Asian Breeze

No.97
No.

Online Newsletter

97

August2023

KITAKYUSHU FORUM ON ASIAN WOMEN
Kitakyushu Otemachi Building 3F, Otemachi 11-4,
Kokurakita, Kitakkyushu, Fukuoka 803-0814 JAPAN
PHONE +81-93-583-3434 FAX +81-93-583-5195
E-mail: info@kfaw.or.jp URL: https://www.kfaw.or.jp/en
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kfaw.or.jp.en

Kitakyushu Forum on Asian Women (KFAW) Web-based Newsletter

Contents
Did the G7 Accelerate Gender Equality, or is it Just "Feminist Diplomacy" as Token? .............. 1- YAMAGUCHI Satoko, W7 Japan Steering Committee Member

CSW67 Meeting Summary Report..................................................................................................... 4- HORIUCHI Mitsuko, President of KFAWCSW Field Report ................................................................................................................................ 5- OKUZAKI Reia
GOTEN Resort, Inc. and member of BPW Japan, graduated from the University of Kitakyushu

NGO Forum Parallel Event Participation Report ......................................................................... 6- UENO Mayuko, A staff of KFAW in International Exchange Division

The G7 Hiroshima Summit was held from May 19 to 21. This issue of Asian Breeze features an article
by Ms. YAMAGUCHI, who was involved in the summit as a member of W7 (Woman7).
KFAW also held the debriefing of the 67th session of the United Nations Commission on the Status ofWomen (CSW67) on 30 May 2023. CSW is one of the functional commissions of the Economic andSocial Council. It meets annually around March at UN Headquarters in New York to formulate
policies/actions on gender equality. Speakers at the debriefing were Ms. HORIUCHI, President ofKFAW, Ms. OKUZAKI, a member of BPW Japan, and Ms. UENO, a staff of KFAW in International
Exchange Division. The contents of each report are also posted.

Did the G7 Accelerate Gender Equality, or is it Just "Feminist
Diplomacy" as Token?
- YAMAGUCHI Satoko
W7 Japan Steering Committee Member
It is probably fresh in your minds that the G7Summit was held in Hiroshima from May 19 to21, 2023, and that Ukrainian President
Zelenskyy also participated in the Summit by1

Asian Breeze

No.97

Online Newsletter

surprise. I attended the G7 Hiroshima Summit tosection dedicated to gender1, as in the previous

see what kind of discussions would take place
among the leaders and what would be agreed
upon, especially with regard to gender.
The Summit is a forum for the political leaders,
and why I was given the opportunity toparticipate in it was by reason of my commitmentin the Engagement Group. In recent years, there
has been a lot of activities in making

Summits, and states a commitment to "providing
support for childcare and other field of care workand care economy“2. It is also worth highlightingthat the Communiqué recognizes the essential
and transformative role of comprehensive SRHR
(Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights) in
supporting gender equality and diversity,
including sexual orientations and gender
identities3.

recommendations to the governments within G7
discussions from their respective fields, and thegroups that conduct such advocacy in an official
way are called the Engagement Groups. One
such is the W7, which develops policy
recommendations from a gender perspective andthe standpoint of civil society. The G7 accounts
for 40% of global GDP. Recognizing such impact,
the W7 has consistently ensured participations

On the other hand, throughout the Communiqué,
it does not mention concrete measures toimplement these commitments. For example,
Paragraph 44 says "to make every effort tocollectively increase the share of our bilateral
allocable ODA advancing gender equality andwomen’s and girls’ empowerment over thecoming years", but a specific financialfrom the Global South. At the same time, the W7
hasincorporated
theperspectiveofintersectionality, the idea that discriminations
and oppressions intersect based on multiple
characteristics such as disability, sexualorientation, gender identity, age, and ethnicity,and has worked to ensure that those voices thathave not been fully heard are reflected in theW7's Communique. As a member of the W7
Steering Committee, I participated in the G7commitment with a clearly set timeframe shouldbe accompanied. It is not enough to simply talkabout ideals; the role of the G7 and politics is totake concrete measures including funding.

