Women Today <Special Edition>
Pro file

Reflections on Childhood
Words

Severn Cullis-Suzuki, born in November 30, 1979, she is a
Canadian environmental activist. As a child, Severn andfriends started the Environmental Children’s Organization,
culminating in a speech to the United Nations at the Rio
Earth Summit in 1992 when she was only 12! Severn lives
on Haida Gwaii with her family where they are learning thecritically endangered Xaayda kil from elders. She iscurrently a Vanier Scholar pursuing a PhD at the Universityof British Columbia, conducting research on Indigenous
language revitalization. She holds a B.Sc. in Biology fromYale University and an M.Sc. in Ethnoecology from the
University of Victoria.

Nearly three decades after the Earth Summit in
1992, it’s amazing to see how the speech a child gave
has gotten a life of its own. After the conference, I
began to get invited to give speeches to different
conferences, to speak out as a youth voice. Years after
Rio 1992, the internet became public, and someone
uploaded the speech. Others added subtitles in different
languages; it has been reborn many times, and still
today people are watching it online.
Why does this speech continue to live on, and touch
peoples’ hearts? I believe it speaks to the power of thevoice of youth. It shows how people are profoundly
affected when youth speak truth to power. Youth can
impact adults with such an emotional force, for many
adults are parents, and parents love their children. It is
this power of love that fuels my hope for a transformationfor our common future.
Did the speech make a difference? This is a question
astute children have asked me; it is a question I haveasked myself. Though the Earth Summit set goals to
become more sustainable, they did not translate into
the change we needed; today our ecological condition ismore serious than ever. Climate Change is now coming
into full swing, and we have not changed our mainenergy systems or Capitalist economies. But the voicesof youth are much louder today. And I like to believethat the Rio speech was part of that movement. Today
youth have the platform of the Internet and social
media, and a free and accessible exchange of informationthat no other generation of humans have had before. It
has its costs, but no one can deny these are huge tools ofchange.
25 years after the Rio conference, I collaborated
with the old ECO team members, the Suzuki
Foundation, and the Earth Charter International tocreate a remake of the Rio speech by contemporary 12
year olds. We invited children to personalize the speech
and made a video compilation of 25 youth.※１ It was

Severn Cullis-Suzuki (the second from the right)
with her familycollaborated on many occasions with the wonderful
Sloth Club※２ and their friends to do speaking tours andraise awareness about the environment in Japan. On
my first speaking tour I was lucky enough to visit the
beautiful city of Minamata. I was very affected by theactivists I met, and the history of this place. After the
Fukushima event, I came to Japan and met the Million
Mothers movement, an anti-nuclear power movement
started by the photographer Nonoko Kameyama withher photography of 100 mothers, and her friends andallies. I was so inspired and moved by the actions ofmothers to cut through to the most important things inlife. I think that the Million Mothers and others who
are asking the difficult questions about energy and therisks and costs to future generations are asking thesame kind of questions as are in the Rio Speech. We arepart of the same movement for a sustainable way ofliving.
Women are essential for our society’s transformation.
As life-givers, we are inextricably invested in the future.
Of course men are too, but there is a visceral connectionthat women have to the future because we physically
produce and give life to the future. In this current,
unsustainable iteration of society and economy, women
have been disempowered; and we are seeing the resultsof this imbalance today. We need more women to speakout about what is truly important. We need to listen to,trust and uphold the voices of other women, as raiseawareness about the imbalance that we are living

something many youth got very excited about. We havea YouTube Channel, and have an open invite to others
to participate, send us their versions of the speech, andkeep these words going. Imagine if the words continued
to be amplified until they could no longer be ignored?
Using my voice to speak directly to others has beenpart of who I am since the Rio Earth Summit in 1992.
Speaking publicly about environmental and social
issues has brought me to Japan, where I haveNo.85 March 2019

Severn Cullis-Suzuki

1through.

We need more women in leadership roles,

nation working for the protection of their islands andpushing forward the protection of future generations,ways of life. 10 years ago I married into the Haida

our children.

