March 8 is International Women’s Day, a United Nations event, and 50 years after its establishment in 1975, the environment surrounding women around the world is gradually improving, but there are still many issues to be addressed. Ms. Honoki Sawa, a former member of Japan’s women’s national soccer team, and Ms. Atsuko Kamei, Director of JICA’s Human Development Division, spoke about their thoughts on achieving gender equality and a “future where everyone can live comfortably.
Ms. Hotomi Sawa and Ms. Atsuko Kamei, Director of JICA’s Human Development Department
Refused to join a soccer club “because I’m a girl.
Atsuko Kamei, Director, Human Development Division, JICA (hereinafter referred to as “Ms. Sawa”) was selected for the Japanese women’s national soccer team at the age of 15, won the World Cup (World Cup) in Germany and was awarded MVP, and won the silver medal at the London Olympics. She must have had some difficulties in the past because she is a woman.
I started playing soccer when I was 6 years old, but the club I wanted to join was a “boys’ soccer team” and once rejected me, saying that there was no precedent for girls to join a team. My mother directly asked me to change history at Hohki, and I was able to join the team. However, I was disappointed that only boys could participate in the “National Youth Soccer Tournament” when I was in the sixth grade. I was sometimes told by boys, “Girls shouldn’t be playing soccer,” and I sometimes wondered why I was not allowed to play just because I was a woman, or if I should have been born a man.
Homare Sawa
A former member of Japan’s women’s national soccer team, she joined the national team at the age of 15 and has participated in six World Cups and four Olympic Games. She has pioneered the Japanese women’s soccer world, boasting brilliant achievements, including the highest number of appearances and goals in the history of the Japanese women’s national team. Currently, she is a mother of one child and is involved in activities to promote the sport while raising her child.
Mr. Sawa around the third grade of elementary school
Kamei: Nowadays it is not unusual for women to play soccer, but as a pioneer, Ms. Sawa herself must have felt frustrated simply because she was a woman.
Sawa: That’s right. I wondered why people would judge me solely on the basis of my gender when I had found something I loved, soccer. But I am basically a positive person, so that frustration became the driving force for me to continue playing soccer.
Kamei: I think Mr. Sawa was a better soccer player than the boys who spoke out of turn.
Sawa: No, no, I didn’t think so, but I wanted to achieve results in a world where competence is the name of the game. In terms of work, instead of saying, “I have to take this job because I am a man or a woman,” it would be better if people who can do that job, whether male or female, take that job. I don’t want to be divided by conditions such as gender.
Kamei: Gender should not determine jobs and roles. When I was looking for a job, I was once sent home on the spot saying, “No women will be hired this year. Even after I got a job, I was mistakenly thought to be a secretary when I went on a visit with a male staff member, or I was told at my first job that “women should serve tea first. Basically, I thought that men and women were equal until my schooling, so I was shocked to face the discrimination that women were subjected to for the first time when I entered the workforce.
Haruko Kamei, Director, Human Development Division, JICA
After working in the private sector, he joined JICA in 1998. After working in Nepal Office, South Asia Division, JICA Sadako Ogata Peace and Development Institute, Director of Gender Equality and Poverty Reduction Promotion Office, and Director of Cambodia Office, he has been in charge of JICA projects in health, education, and social security in the Human Development Division since April 2023. Her areas of interest are education and development, gender and development, and South Asia region.
Kamei: Female athletes also have menstrual problems.
Sawa: That’s right. We all had problems with menstruation when we were in white uniforms. Menstrual cramps make it hard to concentrate, and near the day of ovulation, ligaments loosen, making it easier to injure yourself. It was hard to talk to the team doctor if he was a man, and especially when I was young, I didn’t want people to know I was menstruating. It would also affect my performance, so I would take the pill to avoid having important matches coincide with my period.
Honoki Sawa playing at the 2012 London Olympics, where he won the silver medal.
Photo by Ben Radford/Corbis via Getty Images
Kamei: It is indeed difficult to consult a male doctor. In fact, one of the reasons why girls in developing countries cannot go to school is menstruation. They use hay or rags as a substitute because they cannot obtain sanitary products, or even if they can use sanitary products, it becomes difficult for them to go to school if there is no place to throw them away in the school toilets. JICA, in cooperation with Unicharm Corporation and the NGO JOICFP, has been working on menstrual education and the dissemination of sanitary napkins in Myanmar, as well as cooperating to solve gender issues, including menstruation, in Africa.
In addition, Flora Corporation, a FemTech* company, surveyed a sewing factory in Vietnam and found that productivity dropped by more than 10% during women’s menstrual periods. Since the factory managers were mainly men and had no understanding of menstruation, they improved the environment and work efficiency by providing training on women’s menstruation and health aspects by showing data and introducing FemTech, such as water absorbent panties that absorb menstrual blood in the panties themselves.
I would like to see an environment where women can feel comfortable discussing their physical health, both at school and at work. I think it is very important for women to have the right to self-determination regarding their own health and sexuality (SRHR: Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights).
- FemTech is a coined word of “Female” + “Technology” and refers to products and services that use advanced technology to solve problems specific to women such as menstruation and menopause.
Not only individual efforts, but also changes in social structure are needed
Sawa: I lived in the U.S. for a time when I moved to the American Women’s League, and there I realized that there is discrimination not only against gender, but also against race and other minorities.