Hiroshima Summit in order to monitor and lobby
the process so that the Leaders’ Communiquéwould be as gender-sensitive as possible.

to peace”. And it was that Hiroshima where anagreement was reached to strengthen military
assistance to Ukraine. The W7, which has called
for a non-violent foreign policy, including
reduction in military spending, as conflict
disproportionately affects women and girls,expresses deep concerns that the HiroshimaSummit, while proclaiming peace, turned into an

As for why Hiroshima was chosen as the venueof the Summit, Prime Minister Kishida explained"As the prime minister of Japan, the only country
to have suffered the atomic bombings, there is no
better than Hiroshima to show our commitment

While the major themes of the Summit were thesituation in Ukraine and nuclear disarmament,
gender issues were also discussed. The Leaders’Communiqué, the outcome of the Summit, has a“G7 Hiroshima Leaders' Communiqué” Paragraph
42 to 44.
12
3

2Paragraph 36
Paragraph 43

Asian Breeze

No.97

Online Newsletter

opportunity to increase arms supply.

Meeting on Gender Equality and Women's

On another note, following Germany's
Presidency last year, this year's Leaders’Communiqué also gave accounts of sexual
minorities. We find adoption of the following
sentence, "we strongly condemn all violations
and abuses of human rights and fundamental
freedoms for women and girls and LGBTQIA+
people around the world" as a step forward

Empowerment was held. The three W7
representatives were given the opportunity toparticipate and engage in the discussions
throughout the Meeting, as were the Ministers
from each country. The W7 appreciates themeaningful engagement of the W7, composed ofcivil society organizations in the Gender
Equality Ministerial Meeting as a way of
inclusive decision-making.

compared to the previous year4.
The Joint Statement of the G7 Gender Equality
Ministers adopted at the end of the Meeting,provided
analysisthatgender-based
discriminations and violence have become
increasingly complex and difficult to resolve due
to COVID-19 pandemic, ongoing conflicts
around the world, and emerging technologies.
Given these situations, the Joint Statement

A new engagement group, P7 (Pride7), wasestablished this year to address the rights ofsexual minorities, and W7 and P7 collaborated
on joint press conferences and other activities
during the Hiroshima Summit. Gender-based
discrimination is not only directed between men
and women, but also at sexual minorities who areseen as deviating from sexual normativity, so it
is essential to work in solidarity.

concludes that "We will continue our efforts
toward realizing a society where the humanrights and dignity of all women, girls andLGBTQIA+ persons, are fully respected,promoted and protected. We are committed tofighting the backlash against gender equality."

In Japan, the law for the promotion ofunderstanding of the LGBT was passed andenacted after the Hiroshima Summit. However,the legislation says 'peace of mind' of all citizens
and prioritizes rights of majority. Now that thelaw is in effect, rather than strongly condemning
all violations and abuses of human rights, the P7

As a member of a civil society organization, I
will continue to monitor governments and raise
my voice to ensure that the G7countries and, ofCommittee members castigate the politicallydriven attacks escalated on trans persons, inparticular trans women as if they are threats tothe safety and security of women, and question
whether the Communique at the Hiroshima
Summit was merely a diplomatic performance.

course Japan take substantive action promised inthese Communiques.

On June 24-25, about a month after theHiroshima Summit, Japan's first Ministerial
4

Paragraph 43
3

Asian Breeze

No.97

Online Newsletter【Profile of Ms. YAMAGUCHI (she/her) 】
W7 Japan Steering Committee Member/
Generation Equality Youth Task Force Member/
Member of Board of Trustees, ICHIKAWA
Fusae Center for Women and Governance
She was a former member of the Generation
Equality Youth Task Force set up by UN Women(August 2019 to November 2021) and a young
women’s program coordinator at YWCA ofJapan, where she has worked on youth-led andintergenerational
movements
building,
developing strategies, coordinating programs
and campaigns, and conducting lectures atvarious levels from grassroots to international
political arena for gender equality.