Nation, and my husband and children are proud to be

For many years I traveled and gave speeches at

Haida. The Haida language has survived to today, butinternational conferences, or abroad. I was at Rio in
1992. I was at Rio +10 in Johannesburg, and at Rio +20
back in Rio in 2012 (with my then 5-month old son).
Then when I started my family, I focused on the local.
My local community. My focus for the past 10 years has
been on my own backyard - on Canada, the province ofBritish Columbia, and the island archipelago of Haida
Gwaii. As a board member of the David Suzuki
Foundation※３, I have been working on issues here in

it is endangered – only 19 speakers live today. For 12
years I have been working with elders to learn thelanguage, and with mothers and children in thecommunity, to revitalize and keep the language aloud.
The connection between identity, health, resilience, andlanguage is strong. I believe that the language embodies
relationship to the land, and by preserving language,
we are preserving a way of relating to the land.
We live in a defining moment in humanity’s history.
Humanity must transform our energy systems to avert
the worst-case options of climate change, and we must
do it now. We need to stop using unsustainable energy
right now. We need to make these changes in our own
personal lives, and advocate for our governments andinstitutions to make it easier for us individuals to makethe transition. Now is an important time to be alive,
because our actions (or inactions) today are determining
the future of our children, and grandchildren, in an
unprecedented way. And how we chose to use our voices
today is important. I believed this as a child, speaking
to the world delegates at Rio in 1992, and now, as anadult, an ecologist and a mother, I believe this today.

Canada, as we aim to change our Canadian Constitution,
our government’s policies, and our culture, to preserveand restore our balance with the natural world.
As an individual who cares about the Westcoast of
Canada (and stopping the expansion of the Canada’s
dirty energy) I have stood shoulder to shoulder withothers across the province to stop pipeline projects,
which would mean increasing the infrastructure andinvestment into a fossil fuel system that is totally
devastating our future options.
And finally, on the community level, islands of the
Haida Nation, I am working every day on Indigenous
language preservation. The Haida people are an
Indigenous nation who have lived on Haida Gwaii forthe past 13 000 years. They have survived Smallpox,
the maritime fur trade, colonization, Residential
schools, and other insults, and today are an empowered※１ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hpu-PP-8YP8※２ http://www.sloth.gr.jp/E-index.htm※３ https://davidsuzuki.org/

An Excerpt from Plenary session address by
Severn Cullis-Suzuki, age 12,
to the United Nations Conference
on Environment and Development, Rio de Janeiro in June 1992
The book “The Day You Will Change the World”
with Severn’s speech published in Japan in 2003

You don’t know how to fix the holes in our ozone
layer. You don’t know how to bring the salmon backup a dead stream. You don’t know how to bring backan animal now extinct. And you can’t bring backforests that once grew where there is now desert.

I’m only a child yet I
know if all the money
spent on war was spent on
endingpoverty,andfindingenvironmental
answers, what a wonderfulplace this earth would be!

If you don’t know how to fix it, please stop
breaking it!

My father always says
“You are what you do, notwhat you say.”Yougrownups say you love us.
I challenge you, please
make your actions reflect
your words.

I’m only a child yet I know we are all part of afamily, five billion strong, in fact, 30 million species
strong, and borders and governments will neverchange that.
In my anger, I am not blind, and in my fear, I am
not afraid to tell the world how I feel.

2No.85 March 2019

KFAW

“Developing a Better Understanding of the Convention
on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women”