Kamei: I have also lived in the U.S. for several years. There are things that you don’t understand until you become a minority.
Sawa: Through various experiences, I have learned some things, and I have also had my share of frustrations. However, by producing results, the people around me have changed. When I won the World Cup at a time when attendance and income were low, the men’s team was still treated better than the women’s team, but when I won the silver medal at the London Olympics, I was upgraded to business class on my return flight, the same as the men’s team. After that, a chef accompanied the team on its tours, just as the men’s team did, and a professional women’s soccer league was also established. By producing results, the environment surrounding us has changed.
Ms. Sawa came to the U.S. in 1999 to play in the U.S. Women’s Soccer League.
Kamei: It was in the news that the plane for the London Olympics was economy class for the women who won the World Cup the previous year while the men were in business class. However, I think they had to make more effort than the men to be recognized.
Sawa: That may be so.
Kamei: It would be nice if men and women were equally recognized for the same efforts. In many cases, girls have fewer opportunities to attend school than boys, and the mortality rate from natural disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis is higher for women than for boys. The risk of natural disasters should be equal regardless of gender. However, women are often at home taking care of children, the elderly, and livestock, and are unable to escape on their own. In addition, in some cases, lack of schooling prevents them from understanding the content of emergency broadcasts and delays their escape. The reality is that life and death depend on “socially expected roles (gender). There is a gender gap (disparity caused by gender) and gender bias in every situation, and it is difficult for each individual to change this through their own efforts. I feel that society as a whole needs to change, and JICA would like to work on this.
Sawa: I was born in the Showa period (1926-1989), so I grew up with the value system that “men work and women stay at home. But now the situation has changed, and it makes me happy to see both men and women working and playing an active role.
Kamei: Actually, the employment rate of Japanese women (aged 15-64) is 72.4%, one of the highest in the world. The world average is 48.3%, Canada, which is said to be high, is 61.0%, and neighboring South Korea is 55.0%, so you can see how high the figure is. However, women in Japan are paid only 70-80% of men’s salaries, which is one of the largest gaps among developed countries. Even when looking at the time spent doing care work such as childcare and nursing care, women in Japan are 5.5 times more likely to be working than men. This is 2.7 times more than the world average, and women are responsible for the majority of unpaid work such as childcare and nursing care in addition to their work.
Sawa: Perhaps some people still think that women are supposed to raise children. But since the children are the couple’s children, they should raise them together.
Kamei: That’s right. If men do not change, cooperation in child rearing will not progress, and the gender gap will not disappear. In terms of eliminating gender bias in child rearing, JICA is encouraging male participation by including illustrations of fathers’ participation in the mother-child handbook. In Muslim countries, women are not allowed to go out alone, so JICA is working to have fathers understand the necessity of vaccinations. I hope that it will become commonplace for men and women to cooperate together.
Maternal and child health handbooks in Palestine (left) and Indonesia (right).
portraying fathers to encourage men’s participation in child rearing.
A future in which everyone can realize their individuality without closing off possibilities.
Kamei: To close the gender gap, it is also important to be aware of the existence of gender bias. Gender bias is unconsciously held by both men and women. For example, there are few women in science and engineering faculties in Japan, and some universities have recently established quotas for women to correct this situation. However, it has been statistically confirmed that there is no difference in mathematical academic ability between boys and girls to begin with. Why, then, do so few girls go on to enter science and engineering? One reason is that from the time they are young, adults around them tell them that science is impossible or useless for girls, or do not expect them to pursue it, causing a “cooling down effect of aspiration. They assume, “I can’t do it because it’s not expected of me.” The bias caused by social structures that girls are not expected, even if not explicitly stated, is a major problem.
Sawa It is true that a decade ago, the atmosphere in soccer was that “girls couldn’t do it,” and the possibilities were closed to them.
Mr. Sawa around the third grade of elementary school
Kamei: While it is important for each individual to make efforts not to be trapped by gender bias, it is also extremely important for the adults around them and society as a whole not to close off the potential of children and to create a fair and just society. It is also important to continue to speak out and say, “What is not right is not right. In the past, the term “sexual harassment” did not even exist, but it has become a common word and is now recognized as a violation of human rights. Society has changed its perception that “fetching tea” is not a woman’s job either. I believe that by raising these issues, we can open up new avenues one by one.
You have a girl child, what kind of world do you want for the future of women?
Sawa: The best world is one where people can be who they are. Many people tend to compare themselves with others, but this can make them feel suffocated and make life difficult. Of course it is important to not want to lose, but rather than losing confidence by comparing yourself to others, I would rather you know your own strengths and individuality and fully demonstrate them. If you don’t know your own strengths, you should ask others. Sometimes the people around you know you better than you know yourself. I believe that a better team and society can be created if there are people with various personalities, and I hope that such a society can be created.
Kamei: Mr. Sawa paved the way, which has led to the dreams of girls who are now working hard at soccer. We, too, have been helped by the paths paved by the older generation, and we would like to pass on something better to the next generation. Nowadays, the words “diversity and inclusion” and “diversity” are often heard, but I hope that we can create a society where we can truly make use of each individual’s personality and strengths, as Ms. Sawa said, and not just use words that sound nice.
© Source JICA
Auto Amazon Links: No products found.
Auto Amazon Links: No products found.