Women Today
We have a long way to go!
Chair of the AIHRC

Dr. Sima SAMAR
Afghanistan has been in conflict for the past 35
years, the violation of human rights, in particular
women’s rights continued, during different regimes,
unfortunately without accountability and justice, evenacknowledgement of sufferings of the victims.
Women in Afghanistan saw the killing anddisappearing of their loved ones, the destruction andloss of their properties, sometime the rape of theirdaughters, and different level of violence during thewar, but they survived.
I am going to portray the picture of Afghanistan
today, in contrast with 13 years ago, under the Taliban,
Afghan women were subjected to systematic
discrimination, brutal and inhumane treatment by thegovernment, women were not allowed to go out andwork, get an education, or simply walk on the street
unless they were accompanied with “Mahram” a closemale relative. The situation was as such that women
were not treated as human beings! They madeAfghanistan a huge jail imprisoning both men andwomen. But the treatment of women were much harsher.
In contrast, now Afghan women are striving toward
a better future, they are able to attend school, get higher
education, work and hold offices. They have leading
positions in the media and in different industries. They
are working as politicians, artists, singers and represent
people in the provincial and national elected bodies.
They also serve as cabinet ministers, diplomats, civilsociety organization and NGO leaders.
Our constitution and bill of rights for the first timein our history, guarantees equality between women andmen, obligates the state to respect, promote and protect
human rights and to work for the improvement of thesituation of women and families.
Afghanistan has ratified CEDAW, and our EVAW
(elimination of violence against women) law criminalize
acts of violence against women. These are huge changes,
complemented by the changes that have been brought
slowly to the country in policy formation, program
implementation in the social, political and cultural arenas.
We can not overlook that due to the presence of theinternational community and sacrifice of the Afghan
people and the international community, the above
mentioned improvement have been made.
However, the majority of the improvement has
happened in Kabul and few other major cities. Afghan
women who live in rural areas have benefited little fromthe improvements. To make all the improvement andfreedom a reality and sustainable for every women in
Afghanistan, require a strong political will and joint
efforts by all the stakeholders.

No.73 March 2015

The challenges the women in Afghanistan still faceare:
1. Lack of strong political will by the leadership in the
country for protection and promotion of women’s
rights allows the conservative, fundamentalist
small group powerful.
2. Lack of education: Although more than 3 million
girls go to school, same number of girls do not haveaccess even to primary education, only 20 % ofhigher education students are girls, althoughhigher education is a ticket to empowerment and away out of poverty.
3. Access to health care, in particular reproductive
health care is not available for every woman, due todifferent problems, but one of them is lack of female
medical staff. Their access to contraception islimited.
4. Lack of job opportunity makes women depend on
the male member of the family. Child marriage andforced marriage are common practice for economicalreason.
5. Lack of access to justice due to conservative maledominated culture, and also lack of female staff in
the legal system: Afghanistan still lacks a female
judge in the Supreme Court council.
6. Women are not part of the important decision
making for the country and people, including thepeace process.
Finally as we all know that:
Women’s recognition, inclusion and support is key tosustainable peace and development.
I would like to call upon our sisters globally that westill have a long way to go, bear with us, do not let us fall
again in the terrorist trap.

Profile of Sima SAMAR
Dr. Sima SAMAR born in Ghazni and graduated from
Kabul University as Medical Doctor. Appointed as theinaugural chair of the AIHRC in June 2002. Prior toappointment as the chair of AIHRC, elected as the vice chairof the Emergency Loya Jirga and also served as the deputy
chair and Minister of Women’s Affairs in the post-TalibanInterim Administration of Afghanistan IAA. Served as UN’s
Special Reporter on the situation of human rights in the
Sudan between 2005 and 2009.
Dr. SAMAR has participated in many international forums
on human rights, democracy and transitional justice. Her
contributions to the same have been widely recognized andshe is the recipient of several prestigious awards.

1

Current Issues Series
Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Kitakyushu

Masato NINOMIYANatural Disasters,
Gender Equality,and Women’s Empowerment

Professor at Faculty of Law, the University of Kitakyushu.
Doctor of Laws. Technical Advisor of Specialist Committee
on Monitoring, Council for Gender Equality, Cabinet
Office. Member of the Disaster Reduction/Reconstruction
WG of the said Committee. In 1994, began to work for the
Faculty of Law, Kitakyushu University (as termed at thattime), and then served as a visiting scholar at Center on
International Organization at Columbia SIPA (School ofInternational and Public Affairs) from 2005 to 2006. In
2006, assumed his current position. In April 2014, became
Dean of Faculty of Law. Specializes in international law
and international organizations law.

(second half)

