Women TodayHow Gender Equality Will
Move Forward
Mary C. Brinton
Harvard University

In discussions of gender equality in every country, there
is an emphasis on women gaining access to the same
opportunities and resources as men. In other words,
policies and reforms usually focus on making women’s
lives more similar to men’s. This makes sense in many
realms of life — in health, education, and politics, forinstance. But how about paid labor? Here, there is anoften overlooked and inconvenient fact: in many
countries, including some that are highly economicallydeveloped, the conditions of men’s work lives make itvery difficult for them to have a reasonable balance
between paid work on the one hand and unpaid workand leisure time with family on the other hand. If men’s
lives continue to be highly work-oriented and genderequality policies continue to focus on how to makewomen’s lives similar to that, where in people’s everyday
lives is there time to spend with family?

men’s and women’s daily workload spent on houseworkand childcare is much more equal. And it means that the
proportion of men who take paternity leave is closer tothe proportion of women who take childcare leave.
In summary, the most gender-equal societies haveachieved this through creating policies based on theidea that men and women should have equal rights not
only to a meaningful and satisfying work life but to ameaningful and satisfying family life as well. By
supporting men and women as individuals, thesepolicies have supported the family. In contrast, many ofthe most gender-unequal societies have created policies
that try to “accommodate” working mothers in theworkplace and “encourage” male employees to takepaternity leave. For instance, Japanese and South
Korean childcare policies now include some of the mostgenerous provisions for paternity leave in the world. But
the implementation of these policies in the workplace islukewarm due to the fact that many managers do notwant male employees’ work lives to change. The result?
In Japan, just 6% of men employed in the private sector
take paternity leave. This is generally because they fear
retaliation by employers who want new fathers tocontinue to “work like men.”

East Asian societies are a case in point. Around 80% of
men in Japan work an average of at least 40 hours per
week, and the figure is considerably higher in China,
Singapore, and South Korea. Average commuting times
for men are also very long: nearly one hour per day in
China and Japan and even longer in South Korea. It is
no wonder, then, that men’s contribution to houseworkand childcare in these societies is very limited. The total
amount of time spent in paid and unpaid work every day
is very similar for men and women. But in Japan andSouth Korea, the proportion of work time that is unpaid
is five times higher for women than it is for men.

It is high time for governments and private firms torecognize that for societies to prosper in the 21st
century, policies and gender-role attitudes need to be as
supportive of men’s lives becoming more like women’s as
the reverse. Otherwise, we are likely to move only
incrementally towards gender equality. And it will be agender equality that is based on both women and men“working like men” without regard to their wishes for amore balanced life.

Asian societies are often portrayed as more “familyoriented” than countries in Europe, North America, orOceania (Australia and New Zealand). But it isimportant to think carefully about what “familyoriented” means in the 21st century. All East Asiansocieties now have birth rates that are far lower than theOECD average, and increasing numbers of young men
and women are rejecting family life by not marrying at
all. In contrast, men’s average work week in Northern
European and many Western European countries is
considerably shorter, and the birth rate is higher. Noneof these countries has achieved complete gender equality,
but some of them have moved significantly in that
direction by making men’s lives more like women’s rather
than the reverse. What does this mean? It means thatmen’s and women’s work hours are more similar than in
East Asian countries. It means that the proportion of

No.90 August 2021

Pro file
Mary C. Brinton is the Reischauer Institute Professor ofSociology and Director of the Edwin O. Reischauer Instituteof Japanese Studies at Harvard University. Before joining
the Harvard faculty in 2003, she taught at the University of
Chicago (1986-1998) and Cornell University (1998-2003).
Brinton has published extensively on gender inequality inJapan, the impact of Japanese labor market restructuring
on young workers, changing gender-role ideologies acrosspostindustrial societies, and low fertility in Japan andelsewhere. Her current research links Japan’s persistentgender inequality to the stagnating birth rate, and will be
published in book form in Japanese later this year.

1Current Issues Series
Computers and Women’s Empowerment (Part 1)
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

Have you ever heard of a woman named Grace Hopper?

require a lot of strength nor does it require a strong
body.