World Report Seminar

Japan ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women in 1985, following the revision ofvarious laws in the country, including the Nationality Act and the establishment of Equal Employment Opportunity Law between Men
and Women. However, the Japanese legal system still maintains several issues that prevent women from fully enjoying basic humanrights on even ground with their male counterparts. KFAW organized a seminar to spark ideas on women’s human rights from a
global perspective on the theme of “Developing a Better Understanding of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms ofDiscrimination Against Women”.
In her keynote speech during the first part of the seminar, Ms. Patricia Schulz, member of the Committee on the Elimination ofDiscrimination Against Women, came from Switzerland to deliver a lecture on the ratification of the Optional Protocol that is essential
for Japan to eliminate gender-based discrimination. She was joined by Ms. Yoko Hayashi, a lawyer, member and former chairpersonof the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, in the Q&A session in the second half of the seminar.
Participants from not only Kitakyushu City, but also from other areas in western Japan posed a number of questions to the two
women and had the opportunity once again to think about the current situation in Japan regarding the protection of women’s rights.
Date & Time: Thursday, October 4, 2018

14:00-16:00

Venue: Large Seminar Room, 4F Kitakyushu Municipal Gender Equality Center, MOVE
Program:[Part 1] Keynote Speech “Developing a Better Understanding of the Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women”
Speaker: Ms. Patricia SHULZ (Member of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women)[Part 2] Q&A
Panelist: Ms. Patricia SHULZ
Commentator: Ms. Yoko HAYASHI (Lawyer, member and former Chairperson of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women)
Coordinator: Mitsuko HORIUCHI (President of KFAW)
Participants: 68
was that ratifying the Optional Protocol “may give rise to
problems with regard to its judicial system, including theindependence of its judiciary”. However, if this were areasonable concern, it would destroy various individual
communications and inquiry systems established by Statesin the UN human rights systems.
Approval of individual communications and inquiry
procedures as specified in the Optional Protocol is part ofthe evolution we have seen under international humanrights law. Japan’s ratification of the Optional Protocol isextremely important not only for Japanese women and men,but also for women and men throughout the Asian region
and is a testament to the government’s assurance of its own
commitment to human rights. The inclusion of considerations
on gender in the judiciary will protect the rights of women,
who make up half of all humankind, from discrimination.
Eighteen years have passed since the Optional Protocolcame into effect. The basic role of the judiciary in theprotection of human rights will be strengthened with theacceptance of international reviews. It is my hope that theJapanese government, as a sovereign state, will accept areview by a committee composed of experts selected by all
the countries that have signed the Convention.

Summary of Keynote
Speech by
Ms. Patricia SHULZ

The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms ofDiscrimination Against Women protects the rights andequality of women from discrimination on the basis of sex in
all areas. Countries must abolish discrimination, ensure
sexual and gender equality and the advancement of women,
and guarantee women’s civic, political, economic, social andcultural rights. However, the Convention does not provide
women and NGOs the explicit right to file claims on
violations of these rights.
In 1999, twenty years after the adoption of theConvention, the UN General Assembly adopted an Optional
Protocol, which came into effect in 2000, adding an
individual communications and inquiry system tointernational implementation measures. Currently, 109
countries have ratified this Optional Protocol. However,Japan is one of 75 countries that have not, and of all OECD
countries, it is only one of two that have not ratified theprotocol, together with the United States (which haven’t yet
ratified the Convention).
The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination
Against Women has advised Japan to ratify the Optional
Protocol three times. In a 2002 report, Japan’s response that

No.85 March 20193

mechanisms is needed if relief is not available from theJapanese judicial system. Currently, 109 countries areengaged in individual communications, but in reality, claims
have only been filed in only about 30 of those countries.
These countries are not necessarily states with serious
human rights violations. The countries with the most claims
are those viewed as developed countries in terms of humanrights, such as Denmark and Canada. People who live inthese countries have a high level of education, as well as
freedom in distributing information and expression. The
ability to do anything freely is the foundation for putting theindividual communications procedures into motion. I believe
it would be meaningful for a country like Japan to join theindividual communication mechanism, so that it may
demonstrate the world that Japan is a democratic country
which allows a system such as individual communications.

