Women’s Participation and Advancement in Japanese Society: A Case Study

In response to the challenges encountered by the international community, the Government of Japan enacted the Development Cooperation Charter by Cabinet approval in February 2015. This Charter emphasizes quality development and poverty alleviation via growth founded on the principle of human security. The Charter identifies the promotion of women's participation as a fundamental principle for ensuring the appropriateness of development cooperation, explicitly affirming Japan's commitment to enhance women's involvement at all stages of development cooperation and to actively ensure that women equitably benefit from developmental outcomes. The significance of women's empowerment is acknowledged globally in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which was endorsed at the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit in September 2015. It delineates the 17 Sustainable Development Goals as the international community's commitment to be realized by 2030, with Goal 5 focusing on attaining gender equality and empowering all women and girls. It unequivocally signifies that these efforts will significantly advance all the Goals.