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OO RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM RUEHNH RUEHPB
DE RUEHKO #2889/01 3510629
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 170629Z DEC 09
FM AMEMBASSY TOKYO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 8282
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 TOKYO 002889 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR S/GWI WENCHI YU 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KTIP KWMN JA
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR VERVEER CALLS FOR COOPERATION ON 
WOMEN'S EMPOWERMENT ISSUES 
 
TOKYO 00002889  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
 ¶1. (U) Summary. Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's 
Issues Melanne Verveer proposed cooperation between Japan and 
the United States to improve the situation of women in a 
meeting in Tokyo with Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, 
Food Safety, Social Affairs and Gender Equality, Mizuho 
Fukushima.  Possible areas might include reducing 
gender-based pay inequality, improving access to affordable 
child-care for working women, supporting and empowering 
female entrepreneurs, and increasing the number of women in 
positions of political and governmental leadership. End 
Summary. 
 
¶2. (U) S/GWI Ambassador Verveer met December 10 with Minister 
of State for Consumer Affairs, Food Safety, Social 
Affairs and Gender Equality Mizuho Fukushima.  Fukushima, who 
is also the head of the Social Democratic Party, agreed with 
Ambassador Verveer,s assessment that with an increase in 
women's economic participation, GDP goes up.  Both agreed 
that to facilitate greater economic participation by women 
there is a need to create more child care facilities.  In 
Japan, there is an M-shaped graph that depicts the percentage 
of employed women by age, Fukushima noted.  When women have 
children they drop out of the labor market.  She said 
offering both paternity and maternity leave was one way of 
addressing this problem.  According to Minister Fukushima, 
"Up to now Japan has not invested much in its children.  The 
new administration aims to make this a society that values 
and invests in it children."  Minister Fukushima said Japan 
was also discussing with South Korea the issue of how to 
raise birth rates while increasing women's participation in 
the economic sphere.  She added that one notable trend in 
South Korea was the increasing number of marriages to 
non-Korean women. 
¶3. (U) Minister Fukushima encouraged the United States to 
find a way to ratify CEDAW (The Convention for the 
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women). 
Ambassador Verveer acknowledged that the United States was 
now among a small and dwindling number of countries that had 
not ratified. While the Obama administration vows to make 
CEDAW ratification one of its priorities, Ambassador Verveer 
pointed out the political difficulties of needing to obtain a 
Senate "super-majority" to ratify. 
 
¶4. (U) Minister Fukushima said she had learned much from the 
United States and the Children's Defense Fund when she 
visited as an IVLP program invitee in the 1990's.  She added 
that many of Japan's efforts in terms of protection orders 
and women's shelters were modeled on programs she observed at 
that time. 
 
¶5. (U) Ambassador Verveer welcomed some of Japan's efforts in 
the Anti-Trafficking in Person (TIP) area, stating she had 
noticed an improvement in terms of signs and posters.  She 
pointed out that TIP is a worldwide problem and Japan and the 
United States should look for ways to cooperate in combating 
TIP.  In the United States, added the Ambassador, TIP is 
dealt with by a wide range of agencies across the government. 
 Keiko Takegawa, Deputy Director General for Gender Equality, 
pointed out that the situation was similar in Japan with the 
addition that there was an Inter-Ministerial Liaison 
Committee to Combat Trafficking in Persons that served to 
coordinate the anti-TIP actions of the various agencies. 
Minister Fukushima stated that as a lawyer in the private 
 
TOKYO 00002889  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
sector she had worked to defend Asian women who were being 
protected by the Asian Women's Shelter.  The Minister stated 
that Japan was also aware of some labor trafficking and that 
there were cases in which mostly Chinese workers who had 
entered the country under the trainee visa program had ended 
up in bad work situations.  The government, she said, is 
looking into this situation. 
 
¶6. (U) Asked what the Government of Japan was doing to 
increase the number of women leaders in government,  Minister 
Fukushima said Japan had a goal of 30% of government 
employees being women by 2020.  At present her ministry was 
planning a meeting of all 27 Japanese women mayors and 3 
women governors, to further draw up plans.  She agreed though 
that more needs to be done, particularly in increasing the 
number of women at the managerial level.  Japanese women she 
pointed out are "extremely well-educated."  Asked for ideas 
of areas the United States and Japan could cooperate on in 
empowering women, Minister Fukushima said, "We need to find 
ways of improving the work-life balance."  She added that 
perhaps some kind of an affirmative action policy would be 
necessary.  The minister also said Japan needed to further 
improve its protective shelter system for women as well as 
change the legal system so that protective orders are more 
effective. 
 
¶7. (U) Ambassador Verveer closed by offering cooperation in 
terms of exchanges and conferences.  She pointed out that 
Japan was the host of APEC in 2010 to be followed by the 
United States in 2011.  She suggested that perhaps Japan and 
the United States could cooperate in women's economic 
development programs, and/or setting up a women's 
entrepreneurship summit for women from the APEC countries. 
 
¶8. (U) This cable was cleared by S/GWI. 
ROOS