In March 2012, the Japanese government submitted aresolution under the title “Gender equality and theempowerment of women in natural disasters” at the 56th UN
Commission on the Status of Women (CSW56), and theresolution was adopted by consensus. This was the first
resolution that the Japanese government had submitted to thecommission. The resolution showed the country’s strong
determination, made one year after the Great East Japan
Earthquake, to share its experiences and lessons with othercountries and international society, and to never repeat thesame mistakes. In addition, after Prime Minister Shinzo ABE
delivered an address at the UN General Assembly in September
2013, the Japanese government submitted a follow-up resolution
at the 58th UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW58)
in March 2014, and it was also adopted by consensus.
These two resolutions declare 1) the importance ofappropriately identifying needs of women, children, and otherpeople in vulnerable positions, and providing appropriate
protection with due consideration given to them; 2) the
importance of achieving women’s participation in all the phasesof a natural disaster, namely prevention, emergency response,
and restoration/reconstruction, in a practical sense; and 3) theindispensability of promoting gender equality and empowermentof women on a daily basis through such participation, in orderto establish a disaster-resistant society with resilience (ability
to recover from a disaster).
Now, let’s look at the adoption process for the resolutions.
Japan was the original sponsoring country, making efforts
to draft the two resolutions of the 2012 CSW and the 2014 CSW.
However, Japan submitted the 2012 resolution in the form of a
joint proposal by 50 Member States, and the 2014 resolution in
the form of a joint proposal by 79 Member States (both figures
include Japan). This means that 49 countries and 78 countries
agreed with Japan and provided joint support to realize theadoption of the resolutions of 2012 and 2014, respectively.
Although CSW resolutions do not legally bind Member Statesand other parties, this process suggests that as the country
that submitted the resolutions, Japan has a responsibility forachieving what is sought in the two resolutions. In particular, I
feel that Japan is heavily accountable to the 78 countries withwhich Japan submitted the resolution, in light of legal principles
in general, such as the principle of good faith and the doctrineof estoppel, both of which are often referred to in discussions on
sources of international law.
Did you know that Japan has been actively engaged infostering a world movement regarding gender mainstreamingin the field of disaster risk reduction? I hope that as membersof Japanese society, you will remember that Japan has proposed
specific measures to the world, and that the country has
succeeded in gathering many supporters under the initiative of
the Prime Minister to realize the resolution of 2014.
Next, let’s look at this issue more deeply from the perspectiveof a sincere response to what is demanded by the resolutions.
For example, the two resolutions emphasize the importanceof collecting, analyzing, and using data according to age,gender, and other characteristics. What is the situation ofJapan regarding this? I used to belong to the Specialist
Committee on Monitoring, Council for Gender Equality,
Cabinet Office. At the fourth meeting of the committee’s
Disaster Reduction/Reconstruction WG (February 18, 2014), a
concern was raised over the method of performing household
surveys in the reconstruction process. In the manner of surveys
that gathered opinions of evacuees regarding their future
temporary housing, there was discussion about the necessity ofcollecting data from all members of each household in view ofgender equality, rather than collecting household data. The
household data of these surveys most likely reflected theopinions of only the heads of households. At the meeting it wasnoted that although complicated work would be required, itwould be better, from the perspective of women’s active
participation in all the processes, to adopt a survey method
through which women and children could express opinions
individually as well as the survey organizers could identify
them individually. These discussions suggest that the above
resolutions and their contents have not been fully shared yet
within the government. Thus, a future challenge is how tosecure consistency between diplomatic policies and domestic
policies, namely to share recognition. In addition, it is also
important to disseminate the contents of the above discussions,along with the guidelines that I mentioned last time, in order toensure that they are referred to by local governments when
preparing their regional or area disaster risk reduction plans. I
believe that this will serve as an important evaluation standard
in order to prevent the reoccurrence of the same mistakes.
Finally, I would like to stress that the 2014 CSW resolution
demands that the discussion on gender mainstreaming carryover to the 3rd UN World Conference on Disaster Risk
Reduction, to be held in Sendai in March 2015, as well as to the
UN General Assembly regarding the post-2015 development
agenda, to be held in New York in September 2015. I’m very
interested in what will be discussed at the World Conference on
Disaster Risk Reduction.
I hope that this article will stimulate your interest in future
discussions reported through newspapers and other media.

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No.73 March 2015

25

th

Kitakyushu Conference on Asian Women
Date & Time: December 6 (Sat.), 2014, 13:30 – 16:00
Venue: Kitakyushu Municipal Gender Equality Center, MOVEAt the conference, Ms. Keiko OSAKI from the UN spoke about an international initiative to identify women’s entrepreneurship statistically,
based on the discussion during the UN expert group meeting on gender statistics held right before the conference in Kitakyushu.
Subsequently, Ms. Eriko YAMAGUCHI, the founder of Motherhouse Co., Ltd., shared her experiences as a female entrepreneur.
The subsequent panel discussion introduced the example of the Philippines, one of the most advance countries in the world interms of empowerment of women, as well as measures promoted in Indonesia and Kitakyushu City.

■Keynote Lecture 1

can reveal differences between male and female entrepreneurs,
for instance, in motivations for entrepreneurship,
management styles and business performances, and successcriteria. Hence, such statistics can serve as a base to create
mechanisms to foster and support women’s entrepreneurship.
There is much to be improved in internationallycomparable statistics to reveal gender gaps inentrepreneurship. However, it is clear even from the existingdata that there are clear gender differences in the experiencesof entrepreneurship. It is therefore essential to support
entrepreneurs and promote appropriate policies from a gender
perspective.

Ms. Keiko OSAKI(Assistant Director, Statistics Division, United
Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs)

UN Gender Statistics Program
From December 3 to 5, a UN expert
group meeting on gender statistics washeld here at the Kitakyushu Municipal
Gender Equality Center, MOVE. Today, I would like to sharewith you what was discussed at the meeting.
It has come to be known that statistics are indispensable
in the process of decision making in any field. The use ofstatistics has become increasingly common to objectively
examine a wide range of social and economic phenomena andformulate an appropriate evidence-based policies. Although
there are a wide variety of statistics, the UN considers thatgender statistics are the area where much improvements areneeded to monitoring progress in gender equality andwomen’s empowerment at the global level.
The UN has long been engaged in increasing people’s
awareness of the significance of gender issues around theworld. In order to capture the social and economic situationsof men and women and their changes over time in a holisticmanner, the UN identified a set of 52 gender indicators and isencouraging each country to collect such data. Although you
may feel that the indicators are too many, they are a minimum
set to identify the current gender situation from various
aspects. In doing so, it is extremely important to assess
whether the collected data can be used for international
comparison. Categorizing the gender indicators into threegroups in terms of conceptual refinement and data availability,
the UN provides technical support for national statistical
offices in the fields where countries lack a capacity to produce
reliable and internationally comparable data on a regularbasis. Such fields include women’s entrepreneurship andasset ownership, which were the themes of the meeting held
the other day. In this regard, the UN Statistics Division and
UN Women have launched a special three-year joint project,called “the Evidence and Data for Gender Equality (EDGE)
Initiative”, with the purpose of collecting and compiling
gender statistics that can be used for international
comparison, refining statistical concepts, developing amethod to collect statistics, and preparing appropriate
guidelines as necessary.