CSW67 Meeting Summary Report- HORIUCHI Mitsuko
President of KFAW
The priority theme of CSW67 is “Innovation andtechnological change, and education in thedigital age for achieving gender equality and theThis year's CSW67 was the first time Youth
Forum was held. Although I do not have enoughinformation on the details, youth involvement in

empowerment of all women and girls”

gender equality is much wanted.

Because this was discussed only by the delegates,
UN Women sees the challenges of the digitalworld as described before. There is muchdiscrimination and exclusion of women in thedigital world: only 22% of the AI-related
workforce is female, and 44.2% of AI systems
are said to have a gender - bias.

https://www.unwomen.org/en/csw/csw67-2023

4

Asian Breeze

No.97

Online Newsletter

CSW Field Report- OKUZAKI Reia
GOTEN Resort, Inc. and member of BPW Japan, graduatedfrom the University of Kitakyushu
I participated in CSW67 from March 5 to March
16. I would like to introduce some of the events
that left a deep impression on me.

Participating in CSW67, I was very much
impressed by great energy shown by participants.
I got encouragement and confidence to continue
my activities. The participants with a variety ofbackgrounds and role models will open up new
possibilities for my future. I had the opportunity
to meet youth reporters from other NGO, who
had different reasons and identities forparticipating, which stimulated me andmotivated me to continue my activities.

One was a discussion on digital education hosted
by the Canadian NGO. An NGO speaker said that
digital education in compulsory schools is good
until the age of 15, and that exposure to digital inchildhood changes attitudes toward digital. She
also talked about gender gap in digital is creatinga new gender inequality. I felt that digital
education must be provided at an earlier age inJapan.
Another thing is about the International Women'sDay. There was an events organized by UNWOMEN and held in the General Assembly Hall.
One of the memorable moment was to say "Youare beautiful" to each other, and the entire Hallechoed with voices saying "You are beautiful.” I
felt very happy to be there.
During participating in CSW67, BPW Japan helda parallel event under the theme of “How to makeactions
for gendermainstreaming inentrepreneurship.” We had a presentation by Ms.
KIKUCHI Moana who runs a business inTanzania, and had a group discussion. Forty-twopeople attended the event, including those from
United Kingdom, Republic of Kores and France.

5Asian Breeze

No.97

Online Newsletter

NGO Forum Parallel Event Participation Report- UENO Mayuko
A staff of KFAW in International Exchange Division
On 11 March, I participated in a parallel event
organized by Japanese Association ofInternational Women's Rights (JAIWR). The
theme of my own presentation was "Online
Training on Gender Mainstreaming Training forHowever, there are challenges with online. Oneof the challenges might be internet access indeveloping countries. In light of the above
advantages and challenges of online training, I
would like to apply this experience to my future

Government Officers in Developing Countries.”
KFAW is commissioned by JICA Kyushu toprovide training to government officers indeveloping countries. The training has continued
for 30 years, from 1992 to 2022, with 486
administrative officers from 91 countries.

work. In general, it goes without saying that face
to face meetings are really much better thanVideo conferences.
In light of the above advantages and challenges
of online training, I would like to make use ofthis experience to my future works.

The advantage of online training is that there isno need to travel. It is also considered effective
for people with disabilities, caregivers andchildcare providers. As stated in Article 10 of theConvention on the elimination of all forms ofdiscrimination against women, "elimination ofdiscrimination in education," online training canbe used to provide opportunities for those whohave not had access to education for variousreasons. In addition, by recording videos,trainees can watch programmes over and overagain resulting better understanding.

Thank you for reading. Any comments and suggestions are welcome.
Email us!
info@kfaw.or.jp

6