 2021 at the initiative of its
female Asian American members. This is a good example ofwhat could be achieved with the presence of politicalrepresentatives reflecting the U.S. society.
Ms. Kondo-Shah also suggested 4 key points forcommunicating with people with different language andcultural backgrounds: (1) listening skills (to accept opinion

No.91 February 2022

of others); (2) willingness to understand people; (3) looking
for common, shared values; and (4) working towards thesame goal.
In the discussion with Ms. Katsuki in the second half,
Ms. Kondo-Shah talked about the need for role models for
women’s empowerment, how to deal with harassment, andthe need to build workplaces and a society where everyone
can play an active role, citing as example her problem-solving
experience in the process of building her career as a diplomat.
This discussion became an opportunity for the participants
to deepen their understanding of gender equality.

5

CSW65 Debrief Report Session
Date

June 16, 2021

Location

Zoom (online)

Participants 54

Presenters Mitsuko Horiuchi (President of KFAW)
Natsuki Murai (Undergraduate student at Keio University; Member of Japan Youth Platform for Sustainability (JYPS))
Ayano Nagata (Graduate student at the University of Manchester)Presentation by Mitsuko Horiuchi

Presentation by youth panelists

The priority theme of the 65th session of the UN
Commission on the Status of Women (CSW65) was“Women’s full and effective participation and decisionmaking in public life, as well as the elimination of violence,
for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all
women and girls.” The six agreed conclusions consisted of:1) Strengthen normative, legal, and regulatory frameworks;
2) Prevent and eliminate violence against women in public
life; 3) Strengthen gender-responsive institutional reforms;
4) Increase the availability of high-quality financing in
support of women’s participation in public life; 5)Strengthen women’s voice and leave no one behind in public
life; and 6) Address root causes of gender inequality andeliminate barriers to women’s full and equal participation.

Natsuki Murai and Ayano Nagata who took part in
KFAW’s NGO parallel event as panelists reported on
their presentations (see Asian Breeze No. 90) and shared
their thoughts on their participation in the event.
Natsuki expressed that learning about the views ofpeople of her generation during her advocacy activities
was a big driving force, while Ayano indicated that theevent provided a valuable opportunity to share andexchange opinions with other panelists on a common
theme of “climate change and gender”. Both reported
that they were able to reaffirm the importance ofintersectionality, which is an essential framework forvisualizing and solving problems suffered by particular
individuals or groups in any social issue.

33rd KFAW Research Report Session
Date
Location

October 2, 2021

Participants 33

Zoom (online) / Live screening at Kitakyushu Municipal Gender Equality Center MOVE

Theme

Present State and Issues of Local Governments’ Partnership Systems

ReporterIzumi Harada, KFAW Visiting Researcher 2019/20 (Professor, Kagoshima University)

Partnership systems are the local governments’ systemof recognizing the relationship of sexual minority couples.
While this does not come with legal rights or obligations, it
has been receiving public attention as a major step in efforts
to guarantee their human rights and improve their social
status. Certain municipalities have implemented inter-city
agreements to share the recognition when a couple moves toa new city, instituted “family-ship systems” to cover not only
the couples but also their families, or even expanded its

application to de facto marriages.
On the other hand, as each local government has aseparate system, the definition of and rules governing
partnerships differ among municipalities. Even collaborating
cities have different policies, thus the procedures for moving
in and out are complicated. Nonetheless, it would be a great
moral support to be treated like legally married spouses;
e.g., being allowed to move into public housing together, togive consent for surgery, or to sign cell phone contracts.

Gender Mainstreaming Policies for Government Officers 2021 [Course A] (Summer 2021)
Commissioned by JICA Kyushu, the Summer 2021
training program of Gender Mainstreaming Policies for
Government Officers was held online from May 26 to June21, 2021, with 7 participants from 5 countries: Moldova,
Palestine, Papua New Guinea, Egypt, and Solomon Islands.
This training is targeted for administrative officers fromdeveloping countries who work at their national gendermachineries and those responsible for gender mainstreaming
in other government agencies. The purpose of the program isto develop their capacity to plan, implement, and evaluate
policies and projects for gender equality and women’s
empowerment. To do this, the participants observe genderequality administration in Japanese national and local

governments as well as initiatives in other sectors. The
Summer 2021 program consisted of 10 recorded lectures and20 live courses comprising lectures, workshops, andpresentations.
In this training, participants are required to logicallyanalyze their gender issues and develop an action plan to set
goals to solve the problems. Due to constraints related toonline training, the participants of the Summer 2021
program had to acquire the necessary skills in a shortertime than usual. To address this challenge, they were eachprovided with 20 minutes of individual consultation time tohelp with their action plans, which lead them to successful
completion of the task.

6

No.91 February 2022

ISSN 0918-8266

No Violence against Women Campaign

Initiative of the Kitakyushu Municipal
Gender Equality Center MOVE

Purple Light-up

ISSN 0918-8266
ISSN 0918-8266
Each year, the “Purple Light-up” is implemented duringmain train stations in the city, were also lit up. This added a
the Cabinet Office’s Campaign to Eliminate Violence against
beautiful touch to the city’s night-time scenery in the festive
Women (November 12-25). Landmarks across the country is
atmosphere leading up to Christmas.
lit up in purple in reference to the Purple Ribbon, a symbolof the elimination of violence against women.
MOVE will continue with this initiative so that as many
people as possible can see the purple lights, become aware
In support of this initiative, the Kitakyushu Municipal
and mindful, and move toward a society that does not
Gender Equality Center MOVE also lit the rooftop of its
tolerate violence against women which tends to becomebuilding in purple. This year, the pedestrian decks near thehidden.
JR Kokura Station and Kurosaki Station, which are the two

MOVE

JR Kokura Station

Special Lecture

Survivor of sexual violence: you are not alone
Date
Location
SpeakerNovember 13, 2021
Kitakyushu Municipal Gender Equality Center MOVE
Chie Kudo (survivor of sexual violence)
Hisako Ura (Fukuoka Victim Support Center)

MOVE invited Chie Kudo to speak at its special lecture2021 during the Campaign to Eliminate Violence against
Women. Kudo became a victim of sexual violence at the ageof eight. She has been working under her real name to tell
the story about her life after the assault in order to raise
public awareness and to eliminate sexual abuse. Cases ofsexual violence do not end when the victim is protected or
the perpetrator is arrested. Rather, this often only means
the start of the victim’s long and harsh struggle against

hardships
anddespair,
includingflashbacks,
hyperventilation, addictive disorder, etc. The understandingof people around the victim is imperative for his/her
recovery.

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The Kitakyushu Forum on Asian Women (KFAW) was established in October of 1990 with a special
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government fund for revitalization projects. Subsequently, in 1993, the foundation
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No.86
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No.91 February
foundation by the Ministry of Labour (the present Ministry of Health, Labour
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