■Keynote Lecture 2

Ms. Eriko YAMAGUCHI(CEO and Chief Designer, Motherhouse Co., Ltd.)

Establishment of Motherhouse– I Had No Intention to Start a Business –Although I was asked to speak about
entrepreneurship today, I had originallyno intention to start a business or become
an entrepreneur. Nevertheless, I founded a company at theage of 24 about nine years ago. Now that I have about 250 staff
members and 20 shops, I feel that I have rushed through thesenine years. During this period, various events occurred. Manytimes I have regretted that I have started the business, or I
did not want to go to my own office. However, I’m still
continuing the business because of my very strong motivation.
A strong passion has enabled me to continue moving forward.

“Create a Worldwide Brand from Developing Countries”
The mission of Motherhouse is creating a worldwide brandfrom developing countries. My story regarding theestablishment of the company began when I had theopportunity to work for the Inter-American Development
Bank, Washington. While working part-time entering budget
data at the bank, I wanted to know how financial aid wasdelivered to developing countries. Hoping to know more about
the real situation, I decided to go to Bangladesh, a country
that appeared in my Web search result after I had entered the
keyword “the poorest country in Asia.” Hearing that an
education visa would allow me to stay in the country for two
years, I entered a local graduate school. This was when I
started to think about establishing Motherhouse. At first,
feeling that there was nothing that one person could achievealone, I considered returning to Japan. Then I happened toknow jute (golden fiber) in Bangladesh. Jute was used as a

Significance of Measuring Women’s
Entrepreneurship Statistically
Statistical identification of gender gaps in entrepreneurship

No.73 March 20153

material for coffee bean bags, 75 cents each. Aiming to makeproducts more quickly at a lower cost than plants in China,
one bag manufacturing plant employed many teenage girls.
Seeing them work, I strongly felt there must be something elsethat the girls could do to fully demonstrate their capabilities,
and I thought that the bags would sell better if they were ofhigher quality. An idea occurred to me. It would be good to add
some value to the products to make them so adorable and coolthat people would want to buy, rather than the products tosimply process raw materials, or rather than the ones likefair-trade-style that people would buy because they felt sorry
for those making them. Discovering what I really would like totry, I felt that the door to the future had finally opened.

important in that the growth and development through thelaunch of such small-scale businesses would activate theentire economy, promote gender equality, and spur social
development, ultimately contributing to improving the qualityof life and reducing poverty.

Women’s Entrepreneurship in
Rural Villages in Indonesia- Ms. Gloria ARLINI
Ms. Gloria ARLINI, an Indonesian co-founder of an NPO
in Singapore, spoke about the training program that the NPO
established for women in rural villages in Indonesia to startbusinesses using solar lamps. The purpose of the program isto develop their skills and potential, thereby promoting
empowerment of women. After going through the training
program, women supply solar lamps to people living without
electricity, and endeavor to increase the living standard ofsuch people. Currently, 21 women are active as entrepreneurs,
supplying solar lamps to as many as 12,000 people so far. The
NPO does not carry out the training program on a temporary
basis, but conducts follow-up, with due consideration given to
the situation of each individual. Thus, the NPO has a support
system for women to start businesses and provides follow-up
for them to continue their businesses. She stated that the
program has helped women in Indonesia sparkle.

Future of Motherhouse
I am proud that I have developed my staff members into
craftspeople for the last nine years. When joining my company,
they were unskilled, and I needed to teach them the basics ofeverything. Many problems worried me, including a highproduction failure rate. Nevertheless, I never gave up, andcontinued working patiently with the Bengali staff. Now they
do a good job so that our production failure rate has declined
to 0.8%. Encouraged by their sentiment that “Motherhouse is
like home,” I would like to establish workshops of Motherhousearound the world. This is my present dream.

▲

Panel Discussion

Current Situation of and Support for
Entrepreneurs in Kitakyushu City and Japan<Panelists>- Mr. Hidetoshi YOSHIMURA- Ms. Eriko YAMAGUCHIIn Japan, currently, the rate of non-regular employment ishigh. In particular, many women work as non-regular
employees. Amidst this situation, a shift from a passive
working style, namely being employed by companies or otherorganizations, to becoming entrepreneurs is now gaining
attention as one of the work style options. Mr. Hidetoshi
YOSHIMURA explained that a wide variety of support for
producing and developing entrepreneurs is available presently
in Kitakyushu City and Japan, in the forms of consultationand guidance, human resource development, and financing.
On the other hand, he indicated that when comparedinternationally, the young people of Japan have little interestin entrepreneurship. He stated that in order to foster young
people’s enterprising spirit, it was necessary to provide
entrepreneurship education at universities and otherinstitutes.

