Because I am a woman,” “I should be a man,” and so on. In some cases, such socially defined “ideal” and “roles” lead to inequality and inconvenience. Saitama Prefecture has decided to incorporate a “gender perspective” into prefectural policies in order to eliminate such inequalities and create a society in which all people can live comfortably. The supporting role is played by JICA. How will the prefecture’s policies change?
What is gender in the first place, and what is gender mainstreaming?
The term “gender equality” has become well known in recent years, but do you know what “gender mainstreaming” is?
Gender is a social and cultural gender difference added to the sex assigned at birth. It is a social and cultural definition and embodiment of “what one should be” and “what one’s role should be” in society and culture, with such pillow phrases as “male/female” and “feminine/masculine.
Although this gender does not contain good or bad values in itself, it may lead to inequality, disparity, and inconvenience, such as sex discrimination, prejudice, and fixed role divisions based on gender. The idea of “gender equality” is to correct these inequalities and disparities.
And the approach of incorporating a “gender perspective,” which focuses on issues and needs arising from fixed social roles and power relations, into the planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation stages of policies and projects in various fields is called “gender mainstreaming.
Achieving gender equality is one of the goals of the SDGs and a cross-cutting issue for all goals
Leading other municipalities. Saitama Prefecture aims to mainstream gender in all policies.
Saitama Prefecture is one of the earliest local governments in Japan to mainstream gender in all prefectural policies. At a press conference last August, Governor Motohiro Ohno announced that the prefecture would incorporate a gender perspective into all of its policies. However, because understanding of gender mainstreaming was not well developed within the prefectural government, and because it was difficult to address all projects simultaneously, five model projects were first selected from a wide range of prefectural government fields. Then, at the request of the prefectural government, JICA was asked to serve as an advisor.
Governor Motohiro Ohno of Saitama Prefecture held a press conference on April 2 this year on the promotion of gender mainstreaming. He expressed his intention to expand efforts to eliminate gender disparities throughout the prefecture, aiming to make “Saitama an easy place to live for everyone.
Some people in the department and section had question marks floating around, ‘Why JICA? Personally, I have known about JICA’s activities since I was dispatched from the prefectural government to the Japan Foundation about 20 years ago, so I am very happy to have been able to cooperate with JICA. I personally have known about JICA’s activities since I was dispatched from the prefectural government to the Japan Foundation about 20 years ago, so I am very happy that JICA cooperated with us.
Disaster Response from a Gender Perspective,” a project of the Department of Emergency Management and Disaster Prevention, is one of the five model projects selected. Other projects covered are “Supporting Women’s Business Startups,” “Training and Securing New Farmers,” “Development of Urban Park Facilities,” and “Encouraging Male Employees to Take Childcare Leave.
JICA has been promoting gender mainstreaming for 30 years in promoting development cooperation in developing countries; in 2015, JICA formulated the “Guide for Gender Mainstreaming” and has been promoting efforts in accordance with this guide. Saitama Prefecture’s attention to this experience and knowledge made it possible for JICA to provide cooperation to promote gender mainstreaming to local governments in Japan, a first for JICA.
To realize “people-friendly disaster prevention
So what kind of support did JICA provide? Let’s take a look at the “Disaster Response from a Gender Perspective” project.
JICA conducted a total of four review meetings with Saitama Prefecture for each department in charge. From the identification of gender issues in the project to the formulation of initiatives and draft plans to resolve such issues, the project inspection was carried out in a process based on JICA’s gender mainstreaming method, with JICA providing advice at each review meeting.
Business inspection sheet used in the study group
For example, in the Crisis Management and Disaster Prevention Department, at the first review meeting, there was a presentation on gender issues that were empirically identified within the department. In response to a comment that “many municipalities have small budgets and lack of understanding of gender” that was raised as a factor in the challenges, JICA advised that there may be more factors from the outside. JICA also advised on efforts to increase the number of female committee members in prefectural disaster management councils and the need for research on “gender-based violence” during disasters.
Chief Ozawa discusses JICA’s advice as follows.
At first, I wondered how important it would be to increase the percentage of women on disaster management committee members. However, after receiving advice and conducting a survey of other municipalities, I found that municipalities with a higher percentage of women on their disaster management committees tend to have a higher level of gender awareness, which made me realize that there is a link between the two.
With regard to gender-based violence, they have found it necessary to identify the damage caused by past disasters and review everything from the establishment of shelters to their operation, based on JICA’s advice.
Source: Great East Japan Earthquake Women’s Support Network, Survey Report on Violence against Women and Children during Disaster and Reconstruction in the Great East Japan Earthquake.
The report states, “Gender-based violence in times of disaster stems from the social structure of gender inequality, and manifests itself in ways that strongly reflect and further reinforce those in peacetime. In addition to this survey of damage from the Great East Japan Earthquake, the Disaster Response Division also investigated the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake and the Kumamoto Earthquake
Chief Ozawa said he hopes to promote “people-friendly disaster management” by promoting gender mainstreaming.
‘Disaster prevention’ should absolutely be people-friendly. This is especially true for shelters. Are they places where women, who are more likely to be placed in severe situations during a disaster, can take refuge in peace? Is it a place where families, children, and loved ones can live? We have decided that we need to review shelters from these perspectives.
The Disaster Countermeasures Division plans to create a prefecture-standard manual for opening and operating evacuation centers from a gender perspective and video materials, and to promote their dissemination to all municipalities by developing municipal versions of the manual based on the manual.
The prefecture will serve as a “model” for municipalities, showing them how they can take concrete action. We will also provide a guideline for the percentage of female members in prefectural disaster management councils, which will make it easier for municipalities to take action by increasing the number of female members among the experts in various fields.
Saitama Prefecture disaster drill simulating a large-scale disaster (2022). In the center (blue jacket and white bib) is Section Chief Ozawa, who served as the conductor.
Questionnaires and hearings were also conducted for each project to identify buried gender-specific needs. Efforts to improve the effectiveness of measures to meet those needs are reflected in the prefecture’s budget for the current fiscal year.
Japan’s “Gender Gap Index” Ranks 125th in the World/JICA’s Findings to be Returned to Japan
According to the 2023 edition of the Gender Gap Index* released by the World Economic Forum, Japan ranks 125th out of 146 countries, the lowest ever. The realization of gender equality in Japan lags far behind that of other countries, and we are pressed to make more serious efforts to close the gender gap in the future. And now, more and more local governments, like Saitama Prefecture, are taking the initiative in promoting gender mainstreaming, keenly aware of the need to do so.
JICA has also gained a great response through this cooperation with Saitama Prefecture that the gender mainstreaming methods it has been working on in international cooperation can be fully utilized in Japan as well. As the need for gender mainstreaming increases both domestically and internationally to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), there is a growing possibility that JICA’s knowledge accumulated through its development cooperation can be applied to domestic efforts in Japan.
© Source JICA
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