Summary of Remarks by
Ms. Yoko HAYASHI

It is the duty of the government to protect human rights,
but it is impossible for civil servants alone to protect therights of all citizens. In order to become aware of the areas
where violations of human rights exist, a system must be inplace that allows victims to file claims and an environment
to support this. I believe that advice from UN human rights

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Impact of Human Relationships on
the Issue of Women’s Employment

Date & Time: Saturday, December 8, 2018, 14:00-16:00
Venue: Small Seminar Room, 5F Kitakyushu Municipal Gender Equality Center, MOVE
Speaker: Kamiyo KITA (Professor, Faculty of Education, Fukuoka University of Education)
married women with children and 84.3% for unmarried
women. Regular employment rates, wages and job
satisfaction levels tend to be relatively higher for
reemployment or job transfers when a woman takes
advantage of personal relationships, such as those fromprevious workplaces, rather than job applications throughemployment agencies or those submitted directly. It has
been pointed out that, compared with men, women tend tolack these types of human relationships that would
provide an advantage in finding employment and find it
difficult to utilize them.
It is often pointed out that irregular employment is on
the rise for younger people. Although there are advantages
for the younger generation, which is struggling financiallyand with unstable employment, such as the reliance on
the local community and presence of relatives providing
support in both daily life and emotionally, there are also
disadvantages in that this support may reproduce andembed unstable employment, such as “freeters”(permanent part-timers). Even among the younger
generation, the percentage of irregular employment for
women is higher than that for men.
In this way, while there are areas where humanrelationships provide support to women looking
employment and developing their careers and offer
emotional support and stability in daily life, they are also
capable of causing inequality and disparity and any
relationship with the same person can work both positively
or negatively. It will be necessary to consider what support
is needed and conduct structural and institutional reviews
to develop relationships without overestimating thecurrent human relationships that are being used as
stopgap measures.

Several issues can befound in the issue of women’s
employment: (1) employmentof women with children, (2)career development, careerchanges, reemployment, (3)employment of younger
generations of women (and unstable demographics, inparticular). Social support systems, such as daycares, aswell as support from relatives (parents, other) is a significant
help to women with children who continue to work. In fact,
the results of basic surveys on childbirth trends show that alarge number of women continue to work using both support
from their mothers, childcare leave and other systems.
Results from research also indicate that the decision tocontinue with employment, including re-employment, isdependent on whether a woman can rely on relatives, andespecially the women’s own mother and provokes thought on
the issues of parenting and employment.
In contrast, there are many women who leave theworkforce after the birth of their first child. Limited work,
opportunities, positions and wages cause many women to
give up on chances for career development and increased
wages and they quit, resulting in a vicious circle wheresome view childbirth to be a good opportunity to leave theworkforce.
According to a basic survey on employment structuresin 2012 regarding the current status of reemployment andcareer changes for women, the percentage of women
between their mid-30s to mid-50s continuing with theirfirst job was about 25% verses 50% for men. In a 2014
survey of women in Tokyo, Fukuoka and Nagasaki, thepercentage of women leaving their first job was 93.8% for4

No.85 March 2019

Pro fileThe 28th KFAW Foreign Correspondents’ Reports

Women in Governance:
Empowerment from Within

Graduated from Sherubtse College in 2012. I havebachelor’s degrees in English and Dzongkha(national language). After graduation, I served as an
English teacher in Thailand. Then I joined Bhutan
Broadcasting Service (BBS), the national radio andtelevision broadcast station, and now work as aradio anchor and producer. I also blog and poststories on ‘women and gender’ in particular.