(CEO and Chief Designer, Motherhouse Co., Ltd.)- Ms. Lina V. CASTRO(Interim Deputy National Statistician, Philippine Statistics
Authority)- Ms. Gloria ARLINI(Co-Founder and Director, Nusantara Development Initiatives,
Singapore)- Mr. Hidetoshi YOSHIMURA(Professor, Institute for Urban and Regional Policy Studies,
University of Kitakyushu)<Coordinator>- Ms. Mitsuko HORIUCHI(KFAW President)

Entrepreneurship of Philippine Women- Ms. Lina V. CASTRO
Using specific figures from the perspective of statistics,
Ms. Lina V. CASTRO spoke about the current situation andchallenges of women’s entrepreneurship in the Philippines, anadvanced country in terms of gender equality, as well as about
the establishment of an appropriate environment and theprovision of support from the national and local governments
to achieve women’s economic participation. She indicated that
although a wide variety of support was provided to women andthe rate of women’s entrepreneurship was higher than that ofmen, female entrepreneurs tended to run small-scalebusinesses and had difficulty in securing long-term business
continuation and growth. She also indicated that this was
mainly due to household chores and child-rearing.
However, she stated that women’s entrepreneurship was

At the panel discussion

4

No.73 March 2015

UN Expert Group Meeting on Gender Statistics
genderperspective
into
official statistics of eachcountry. Aiming to establish
andstandardize
genderstatistics, this worldwide
At UN meeting
project will run until 2015.
Inviting statistics experts
from target countries of this project, the meeting held in
Kitakyushu City featured analyses on the results of the pilot
surveys performed so far on “individual-level asset ownership”
and “women’s entrepreneurship” from a gender perspective, as
well as discussions on the preparation of practical guidelines to
identify these aspects statistically.

Date: December 3 (Wed.) – December 5 (Fri.), 2014 itakyushu Municipal Gender Equality Center, MOVE
Venue: K
The UN expert group meeting (attended by 36 participantsfrom 14 countries) was held jointly by the Statistics Divisionof the United Nations Department of Economic and Social
Affairs and the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality
and the Empowerment of Women, at the Kitakyushu
Municipal Gender Equality Center, MOVE.
The official name of the meeting was the “Evidence andData for Gender Equality (EDGE) Initiative Mid-term Review
Technical Meeting”
Launched in 2013, the EDGE Initiative incorporates a

Women’s Organizations
in Kitakyushu City
Visit Korea

From October 20 (Mon.) to 22 (Wed.), 2014, KFAW visited Incheon Metropolitan City,
Korea, together with 12 representatives from women’s organizations in Kitakyushu City.
This was in reciprocation for the Incheon Council of Women’s visit to Kitakyushu City inNovember, 2013. Aiming to learn about gender-related facilities in Korea and activities
promoted by women’s organizations in the country, we visited gender-relatedorganizations and facilities, participated in a seminar, and attended an interactive event.

▪Participating Organizations from Kitakyushu City
The Council of Women’s Groups of Kitakyushu;
Kitakyushu Council to Promote Better Eating Habits;
Kitakyushu Association of Nursery & Kindergarten Teachers;
and the National Federation of Business and Professional
Women’s Clubs of Japan, Kitakyushu▪Schedule
October 20: Departure from Fukuoka to Incheon
Participation in a seminar held by the Incheon
Council of Women
Visit to the Incheon Foundation for Women andFamily to learn about its programs, other
October 21: Visit to a workplace childcare center
Visit to the National Intangible Heritage Center,and cultural experience
Visit to Wolmido Island
October 22: Visit to Songdo area
Departure from Incheon to Fukuoka

Interaction at a Dinner Party
On the first night,
we were invited to aninteractive event heldby the Incheon Councilof Women. The event
began with a cooking
demonstration of cold
pork bulgogi and other
Korean dishes. In thelatter half of the event,All the members interacting in a circle
membersfromKitakyushu City gavea chorus performance of Furusato as a token of theirappreciation, and also performed Hyakuman-odori dancing as
an encore. Korean members also sang a song and performed
Arirang dancing, making the event even more exciting.
Visit to Workplace Childcare Center (Incheon Metropolitan City Office)On the second day, we visited the workplace childcare
center. In Korea, parents can use childcare centers, regardlesswhether they have a job or not. Unlike in Japan, the amount ofincome does not affect the amount of the nursery fee.
After listening to the director of the childcare center, themembers of the women’s organizations from Kitakyushu
ardently asked many questions on the differences from theJapanese childcare system.
Conclusion
The purposes of the visit to Incheon Metropolitan City
were to promote mutual understanding between the women’sorganizations in both cities, and to learn about gender-related
facilities and activities promoted by women’s organizations in
Korea.
In addition, the visit led to the promotion of mutual
understanding and interaction among the women’sorganizations in Kitakyushu City. Taking this opportunity,
we hope that interaction will be further promoted not only
between the women’s organizations in both cities, but also
among the women’s organizations in Kitakyushu City.

Main Activities
Participation in a Seminar
We first participatedin a seminar with thetheme of the environment.
While the campaign oftheso-called
3Rs(Reduce, Reuse, andRecycle) is common in
Japan, there is an active
campaign of the 5Rs (plus At the discussion
Renewable Energy and (Far right: Chair OISHI)
Revitalization) in Korea.
The seminar featured a lecture and discussion on the 5R
campaign and women’s roles. As the representative of themembers from Kitakyushu City, Chair Kiyoko OISHI of theKitakyushu Council to Promote Better Eating Habits
presented a report on the activities promoted in Kitakyushu
to improve people’s eating habits.

No.73 March 2015

5

Participants of the KFAW Study Tour in the Philippines
Launch Activities after Returning to JapanAt the Kitakyushu Forum on Asian Women (KFAW), in
FY2013, we held a study tour with the theme “Learn
International Cooperation in the Philippines,” focusing on the
country’s poverty, gender problems, and international
cooperation. In the country, participants met many people indifficulties, such as children mentally damaged due to poverty
and abuse, children without sufficient education due to a lackof schools and other facilities, and people trapped in a cycle ofpoverty due to inaccessibility to education. The participantsalso visited local NGOs and other organizations that provide
support for such people, and learned about their activities. On
the study tour, they learned a lot through communication
with local people.
After returning to Japan, some participants said thatthey would like to provide continuous support from Japan tothe people in the Philippines, leading to the launch of thefollowing activities by volunteers among the participants.
Although they have just begun, the KFAW will continue tosupport these volunteers to promote continuous civic
activities.

more about each other’s culture. Over the dishes they also
shared the current situations of poverty and other topics in thePhilippines. The instructor commented that although she wasliving in Japan, she usually had few opportunities tocommunicate with Japanese people, and that the interaction
was very significant.