She is an American mathematician and computerscientist. She is known as one of the developers of
COBOL, a computer language with a grammaticalstructure similar to English, which makes it easy tounderstand programming techniques. COBOL is stillused around the world today, 60 years after its
introduction. Hopper served in the U.S. Navy during
World War II and retired in 1966 at the age of 60. By
special exception, she stayed on the active duty until
she was 79. She was promoted to the rank of commodore
in 1983, as the first woman engineer to be promoted to
the rank of admiral in the U.S. Navy.

Telework, which became popular due to the spread of
COVID-19, is also expected to contribute to increasing
the scope of work for women. Telework was originallyproposed in the United States as a way to work without
driving into workplace during the oil crisis of the 1970s,
when gasoline prices skyrocketed due to a shortage ofsupply. Since then, telework has attracted attention
worldwide for its effectiveness in increasing employment
opportunities for women who are unable to work outside
the home due to circumstances such as child rearing or
nursing care. Telework also has the effect of realizing aflexible work style not only for women but also for men.
In our rapidly ageing society, the number of “nursing
care leavers” is becoming increasingly serious, withmore than 100,000 people a year being forced to leave
their current jobs in order to care for their elderly
parents. The problem of nursing care is expected to
become even more serious as the baby boomers enter
their 70s, but if telework becomes widespread, it isexpected to help prevent people from leaving their jobs
to care for their loved ones.

Hopper was a pioneer in two ways: she was a pioneer ofwomen engineers in the field of computers andinformation and communication technology. She wasalso a pioneer who, through her mastery of the newtechnology of computers, was able to carve out a careerin the military, a male-dominated field.
It has been almost 30 years since Hopper’s death.
Computers and information technology are still
providing new opportunities for women.

However, telework also has the aspect of highlighting
the disparity in the division of roles between husbands
and wives at home and with informal services innursing care. I have often seen complaints on social
networking services such as Twitter and Facebook thatwhen the husband and wife are both working fromhome during the COVID-19 state of emergency, it isalways the wife who takes care of children at home andprepare meals. There is also a concern that if nursing
care becomes dependent on family members working athome, they may eventually become unable to balance
work and care and leave the workforce.

Women are entering workplaces that were once thought
to be difficult for them due to their physical strength,
thanks to advances in computers and information andcommunication technology. We see women driving large
trucks and dump trucks now. We also see more andmore female train and bus drivers and aircraft pilots.
These professions used to be difficult to get into if you
were not physically strong, and women were at a
disadvantage in that respect. The reason why trucks
and buses have large steering wheels is because theyused to require a great deal of strength. However,today’s cars, trains, and airplanes are computercontrolled, so driving and maneuvering them does not

2

No.90 August 2021

The 32nd KFAW Research Report Session
Date
Location

March 16, 2021

Participants34

 oom (online)
Z
Live screening at Kitakyushu Municipal Gender Equality Center MOVEKFAW administers a visiting research program where selected researchers conduct research studies on latest genderissues around the world, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region. This program is intended to reveal domestic challenges
through the analysis of global trends and perspectives, with the aim of contributing to the realization of gender equality
in Kitakyushu. In this reporting session, the 2019 visiting researchers presented the outcomes of their research over the
2-year period from 2019 to 2020.

Title

Organizing Discourses around Family before and after the InternationalYear of the Family: Basic Research for International Comparison

Reporters

Mayumi Hachisuka, KFAW Visiting Researcher 2019/2020 (M&Y Consultants Co., Ltd.)Mayuko Sano, Co-researcher (Associate Professor, School of Human and Social Sciences, Fukuoka Prefectural University)a source of wellbeing for each family member.” The study
argues that there was a need to focus on “family” toensure a more comprehensive (rather than fragmented)
inclusion into policies of women, people with disabilities,
senior citizens, and children as beneficiaries of social
development.