Chayku (Bhutan)
A small country, which is about the size of Kyushu inJapan, Bhutan has been able to maintain its uniquenessover the centuries in the face of the world, relatively becauseof its isolation.
Even though the Constitution of the Kingdom of Bhutan
treats men and women equally, and they enjoy more freedom
and equality in all spheres of life than in many otherdeveloping countries, Kuensel1 of 16th December 2015
edition reports that ‘Bhutan is one of the worst in South
Asia in terms of gender disparity.’
The Royal Decree in 1998
underlined the importance of
women’s
participationinpolitics, but their leadership
position and participation indecision making remained
significantly low in Bhutan.
The first parliamentary Women representation in theparliamentelection in 2008 saw that only
14 percent of those elected were women, and very dismal
number of just 8 percent of those elected in the second
parliamentary election were women with the first female
minister.
Starting with the first female Gup2 elected in the first
local government election, there’s a steady rise in thewomen’s representation in the second LG election with two
Gups and 24 Mangmis3 being elected. This is attributed tothe immense contribution made by Non-Formal Education(NFE) Program because NFE literate became the qualifying
educational criteria to stand for LG elections.
BNEW4 also contributed immensely to motivating andbuilding the capacity of women at the grassroots level acrossthe country.
The trend has been almost the same for National Council
with only six women contestants in 2008, four in 2013, andeight in 2018. But only two were elected in the recent
election. Sonam Pelzom from Mongar, one of the six eastern
districts, won a landslide win after beating 12 malecontestant
The downward trend in women’s participation is
predominantly based on the societal, cultural and traditional
beliefs which are bound by stereotypical notions of thepeople. Even though discriminatory beliefs such as ‘KeRub-Gu5 diminishes with people’s understanding andeducation, women in Bhutan are still believed to be lesscapable of assuming a leadership role or participating inpolitics.
But for Sonam Pelzom, the beliefs didn’t deter her fromfighting for the right.

“My concern over the equality of women and men as amatter of human rights and a condition for social justicegave me enough confidence to come forward to represent
people,” she said.
People’s considerations are still deeply rooted in the
beliefs, and Sonam was quite skeptical about convincing
them. It was even harder for her to undertake the journeyduring the campaign and common forums since it demanded
unimaginable physical strength to walk from place to place.
Mongar dzongkhag (district) consists of the largest numberof gewogs6, mostly unreached by pliable road.
“Taking along my seven-month-old infant throughout
the campaign tour was the hardest, but I took it as astrength. And even if I had lost the election, it would have
impacted on the enhancement of women’s visibility.”
The NC member-elect said that she had to work hard as
people were initially not so forthcoming; but through theelection race, people were convinced that women can be as
capable as men. And her strategy to run her own race in theservice of the King, country and the people let them believe her.
If women’s participation in the policy and decision
making as well as in the leadership positions improves now,the credit goes to their male counterparts, too.
Sonam’s father had been very supportive in her venture.
He accompanied her during her familiarization tour until
his demise after a couple of weeks. Tshering Dorji, herhusband said that he had always wanted her to do somethingthat would impact the society at large.
“I didn’t feel right about keeping a capable woman withso much potential at home, so I decided to support in every
way possible in the election race,” he said.
Today, women make up half the population of thecountry, and Sonam believes that bringing their perspective
into the political arena will ensure a more representative
democracy.
Representing people in
the highest decision-making
body, the NC member-electaims to give importance tothe promotion and review ofagricultural policies, looking
into substance abuse, youth
unemployment issues, and Sonam’s first visit to the constituency
women’s under-representation in politics, among others.
Bhutan is among 73 countries in the world with lessthan 15 per cent of women in the parliament, but women in
Bhutan are relatively in a better position compared to manyother developing countries in the region. Sonam Pelzom,
who will be serving the country for the next five years,
inspires lots of Bhutanese women, urging them to comeforward to make important decisions and act on them.

1 Kuensel – national Newspaper
2 Gup - Elected Executive of Gewog Administration Office
3 Mangmi - Elected Deputy Executive of Gewog Administration Office
4 BNEW – Bhutan Network for Empowering Women
5 Ke-Rub-Gu – Men being considered nine generations superior

No.85 March 2019

6 Gewog - L owest administrative unit in Bhutan’s three-tiered governancesystem5

Pro fileThe 28th KFAW Foreign Correspondents’ Reports

Nobody Cares to Pay Women for
Care Work in Pakistan

I am a lawyer, human rights activist, researcher, andarticle writer from Lahore, Pakistan. I am currently
practicing law in civil and family cases. I am also
spreading legal awareness among women andchildren.