Sales of Fair Trade Dried Mango
The PREDA Foundation,
one of the destinations, protects
child victims of sexual abuse,
unjustified imprisonment, andcommercial/sexual exploitation,and provides support for themto live in an appropriate
environment. This local NGO is
also engaged in the fair trade
movement as a project tosupportindigenous
peopleliving in poverty to get
economically empowered. At aninternational exchange event held in Kitakyushu, fair trade
products from the PREDA Foundation were sold. The proceeds
were used for the activity discussed below.

Cooking Class under a Female Filipino
Instructor Living in Kitakyushu
Date & Time: October 4 (Sat.), 2014, 11:00 – 14:00
Venue: Kitakyushu Women’s Community Center, YAHATA

Donation of Picture Books and Stationery to the Aeta

The first activity was the cooking class “Let’s Learn Moreabout the Philippines through Cooking,” under a female
Filipino instructor, with the purpose of providing an
opportunity for citizensof Kitakyushu to know
more
about
the
Philippines. By cooking
curry using coconut milk
and preparing dishes
using vegetables, the30 participants joined cooking classand
instructor
with an interest in the Philippines
and international interaction
participantslearned

The indigenous Aeta in the Philippines still maintaintheir traditional lifestyle. Few households have gas andwater systems, and children cannot go to school in thecommunity after finishing the fourth grade due to insufficientschool facilities. Students in the fifth and subsequent grades
must cross the river and walk to the faraway school. In therainy season, the river rises, frequently preventing children
from going to school. In addition, textbooks, stationery, andother items for students are also insufficient. Thus, thechildren’s educational environment is very far from being
appropriate. For these children, an activity to donate picture
books and stationery has been launched.

Visit to Vietnam(Haiphong and Hanoi)
From November 1 (Sat.) to 8 (Sat.), 2014, we visited someorganizations including Haiphong Department of Foreign
Affairs and Hanoi Women’s Federation to discuss futureexchange programs. Haiphong is the sister city of Kitakyushu
since April 2014. The Hanoi Women’s Federation had paid avisit to the KFAW last fiscal year, participating in a seminarand visiting a welfare facility.

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No.73 March 2015

Foreign Correspondents’ Report
ProfileGirls, not Brides

I am working as Special Correspondent of The Financial
Express. I am pursuing journalism for one decade. My
specialization in reporting includes economic and developmental
issues, women, tax and business issues. I completed Masters
Degree in Journalism from Dhaka University in 1996. My careergoal is to contribute to the economic and women development in
the country through constructive write-up.

Ms. Doulot MALA (Bangladesh)“There is a need for building social awareness to check
early marriage. Poverty and social insecurity of girls is themain reason for child marriage in Bangladesh. Girls faceserious health and psychological problem due to earlypregnancy,” said Dr. Sifat E. Syed, Psychiatrist of
Bangladesh Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU).
Child marriage is like a ‘Paradox’ in Bangladesh’s
globally praised development story. The country was able to
upscale its performance indicators in the field of politics,
business, social empowerment of women in this region.
Frustratingly, rate of child marriage is highest here.
The rate of eradication of child marriage is slow in
Bangladesh. Around 66 per cent of the girls get married
before the age of 18, according to the data of UNICEF. Over
one-third of girls get married before the age of 15, who aremostly victims of dowry and face serious health risks due
to early pregnancy.
Poverty, illiteracy, security concern, tropical social
custom are the major reasons for early marriage of schoolgoing girls. They face long-term health problem,
psychological pressure to carry out the responsibility ofchild and family.
Physicians and psychologists said early marriage was amajor cause of depression of middle-aged women. It is asocially-sensitive challenge that the country is trying totackle.
In rural areas, child marriage is prevailing in an
alarming form that has no actual data due to poor trend of
marriage registration. Some family members prefer earlymarriage of school-going girls being concerned over theirsocial security. Teen pregnancy and single young motherfamily is not so usual in the Bangladesh’s society. Family
members consider early marriage as alternative to keep
girls protected within the union of marriage before bearing
a child.
Amid the situation, a recent move of the government tolower minimum age for marriage in the draft of earlymarriage prevention act-2014 raised concern among themembers of civil society.
There is a proposal, made in the recent Cabinet meeting,to lower minimum age for marriage to 16 years for girls
and 18 years for boys. Currently, the minimum age ofmarriage for girls is 18 years and for boys 21 years.
The Citizen’s Initiatives on CEDAW, Bangladesh (CICBD), the platform of 47 non-government human rights andother like-minded organizations, have raised its deep
concern over the move, citing United Nations Convention
on the Rights of the Children and Bangladesh Children Act
that defined boys and girls below 18 years as children.
As eliminating child marriage is one of the major
challenges for the present government, it should stay awayfrom the move of lowering marriage-age. Child marriage isalso a globally developing concern. In the first-ever Girl