This bibliographic study analyses the transformations ofinterest levels in family and of family forms/functions
during the period that marked the establishment of theInternational Year of the Family (IYF) in 1989.
The 1994 International Year of the Family is an international
observance proclaimed by the United Nations General
Assembly in 1989. It was declared with the theme of “Family:
resources and responsibilities in a changing world,” adopting“Building the Smallest Democracy at the Heart of Society”
as its motto. Given that many international policy
discussions are based on the premise “the family constitutes
the basic unit of society,” this study aims at answering thefollowing 3 research questions:

3. R egarding the changing family dynamics as the
background to the establishment of the IYF, the UN
discussions recognized emerging changes in family size
(shrinkage), lifecycles, and roles during the process ofcapitalization, industrialization, and urbanization,
which occurred as results of development and progress inboth developed and developing countries. In particular,
the economic slowdown caused by the 2 oil crises as wellas welfare reforms and socioeconomic liberalizations inboth developed and developing countries as strategies tocope with the slowdown led to the regression of social
development and the weakening of family functions indeveloping countries. This, in turn, strengthened
interests for family wellbeing, resulting in theestablishment of the IYF.

1. W hy did the family become an “issue of international
concern” during this period?
2. W
 hat was the aim of the IYF?
3. If the IYF occurred in response to issues surrounding thefamily during this period, what changes in “the state of
the family” gave rise to this event?

It should also be noted that there is no direct mention ofsame-sex partnerships in the discussions about theestablishment of IYF, and there are evidences that theestablishment was indirectly influenced by the feminist
movement of the time (e.g., the declaration of the 1983 InterAmerican Year of the Family).

For the purpose of organizing discourses in family research,
this study further hypothesizes that the IYF was establishedbased on: A) a heightened interest in power relations within
the family and the gendered division of labor; andB) transformations in the forms of family, individualization,
closeness between members, functions of the family, same-sex
partnerships, and the need to respond to such transformations.
The results are as follows:
1. The IYF was constituted based on concerns about social
developments, such as 1) the principle of human-rights
protection (first established in the 1948 Universal
Declaration of Human Rights); 2) the 1978 UN resolution“World Social Development” (adopted based on the 1969
Declaration on Social Progress and Development); and 3)
the 1979 UN resolution “Implementation of the
Declaration on Social Progress and Development.”
2. The analysis concludes the purpose of the IYF was to“raise awareness of issues related to the family, which is4No.90 August 2021

NGO CSW65 Virtual Forum Parallel Event

Youth Talk: Climate Action and Gender
Date

March 21, 2021

Moderator Mitsuko Horiuchi, President of KFAW

Location Zoom webinar & YouTube live streaming (online)
Participants

58

KFAW hosted a parallel event as part of the NGO Forum organized during the 65th Session of the UN Commission on
the Status of Women (CSW65). The event was a panel presentation where four youths from Japan and other Asian
countries discussed effective ways to integrate gender perspectives into climate actions. The panelists each gave a
10-minute presentation on their gender and climate justice activities. Participants joined from across the world andgained a valuable opportunity to develop a better understanding of the important connection between climate action
and gender.
The four youth presentations are summarized below. (Detailed summaries are available on our website.)

The actual heroes are women! Intersectionality
and young indigenous women in indigenous
people and ethnic minorities’ movement

Youth advocacy and gender on climate in Japan
Natsuki Murai, Japan (Undergraduate student at Keio University;
Member of Japan Youth Platform for Sustainability (JYPS)）

Arisa Junio, Philippines (Global Support Officer of VOICE
Arisa presented about the Philippine’s indigenous women
who are at the forefront of the climate justice movement.
During the mining operations that took place in theirancestral lands, they barricaded to protest against the
exploitation by the government and industry. The frameworkof intersectionality reveals complex problems related toindigenous women’s leadership efforts: 1) patriarchy andhistory complicate their path to leadership; 2) practices andtraditions still limit their development; and 3) intersecting
challenges of land protection and concerns for the future
generation. We can support indigenous women by endorsing
their access to education, intergenerational transfer ofknowledge, and participation in policy discussions.

Natsuki, who shared youth perspectives on climate action
and gender, presented examples of policy proposals madeby Japanese youth advocacy groups. When the Japanese
government solicited public comments on its draft of theFifth Basic Plan for Gender Equality covering 2021-2025,
a group of youth gathered opinions from their generationand submitted a statement calling for actions to:1) increase women’s participation in disaster-response
council meetings in order to better prevent/intervene
gender-based violence at evacuation centers; and2) address different impacts of climate change on various
social groups by collecting disaggregated data, empowering
women in STEM fields, thinking beyond the binary
framework of gender, and reflecting social diversity in thepolicymaking process.