Jawaria KASHIF (Pakistan)Though it is essential for advancing human capabilities,care work is often taken for granted and undervalued
because it is non-paid. It also contributes to economic living
standards and social well-being, thus enabling individuals
to engage in paid work. However, unlike paid work, carework is not assigned a monetary value in the national
economy of Pakistan. In the Human Development Report2016 of the United Nations Development Programme(UNDP), the ranking of Pakistan on the Human Development
Index (HDI) is 147th in the world.
Pakistan Bureau of Statistics conducted a nationallarge-scale time-use survey using a time diary in 2007. Thissurvey was the 1st survey of its kind. It gathered data about
unpaid child rearing, nursing care and other household
labor comparing differences between women and men. In
March 2018, Data2X released a new report Invisible(“Invisible No More? A Methodology and Policy Review of
How Time Use Surveys Measure Unpaid Work”). According
to the report, unpaid household and care work performed by
women has risen in prominence as a major challenge in
official statistics.

However, looking after the home and family is the toughest
work ever. If Pakistani mothers, wives, sisters, daughters,
and daughters-in-law were paid for the care work, justimagine what their bank balances would be like.
The lives of Pakistani rural women are more problematicthan those of urban women because rural women milk cows,
clean barns, bring firewood, fetch water, cook, wash clothes,care for family, among other household duties.
Another dilemma of Pakistani society is discourteous
attitudes towards working women. Family members
including in-laws and a husband of a working woman expect
her to perform household chores along with her job. They
consider her as a super woman. Pakistani men do not sharethe load of household chores with their women. They thinkthat their work is done by providing financial support to thefamily and they put other work burden on their women.
One drawback of men’s not sharing household
responsibilities with their women is that most of highly
educated women in Pakistan waste their talent by staying
at home due to the housework burden. If men shared theirwork burden, the women might be able to build their careers.
The working hours of paid jobs in Pakistan are mostly
from 9 am to 5 pm with 1 or 2 holidays. Whereas, the women
who are carrying out household tasks can’t enjoy holidays.
They work for 24 hours. There is no difference between day
and night for them. For example, a mother cares andnurtures her child the whole day. She attends the child evenat night and cannot sleep if the child is crying. Meanwhile,the father sleeps the whole night because he is thebreadwinner and has to go to work in the morning, andtherefore his rest is mandatory and no one is allowed to
disturb him.
It is high time to break the gender stereotypes inPakistani society. Mechanisms must be made bypolicymakers to educate men to share household chores withwomen, in order to lessen the burden of women and toprovide them a comfortable environment and suitable placein the society. Women are the axis around which the wholesociety revolves, and thus their work must be recognized
and their contribution to the survival of a family must not be
forgotten.

I have no time for myself. Family care is my responsibility

The first words a Pakistani husband says to his wife on
his return home after work are often as follows: “What did
you do the whole day except for resting?” Similarly, aquestion which is repeatedly asked about a woman is like
this: “Does she work, or is she simply a housewife?” Fromthese two examples, the collective mindset of Pakistanisociety is exposed. The irony lies in the fact that society atlarge and policymakers in particular do not recognize thevalue of care work.
If a woman or housewife does not complete everyday
unappreciated chores such as cooking, cleaning, caring forchildren, the ill, or the elderly, and many more other tasks
with responsibility, then someone must be hired instead ofher to perform such household tasks, while she does it totally
free of charge. This fact is also gloomy in that people areready to pay a servant but not to their mother, wife, sister ordaughter for the same household chores.
In Pakistan, women who stay at home to completehousehold chores are not considered as working women.
People only value work which gets remuneration in return.

Life of rural women is much harder than that of urban women in
Pakistan.