No.73 March 2015

Summit-2014 in the United Kingdom, the Prime Minister
Sheikh Hasina made firm commitment to eliminate childmarriage by taking necessary steps.
Increasing literacy of girls is necessary to check earlymarriage. Bangladesh has made remarkable progress overthe past two decades in increasing primary enrolment ofgirls so that over 95 percent go to primary school and moregirls than boys now complete their primary education.
The Bangladesh Government is already working tostrengthen national legislation and policy frameworks toeliminate child marriage. The Child Marriage Restraint
Act of 1929 is going to be revised under current context byincorporating heavy penalties for violation of the act.
The new Children’s Act, passed in 2013, provides
enhanced measures to redress child marriage as well as tosupport child brides.
Bangladesh launched a
new nationwide campaign
titled “Girls, Not Brides” toaccelerate actions againstchild marriage.
In addition to updating laws, the government aims tohave a National Action Plan on Prevention of Child
Marriage with time-bound targets.
“The government is looking forward to ensuring that,by 2021, no girl under 15 will be getting married as well as
eradicating all child marriage within a generation by2035,” the PM said in the Girl Summit.
The country’s policymakers need to focus more on
creating awareness for marriage registration and also
educate opinion leaders so that they can raise voices
against child marriage.
According to the study of Bangladesh Women Parishad,all of the victims of child marriage are school-going girls.
The survey found that the minimum age of the victims was
10 year-old girl. Physically, psychologically and socially,child brides face detrimental consequences. They areneither physically matured for bearing a child nor taking
care of them properly.
Child marriage slows down country’s development intoa healthy and prosperous nation. Bangladesh is moving
towards to expedite eradication of early marriage.

7

Profile

The Gender and Education
Situation in Cambodia

I grew up on a farm in rural Cambodia in a family of low economic
status. I had four siblings. I obtained the bachelor degree in law atPannasastra University of Cambodia. In 2013, I became a Prison
Researcher at the Cambodian League for the Promotion of Defense
and Human Rights (LICADHO). In the present time, I get scholarshipto pursue master of international human rights law at Pannasastra
University of Cambodia which is supported by Sweden.

Mr. Houn PHORN (Cambodia)
Today, gender inequality, simply described as the unfair
and inequitable treatment between men and women, isseen in many aspects of Cambodian society especiallyeducation in rural areas. It is a fact that in Cambodia
women outnumber men; however, women’s illiteracy rate ishigher than men’s. The school enrollment rate of female
students is lower than that of male students. Althoughschool enrollment of girls is increasing lately, most do notcomplete basic education of grade 9 of secondary school, so
the gender gap grows greater at secondary and high schoollevel. There are many reasons behind the wide gap between
males and females in terms of access to education.

Alike, some parents would think that formal education
is not that crucial; they would likely let their daughters
gain some skills or go to the city and work at a garment
factory. Some villagers say that there is no reason for theirdaughters to attend school, for they are poor and unable toget a job even with the education. Besides, the distance toschool is another barrier for female students to have accessto education. It is not a big problem in the city in which
there are plenty of schools, but in rural areas, schools are
hardly found and security is not good enough.
Lack of latrines and sanitary facilities are also thereasons why female students do not attend school. Female
students find themselves uncomfortable at education
centers where clean toilets are not available. In this case, ifthey want to use a toilet, they have to go to a forest or a big
wood nearby. For this reason, girls will feel better to stay athome enjoy proper facilities.
Gender in social status, more to the point, social statusof women in Cambodia is really a serious concern.
Cambodian culture, which is very restrictive andhierarchical, gives more value to men. As one Khmer
saying puts it, “Men are gold; Women are cloth”. Cambodian
women have to follow all the social rules in order to become
good women accepted by the society. Without compliancewith the Khmer codes of conduct, women are singled out by
her family, relatives, friends, and the outsiders.
In short, Cambodian people are very conservative andtraditional, promoting gender equality is like changing
their culture, which most of them strongly oppose. However,
the government should introduce some reforms to theeducational sector, for example by providing scholarships
for poor students. Also, it should build more schools which
are equipped with clean toilets in rural areas or build
school dormitories, which make it easy for female students
to go to school in order to encourage them to enroll in class.

Lack of educational facilities

It is the traditionally–based parental notion towards
sons and daughters. Customarily, parents consider boys
more important than girls in a way that boys can go out towork, while girls have to stay at home and take care ofhousehold chores. Also, girls, after getting married, areexpected to be fed by their husbands so they do not need to
do any job. Thus, the majority of parents find it pointless to
let their daughters get high education as sons.
In the old days, it was also believed that daughters
would become very stubborn if they were educated.
Moreover, they would know how to write love letters tomen, so in order to prevent disgrace in the family, the girls
should not be sent to school. In contrast, the boys areusually breadwinners; thus, getting more knowledge would
gain good reputation for their family. As a result, in poorfamilies, if they can afford for only one child to go to school,then it will be the boy who gets the opportunity to access to
education.
Another factor is that girls are needed in the house or at
the fields. Most Cambodian families, around 80%, arefarmers, so they need a lot of labor force to assist in thefields because Cambodian farmers are still applying the old
traditional ways of farming. Therefore, the girls should
stay at home to cook or to work in the fields rather than go
to school.

Children in Cambodia

8

No.73 March 2015

Profile

If she can do it, so can you! The storyof Clarie, a female leader in HongKong

I serve as committee member in the Youth and International Groupof the Hong Kong Federation of Women and the Hong Kong Federationof Women Lawyers and was privileged to be involved in the first everStop Dating Violence Ambassadors Program at HKU. As a United
World College graduate who studied and lived in mainland China, USA
and UK, I have been fortunate to meet talented and unique womenfrom different walks of life. I hope to empower women by revealing theirthoughts, dreams, concerns and feelings through the power of words.

Ms. Amelia LO (Hong Kong)

9/11. Her work was openly praised by US Treasury
Secretary O’Neill, Attorney General Ashcroft, UK
Chancellor Gordon Brown and other officials around theworld for outstanding, effective leadership amidst the
global crisis.
When recollecting about the event, she recounts: “Somesay I was heroic for saving the world, some say I was foolishto risk my life when I could have easily delegated the task
to other colleagues. Like many working mothers, I felt amother’s guilt when I had to miss out on many important
occasions in my children’s life as a result of my many
overseas meetings. But that’s part of being a responsible
leader, and a leader has to be strong in uncertain times,
and cannot cave into fear and insecurities.”
As far as being a mother is concerned, Clarie says shetries to put quality before quantity, and tries her best, withthe limited time she has, to make her children feel loved
and valued. She makes sure that her children are welllooked after, and cultivates in them the core values of
responsibility, dedication and hard work and impresses onthem the importance of helping those less fortunate insociety by inviting them to join volunteer events with her.