Lessons learned from Japan’s disaster experiences:roles of civil society in eliminating gender-based violence

Climate action and gender through the lensof feminist storytelling

Ayano Nagata, Japan

Disha Arora, India (Documentary filmmaker and development

Ayano discussed the roles of civil society in eliminating
gender-based violence by aid-workers at post-disastershelters. Given the unequal power dynamics between victims
and aid workers, the need for special rigors (e.g., workers’
code of conduct) has recently started to gain recognition by
civil society. As the frontline of disaster relief, they are
expected to: 1) implement skill-building workshops forvictims, aid workers, and public administration about
victims’ rights and available legal frameworks; and 2)
organize transparent and inclusive systems such ascommunity-based
complaints
mechanisms,
victimassistance, and mutual support system. The common methodof increasing female shelter staff does not offer a fundamental
solution and can only reinforce gender stereotypes.

Disha presented on how women are viewed in the context ofenvironment and how to leverage the principles of feminist
storytelling when discussing climate action and gender. Nature
is commonly associated with feminine (e.g., “mother earth”).
This association equates earth’s natural resources withwomen’s productive and reproductive resources, representing
our patriarchal society which perceives women as exploitable.
It also disregards power inequalities that exist in different
social contexts, thus depriving women of decision-making
opportunities. As feminist storytelling respects diversity,intersectionality, and inclusivity, it is helpful for climate justiceadvocates to consider complex social power relations. It isparticularly useful for horizontal communication which allows
the voice of the marginalized to be represented.

Program; KFAW Foreign Correspondent 2017-2018）(Graduate student at the University of Manchester）

communications specialist; KFAW Foreign Correspondent 2020-2021）

KFAW Foreign Correspondents 2021-2022
In 1991, the Kitakyushu Forum on Asia Women (KFAW) established the foreign
correspondent program to build a broad international network, particularly in the AsiaPacific region. This year, 3 correspondents from 3 countries will report on some of thelatest gender issues worldwide. Their complete profiles and reports are available on our
website: http://www.kfaw.or.jp/en/correspondents/index.html.

No.90 August 2021

5

Access Foreign
Correspondent
Profiles2021 Foreign Correspondent Report

Author of own fortune:
F-commerce businesswomenin Bangladesh
Nishat Taslin Mohona (Bangladesh)

Pro file
An independent researcher and bachelor student from Bangladesh
who enjoys writing to contribute to women’s welfare, mainly from thefinancial and economic aspects. Also a senior associate member of
her university’s Model UN club and participated in 4 International
Model United Nations conferences. Aims to compose a notable
contribution featuring new scope of women’s empowerment throughresearch. Her career goal is to become a female scholar who
supports society and highlights women’s values worldwide.

Despite many benefits, a complication arises when connectingwith tremendous people according to the target of theindividual business. A freshly emerged Facebook page faces
difficulty approaching a wide audience. Here, a Facebook
community named Women and E-commerce Forum (WE)assists businesswomen in connecting with millions of people
at a time. This group is considered to be the most prominent
women entrepreneurs’ association in Bangladesh.

“I’m Koly, Owner of Koly’s Attire, working on Jamdani
saree.1” Various similar iconic lines like this are used toexpress the entrepreneur’s identity in Bangladesh. Thoselines reached millions of people through Facebook-based
business (F-commerce) amid the existing COVID-19
pandemic, reports Bangladesh Economic Review (BSR).
In Bangladesh, it is difficult for women to be self-empoweredor work outside, crossing the house’s boundary. In the Muslimdominated country, a male is considered the only earning
person in many families. A small portion of women blooms
their destiny, encountering unreasonable social context.
Countless working women in our social circumstances retire
early from the professional world, considering family
responsibilities. The crime rate in the country also holds
another factor that does not grant women the liberty to workoutside. Hence, women’s scope of financial independence
becomes limited. It will not be easy to transform social orderand mindset any time soon. That said, Facebook enables
talented women to try out ingenious ideas at minimal risk. As
everything takes place online, the pandemic seems a blessing
to existing women entrepreneurs, and there is a massive riseof new F-commerce entrepreneurs while staying at home.