6

No.85 March 2019ISSN 0918-8266

KFAW Career Development
Program for High SchoolStudents ①“Interactive Problem Solving?!
0918-8266
Learning about
Communication through ISSN
Games”ISSN 0918-8266

Date & Time Sunday, August 26, 2018

15:00-17:00
Kitakyushu Youth Station
Lecturer Mr. Kazuhiro MANABE (Professor, The University of Kitakyushu)
Organizer Yahatanishi Lifelong Learning Center/KFAW

Prof. MANABE’s Seminar in the School of Regional
Planning & Management 
Development, The University of Kitakyushu

Venue

Cooperation Kitakyushu Youth Station
Participants 37 high school students (open application)

In this year’s Career Development Program, a seminar
was held to encourage high school students to think
together with university students about what they will need in
the future through an interactive problem-solving game.
First, the students enhanced their understanding of theSDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) through a lecture. Thiswas followed by a hands-on activity to help the students acquire
thinking, judgement, and expressive skills through an interactive
problem-solving game that required the students to communicate
with one another. Then, the students worked in groups to deepen
their understanding of themselves and others.
Compared with other countries around the world, Japan’s
progress in Goal 5 (gender equality) of the SDGs is remarkably
behind schedule, especially in the political and economic sectors.
High school students will be the ones to change this. To this end,
we hope that students will acquire the skills needed to collectinformation on issues around them on a daily basis, identify
problems and communicate them to others.
Contents

KFAW Career Development
Program for High SchoolStudents ②

FY 2018 Jiyugaoka High School Career Development
Program: “Working in Kitakyushu City”

Date & Time Saturday, September 29, 2018

8:55-10:45

Participants About 400 second-year students at Jiyugaoka

Lecturer Mr. Koichi MATSUMOTO (Associate Professor, Kyushu International University),High School

Mr. Naosuke YAMAWAKI (Representative, NPO Kyoto Institute of Urban Renaissance),
Staff from the KFAW
Contents

This year’s Jiyugaoka Career Development Program
featured a workshop on the theme of the “Kitakyushu

SDGs”.
In the lecture, the students confirmed the need to create agender-equality society in order to find solutions to various social
issues, while looking at trends in wage profiles by sex and age
and working styles by household. The lecturers commented that
“In the past, men worked to feed their families, while most
women became housewives. However, in future generations,society will not survive unless everyone works equally to solve
social issues.”
At the workshop, students were divided into small groups

and carefully read data on Kitakyushu, such as its population,
results of surveys on awareness of the city’s image of its
industrial structure, aging rates, and other information. The
students also analyzed problems by brainstorming and using
methods such as the KJ method (or affinity diagrams) andexamined what they needed to solve the problems, finallyconcluding with a presentation by each group.
Although work may seem to be in the far-off future for thesehigh school students, they were able to understand the issues in
the city where they live through this Kitakyushu SDGs
workshop. Perhaps it may become an opportunity for them tothink about what needs to be done to solve these challenges.

Location of
Kitakyushu
Beijing

Location of
Kitakyushu

KFAW

Beijing

DalianSeoul

DalianSeoul

Tokyo
Kitakyushu

KFAW

The Kitakyushu Forum on Asian Women (KFAW) was established in October of 1990 with a special
Achieving the SDGs from KFAW
government fund for revitalization projects. Subsequently, in 1993, the KFAW was recognized as a
KFAWaims atfoundation by
the Ministryof achieving
Labour (theGOAL
present5Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare). The purpose(Gender
Equality),
sharing thechallengesof the KFAW
is to promote
the improvementof women's
status through various projects as well as their
PRINTED WITH
and efforts
withthe world.
mutual understanding
andcooperationin Asia.

KFAW

SOY INKTokyo
The Kitakyushu Forum on Asian Women (KFAW) was established in October of 1990 with a special
Kitakyushu
The Kitakyushu Forum on Asian Women(KFAW) was established in Octoberof 1990withspecialgovernment
fund
fora revitalization
projects. Subsequently, in 1993, the KFAW was recognized as aThis copy is printed with environment-friendly soy ink.

government fund for revitalization projects. Subsequently, in 1993, the foundation
KFAW wasasofaLabour (the present Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare). The purposeby recognized
the Ministry
No.85 March 2019
foundation by the Ministry of Labour (the present Ministry of Health, Labour
andKFAW
Welfare).
purposeof theis toThe
promotethe improvement of women's status through various projects as well as their

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