“Life is a combination of choices and sacrifices. I countmy blessings and try my best.” ―Ms. Clarie Ku.
How to balance your work and life is a question faced bymore female professionals in Hong Kong. Many of those in
Hong Kong have realized the impossible demands made on
working mothers, which many have been a significant
contributing factor to the decreasing birth rate. It is indeed
a pity that more than half of those women who joined theworkforce at a junior level quit because of difficulties inbalancing the tasks of motherhood and work.
Ms. Clarie Ku is a shining example on how one can beboth a successful career woman and a beloved mother. A
graduate of elite universities including Stanford andOxford, Clarie previously served in a number of senior
positions in the Hong Kong Government, including Deputy
Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury,
Commissioner for Narcotics and Deputy Director of
Housing. She received commendation for her Outstanding
Government Service and is one of the few Hong Kong
Government officials who received the Service Award fromSingapore Minister of Home Affairs.
In 2001-02, Clarie was selected as President of the
Financial Action Task Force, the leading global
governmental organization working to address anti-money
laundering and counter-terrorist financing issues. In 2007,
Clarie helped the former HKSAR Chief Executive Hon.
Tung Chee Hwa to establish the China-United States
Exchange Foundation and became the founding CEO. In
2011, she was named Executive Director of one of the majorbanks in Hong Kong and is currently Managing Director ofa private company.
One of her most memorable achievements was her
journey to the United States almost immediately after the
9/11 terrorist attacks, during which she led world leaders
to cooperate to legislate new laws to curb and prevent
terrorism financing. Risking antagonizing her then young
children for being constantly absent, Clarie put on a brave
face and boarded the plane that would lead her to the
Washington D.C. less than a month after the 9/11 attacks.
She steered the Task Force in the formulation of the EightSpecial Recommendations on Terrorist Financing post

Ms. Clarie with the Formar Chief Executive of Hong Kong

Balancing the life of a mother and a female leader israrely easy, she admits. Time is a scarce commodity, andgood time management is key, but even with good time
management, prioritization and sacrifice is unavoidable.
And since helping others live a better life is something thatspeaks to her as a person, Clarie finds time despite herbusy schedule to help others at a global and local level. She
has been appointed as a member of the Steering Committeeof the Hong Kong Basic Law, a member of the Appeal Boardof the Financial Disputes Resolution Council, and serves
on a number of NGOs boards on US-China relations, antidrug, youths and women issues.
So for those new or aspiring working mothers out there,
have faith in yourself, if she can do it, so can you!
“When my children ask me why I work so hard, I reply, I
work hard because I choose to, I love my family and I love mywork, you are both my priorities.” ―Ms. Clarie Ku

Clarie encourages her children to believe in themselves and pursue
challenges for personal growth

No.73 March 2015

9

Profile

Gender Analysis in Sexual
Abuse against Children: How
Far Have We Gone?

Gender and child issues have been the core of my interest. I
have been working in the area through my involvement inprojects engaging communities, civil societies, the government
and the donors. The experience has enabled me to see women’sissues in a bigger picture. From this point onwards, I would like tocontinue being part of the global movement and expand mycontribution in making the world free from gender-based
discrimination through writings and research.

Ms. Marisna YULIANTI (Indonesia)
Earlier this year, Indonesia witnessed an uproar of
horrifying violent crime against children. The public wasshocked with the unfold of sexual assault incidents againstchildren as young as 6 years old at a presumably one of themost well-established educational institutions in Indonesia,
Jakarta International School (JIS). Almost within the sametime span, another case emerged where a man was accusedof sexually molesting more than 80 children in Sukabumi,
West Java. Perhaps the most troubling case was the sexual
abuse and dismemberment killing of 6 children in theProvince of Riau. Perpetrators are all male and majority ofthese abused children are boys.
Indonesia National Commission for Child Protection
claimed that throughout 2013 there have been 1620 cases ofviolence against children. 19% of them is identified asemotional abuse, 30% is physical abuse, and the highest
figure comes from sexual abuse incidence which accounts for
51% of the total number of cases. While it is a widely
accepted fact that victims of sexual violence are mostly
women and girls, sexual abuse evidently also happen to men
and boys. According to a survey on violence against children
conducted by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Ministry of
Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection of Indonesia
together with the State Ministry of National Development
and Planning, Statistics Indonesia, UNICEF and Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention, USA, in 2013, among
respondents aged 13-17 years who had experienced physicalviolence, emotional and sexual abuse in the past 12 months,
approximately 3 million boys or 1 in 4 boys, admitted tohave experienced physical violence of some sort, while 1 in
12 boys and 1 out of 19 girls were found to have experienced
sexual violence.
In Indonesia, parents and adults in general perceive
girls are being more vulnerable than boys and therefore thesociety tends to be more protective of girls. This is said to be
one of the reasons behind the high number of incidence ofsexual violence against boys. The long-existing genderstereotyping that boys are stronger and unemotional, causes
embarrassment for male victims of sexual abuse to come out
and speak up which makes it even more difficult for the law
enforcers to unveil the cases. As most perpetrators are maleand there has been a great deal of research findings that say
experience of child abuse may increase the possibility to
become adult offenders, it is therefore crucial to integrate
gender analysis that focus on the needs and the interests ofboys and girls in coming up with preventive actions.
In the aftermath of the incidents, sex education, or sex
ed targeted on children became the trending topic in every
discussions. Child psychologists and activists started to
openly speak about the importance of sex education that had
been considered taboo and inappropriate for public
consumption before. Responding to the issues, governmentof Indonesia has also recently launched National Movementof Anti Sexual Crime against Children (Gerakan Nasional
Anti Kejahatan Seksual terhadap Anak/GN-AKSA) to
combat sexual violence against children with the involvementof relevant ministries, civil society, parents and public in
which sex education was mentioned as one of the key aspectof prevention.
Apparently parents are still caught up with the myths
that misplaced sex education as merely a means for teaching
children and young people to have sexual intercourse andhence increase the possibility for them to be engaged in free
and unprotected sex. Instead, it actually aims at increasingawareness on the difference of characteristics that make upmale and female sexuality, sexual development andreproduction, and the different religious and cultural views
on sex so that people can make informed decisions about
their behavior and protect themselves from negative
outcomes of sexual behavior such as unwanted pregnancies,
sexually transmitted diseases and sexual assault/abuse. It
is also worth noting that sex education should be ageappropriate which takes into account child development
stage in determining the best and most suitable educational
materials and methods. For instance, children can be taught
to recognize their reproductive organs and to know whichareas in their bodies are sensitive and not allowed to be
touched by strangers. It is also important for parents tobecome aware of gender stereotyping that still exist in thesociety. Gender-based stereotype that says boys are notsupposed to wear pink or to cry creates certain expectation
for them to behave accordingly. Boys need to be encouraged
that it is ok for them to be more open and not to be ashamedof their feelings and emotions.
Finally, let us consider this as a reminder that genderissues are also about men and boys. How many of us havebeen caught in the wrong perception that gender-based
discrimination only affect women and girls? A lot, I am sure.
Gender analysis focuses on the differences between men andwomen and seek means to address the needs of both sexes tobe able to equally access to, control, participate in andbenefit from development. Hence gender issues concern not
only women but also men and how both could achieve
substantial equality in various spheres of life. The correctunderstanding of gender will create means to improve thefull enjoyment of rights of men and women including theright to be free from sexual coercion.