Challenges faced by women entrepreneurs during
the COVID-19 pandemic
Women entrepreneurship is not only an income-generating
activity. It also contributes to making women financiallyindependent, helping the nation to achieve the Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs). The benefit of ICT is tremendous.
Without ICT’s nourishment, this massive transformation isnearly unthinkable. Sadly, women are still less likely
partakers in the ICT related disciplines, and there is a gap
in digital skill proficiency levels when it comes to womenand girls.2 Since women’s contribution to ICT and digitaltechnology is less than men, training can help overcome thegender gap in the ICT field.

Measures to overcome the challenges
Role of social media in creating businesswomen in Bangladesh

The F-commerce platform requires appropriate economic
definitions and guidelines concerning entrepreneurs andconsumers. Businesswomen’s skills must be developed
through training and workshop to alleviate the gap indigital skill proficiency levels, for which government
incentives would be helpful.

Social media is no longer a place for killing time. Instead, it
has shifted to a versatile business platform. With a global
user base of 2.35 billion and 25 million in Bangladesh,
Facebook is undoubtedly a splendid networking and clienthunting platform for businesses. It converted to a blessing
for women, as it allows them to run businesses from home.
Hence, entrepreneurs have originated with creative ideas.

Women entrepreneurs create a followable pathway for the
rest of society to acquire financial freedom and selfsufficiency. ICT renders the limelight for women
entrepreneurs to build their fortunes and narrate a story ofovercoming difficulties. Such winner stories win the heartand motivate others to stimulate inherent creativity to be
self-sufficient.

1 Jamdani Saree: Traditional dress of women in Bangladesh
2 According GSMA 2020 report, women are 29% less likely than males to own acell phone and 52% less likely to utilize mobile internet in Bangladesh (cited in theBusiness Standard, 3 February 2021, https://cutt.ly/Xmv81hR).

Innovative products by women entrepreneurs(Pictures extracted from Women and E-Commerce Forum (WE))

Philippines

Bangladesh

India

Alexander Antonio Abelar

Nishat Taslin Mohana

Neha Vekhande-Hinge

College Instructor

University Student

Assistant Professor

6No.90 August 2021

Pro file2021 Foreign Correspondent Report

PANDEMIC, ICT, AND
LEADERSAlexander Antonio V. Abelar (Philippines)

An educator with two decades of teaching/tutoring experience.
Currently teaches tourism management at the Imus Institute of
Scienceand Technology in Imus City, Cavite Province,
ISSN 0918-8266Philippines. Coming from a modest social-economic backgroundand a former migrant worker, Alex has experienced first-handinequalities brought about by an imperfect society, which has
prodded him to be more empathetic to the plight of those in theless privileged sectors.

The Philippines has suffered from one of the biggest blows
brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, especially interms of economic difficulties besides health-related
concerns. According to the National Economic Development
Authority of the Philippine Government, the country’s
economic activity has contracted by 9.5 percent in 2020(source: https://cutt.lylm00aTh). The recession further
continued in the first quarter of 2021 with a decrease of 4.2
percent in GDP (source: https://cutt.ly/am00ju5). The
statistics reflect a seemingly hopeless situation, worsenedby economic uncertainties and by the national governmentthat had its share of lapses, with erring officials flouting
quarantine rules among others.
But then again, people have risen to the challenge, andinitiatives have been made viral, largely throughInformation and Communication Technology (ICT).

ISSN 0918-8266

ISSN 0918-8266

ANA PATRICIA NON helps a vendor pack vegetables from her community
pantry along Maginhawa St., Quezon City on April 15, 2021. — PHILIPPINESTAR / MICHAEL VARCAS

directly from farmers at a fair price (source: https://cutt.ly/
rm00Em4), to creating an app that helps citizens find a nearby
community pantry for their in-kind donations (source: https://cutt.ly/Zm00Yx9), and to donating money via fintech (source:
https://cutt.ly/Dm00IB7).