Indonesian Children(Cour tesy of Gerakan
Indonesia Mengajar or
I n d o n e s i a Te a c h e s
Movement available atindonesiamengajar.org)

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No.73 March 2015

Information

ISSN 0918-8266

KFAW Consulate Series 4 “Human Resource Development in Australia”
Date & Time: September 10 (Wed.), 2014, 14:00 – 15:00
Venue: K itakyushu Municipal Gender Equality Center, MOVE

In the fourth round of the KFAW Consulate Series, seminars given by consuls of consulates located in Fukuoka, we
invited Mr. Tom YATES from the Australian Consulate General in Fukuoka, who spoke about human resource development
in Australia.
Australia, which is often referred to as the most globalized country in terms of living and educational environments,
takes first place in the rankings of “the world’s most livable cities,” as well as “the most livable countries and regions for
expatriate workers.” Behind this are the country’s willingness to receive immigrants and the government’s subsequent
practical human resource development. In addition, by promoting
education and legal legislation for the employment of women, thecountry is pushing forward the development of female leaders as oneof its policies.
Although there is a widespread concern in many countries overthe negative effects of globalization, Australia, a country of
immigrants, has established an environment that is livable foreveryone. There must be many things that Japan can learn in orderto realize a diverse society.
The lecture was followed by an active Q & A session, in which
many participants expressed their opinions.

Career Development Program for University Students
The Kitakyushu Forum on Asian Women (KFAW) has established the career development program for university students
in Kitakyushu City. This fiscal year we held lectures for a total of 1,233 students of the following five universities in the city:- Seinan Jo Gakuin University
Date: June 2 (Mon.), 2014,
14:40 - 16:10, 200 students
June 6 (Fri.), 2014,
14:40 - 16:10, 173 students- Kyushu Kyoritsu University
Date: June 23 (Mon.), 2014,
10:45 - 12:15, 171 students
June 24 (Tue.), 2014,
14:50 - 16:20, 228 students- Nishinippon Institute of Technology
Date: July 3 (Thu.), 2014,
09:00 - 10:30, 37 students- Kyushu Women’s University
Date:	September 22 (Mon.), 2014,
16:35 - 18:05, 167 students- Kyushu International University
Date:	December 12 (Fri.), 2014,
13:00 - 14:30, 117 students
14:40 - 16:10, 140 students

This photograph depicts the career development lecture at Kyushu Women’s University. We endeavored to help each
student draw up a specific plan regarding their own career development, by using PowerPoint and inviting a female worker
as a guest for a Q & A session. At another university, we held a lecture, which incorporated small-group work sessions, basedon the theme of stereotyped gender role awareness.
Comments from the students include the following:- The lecture was very helpful. I’ve learned about the real working
world of women.
- The lecture has made me think about what independence is.
- I’ve learned that a difference in the way of working leads to a big
difference in the amount of lifetime earnings.
- I’ve found that there are many options regarding the way ofworking.

Location of
Kitakyushu

KITAKYUSHU OTEMACHI BUILDING 3F
OTEMACHI 11-4, KOKURAKITA, KITAKYUSHU, 803-0814 JAPAN
PHONE＋81-93-583-3434 FAX＋81-93-583-5195
E-mail: kfaw@kfaw.or.jp URL: http://www.kfaw.or.jp/index.html.en

DalianBeijing

Seoul

Tokyo
Kitakyushu

KFAW
The Kitakyushu Forum on Asian Women (KFAW) was established in October of 1990 with a special
government fund for revitalization projects. Subsequently, in 1993, the KFAW was recognized as afoundation by the Ministry of Labour (the present Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare). The purposeof the KFAW is to promote the improvement of women's status through various projects as well as their
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mutual understanding and cooperation in Asia.

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11

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