Good governanceCommunity pantry and social media
What started as a personal and a modest effort by a young
woman to help marginalized people in her locale turned intoa nationwide movement of community pantries, providing
poor people with a day’s worth of food and something to lookforward to in the coming days and weeks. Patricia Non, ayoung entrepreneur whose fledgling furniture business wasaffected by the mobility and quarantine restrictions brought
about by COVID-19, started her community pantry in astreet that was a popular dining hangout before thepandemic. From a small bamboo rack about the size of asmall TV stand containing vegetables and basic provisions,her project inspired hundreds of other community pantries
in Metro Manila - the National Capital Region of thePhilippines. Eventually, the movement spread nationwide,with new iterations such as a combined food and medical
community pantry (source: https://cutt.ly/0m00v9c) andeven a community pantry for pets.
Ms. Non’s efforts have become popular mainly because of social
media. People have used ICT to help in any way, from buying

Barring those traditional politicians,
demagogues and political butterflies,
there are some shining stars in thegovernment, both at the national andlocal levels. The Vice President of thePhilippines, for example, has turned
to ICT to maximize her reach inassisting Filipinos in this pandemic, A call for volunteers
announcement ofgiven her office’s limited mandate E-Konsulta
andfinancialresources.
She
launched E-Konsulta, a teleconsultation platform using
Facebook Messenger, which has helped thousands of people
who need free medical consultations and referrals (source:
https://cutt.ly/0m00Dc7).
The pandemic has brought out the worst and the best inpeople, and ICT can be harnessed positively to help
accelerate the latter. It can also be utilized to take on thechallenges of an ever-increasing VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain,
Complex, and Ambiguous) world, provided citizens recognize
the true leaders.

Help us improve Asian Breeze!
We would like to know what you think about Asian Breeze so we can meet readers’needs and improve our work. Please help us by completing a short survey which isaccessible from this QR code. It should only take about 1-2 minutes to complete. All
responses will remain confidential.
Deadline: November 1, 2021

KITAKYUSHUOTEMACHI BUILDING
3F
Two respondents
will be selected to each win a towel handkerchief fromIMABARI×SHIMA-SHIMA
featuringa unique Kokura-ori design (pattern may vary).
Locationof
OTEMACHI
KOKURAKITA,
803-0814
Kokura-ori was a traditional textile that was produced at the beginningof the11-4,
17th
century byKITAKYUSHU,
the feudal clan
in JAPAN
the Kokura area of southern Japan.
Kitakyushu
PHONE＋81-93-583-3434 FAX＋81-93-583-5195

Beijing

Dalian
Seoul

Tokyo

Kitakyushu
Location of
KITAKYUSHU OTEMACHI BUILDING 3F
Kitakyushu

OTEMACHI 11-4, KOKURAKITA, KITAKYUSHU, 803-0814 JAPAN
PHONE＋81-93-583-3434 FAX＋81-93-583-5195

KFAW

DalianE-mail: kfaw@kfaw.or.jp URL: http://www.kfaw.or.jp/index.html.en

Beijing

Seoul

KFAW

E-mail: kfaw@kfaw.or.jp URL: http://www.kfaw.or.jp/index.html.en

The Kitakyushu Forum on Asian Women (KFAW) was established in October of 1990 with a special
Achieving
the SDGsfromKFAW
OTEMACHIBUILDING
governmentKITAKYUSHU
fund for revitalization
projects. 3F
Subsequently, in 1993, the KFAW was recognized as a
OTEMACHI
11-4,at
KOKURAKITA,
803-0814
KFAW
aims
GOAL
foundation by
the Ministryof achieving
Labour (theKITAKYUSHU,
present5Ministryof JAPAN
Health, Labour and Welfare). The purpose
FAX＋81-93-583-5195
PHONE＋81-93-583-3434(Gender
Equality),
sharingthechallengesof the KFAW
istopromotetheimprovementof
women'sstatusthrough various projects as well as theirE-mail: kfaw@kfaw.or.jp URL: http://www.kfaw.or.jp/index.html.en
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.90 July
No.86
August2019
2021
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

TM