(1) Definition of Gender Mainstreaming and International Norms

Gender mainstreaming is a comprehensive policy approach aimed at ensuring that women and men participate equally in decision-making and benefit equally at all stages of policy, legislation, institutional design, and implementation. According to the definition issued by the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in 1997, a gender perspective must be integrated into the entire process of policy formulation, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation across all sectors.

In other words, gender mainstreaming is not simply a policy to support women. It is positioned as a strategy to reassess and transform the very structure of society in order to achieve the ultimate goal of gender equality. It is considered relevant to all fields, including the environment, welfare, education, foreign affairs, politics, economics, and society as a whole. Its importance continues to grow as a means to realize a sustainable and inclusive society.

At the international level, the 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) serves as a foundational treaty. However, the importance of gender mainstreaming began to receive more focused attention through the 1992 Rio Declaration and the 1995 Beijing Platform for Action. Furthermore, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted in 2015 not only include a dedicated goal for achieving gender equality (Goal 5), but also make clear that a gender perspective should be incorporated across all goals and targets. This reflects a shared understanding among the international community that gender equality is critically important to the achievement of a sustainable society.

(2) Institutionalization in the EU and Nordic Countries

The European Union (EU) is known as a region where gender mainstreaming progressed relatively early. For example, the 1957 Treaty of Rome already stipulated the principle of “equal pay for equal work,” embedding the foundation of gender equality within the legal system. France strongly advocated for this provision, partly due to concerns that, despite gender pay equality being guaranteed under its domestic law, the influx of low-wage female labor from other countries could undermine the competitiveness of its domestic industries. In this way, economic reasoning based on fairness in the labor market became the starting point for the institutionalization of gender equality.

In the EU, the 1997 Treaty of Amsterdam clearly stated that gender equality should be a principle applied across all policy areas, including not only employment but also education, healthcare, environmental policy, and information and communication technology (ICT). This treaty served as a catalyst that rapidly accelerated the institutional incorporation of a gender perspective.

More recently, the EU Gender Equality Strategy 2020–2025 was introduced, identifying priority areas such as wage transparency, gender quotas for corporate board members (with a target of at least 30 percent women), and the elimination of gender-based violence. One particularly notable concept is the “reversal of the burden of proof.” In cases where discrimination is suspected, the traditional approach required the victim to bear the burden of proof. Under EU directives, however, the employer is now responsible for proving that no discrimination occurred. This system design is regarded as a significant step toward correcting structural inequalities.

(3) Case Studies of Norway and Sweden

Among European countries, the Nordic states have made particularly strong progress in gender mainstreaming. In Norway, Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland, who took office in the 1980s, linked the concept of “sustainable development” with gender equality and introduced a gender quota system. This system, which accelerated women’s political participation, has led to women now making up 40 to 45 percent of members in both the political and corporate leadership spheres.

In the case of Sweden, I had the opportunity to observe firsthand how gender mainstreaming was institutionalized and embedded as part of the culture during an extended period of academic research there. In Sweden, the parental leave system allows for up to 480 days, with a minimum of 90 days allocated to each parent and 80 percent of salary covered. Universities and public institutions have implemented systems such as “holding meetings only between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m.”, “offering flexible options for online participation”, and “providing additional child-rearing support payments”. These measures make it possible for researchers and staff to balance work and family responsibilities. What left a particularly strong impression was the widely shared understanding that “child-rearing is not a private matter but a social responsibility to be supported by society as a whole”.

(4) Gender and the Environment

In the field of environmental politics, which is my area of specialization, the intersection with gender is often explored through the lens of ecofeminist thought. A number of theoretical and empirical studies have analyzed how Western modern imperialism and male-dominated power structures have objectified and exploited both nature and women.

One of the most well-known examples is the Chipko Movement in India. This was a protest in which women, who recognized the forest not merely as rock or timber but as a vital water source and the foundation of life and livelihood, hugged trees to oppose deforestation. Vandana Shiva, an Indian philosopher and environmental activist, emphasizes the importance of knowledge rooted in lived experience, stating that “ecology is the science of household.” This perspective centers on everyday sensitivity and the ethics of “care” cultivated through daily life. It contains a way of seeing life and the environment that cannot be fully captured by scientific or institutional language and becomes a form of resistance. The act of hugging a tree “simply out of love” embodies a new kind of ethics that stands against power and violence. Through her work on “Seed Saving”, Shiva advocates for the regeneration of ecosystems without dependence on genetically modified crops, using nonviolent methods. This is both a critique of technology-centered agriculture and a revaluation of knowledge rooted in everyday life.

(5) Current Situation and Institutional Challenges in Japan

Similar developments have also been seen in Japan. For example, in the 1960s and 1970s, a grassroots movement known as the anti-synthetic detergent campaign (the so-called “soap movement”) spread, driven primarily by housewives seeking improvements in their living environment. Some aspects of this movement were linked to policy changes, showing that gender perspectives are essential as a form of “citizen knowledge” in policy-making. This serves as a reminder of the importance of incorporating gender-based insights into public policy.

However, it is widely recognized that gender mainstreaming in Japan still faces significant challenges both institutionally and culturally. Japan ranks at the bottom among OECD countries in gender equality rankings. For instance, Japan is the only OECD country that has not introduced a system of “optional separate surnames for married couples”, reflecting the absence of an institutional foundation that respects individual dignity and acknowledges diverse forms of family.

Looking at the political sphere, the proportion of women in the House of Representatives has remained around 10 percent, falling short of the benchmark of “at least 30 percent.” In local assemblies, approximately 27 percent of municipalities still have no female legislators at all. In the economic domain as well, the proportion of women among corporate executives remains extremely low at about 9 percent, indicating that decision-making structures continue to be male-dominated.

In the labor market, the gender wage gap remains pronounced. Women’s wages are approximately 77 percent of men’s on average. Furthermore, in terms of unpaid labor, it has been revealed that women spend about five times more time than men on housework and childcare. These figures suggest that gender mainstreaming has not been fully realized, not only at the policy level but also at the micro level, including within households and local communities.

At the same time, it is important to recognize that Japan has seen the emergence of many significant women-led social movements. Beyond the aforementioned “soap movement,” women have played a pivotal role in promoting waste separation and recycling systems, initiating local activities that led to administrative reforms. Following the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, a citizen movement led mainly by mothers contributed to the enactment of the Act on Support for Children and Other Victims of the Nuclear Disaster, which was passed as a parliamentary bill. Notably, around 25 to 30 percent of the lawmakers involved in drafting the bill were women. These achievements demonstrate that women’s perspectives can help bring visibility to socially overlooked issues and become a driving force toward institutional reform.

(6) Future Prospects and Recommendations

In order to further advance gender mainstreaming, I believe that three key pillars are essential moving forward. The first is the “integration of digitalization and gender.” In recent years, the advancement of digital technologies has made it possible to visualize wage disparities and analyze gender composition in workplaces. For example, systems that use artificial intelligence and big data to objectively detect inequality in wage setting are being introduced in several countries. Additionally, the digitalization of education and employment can enable more flexible working styles for those who bear responsibilities such as childcare or elder care. In Japan, telework and online learning expanded rapidly during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, rather than treating these developments as temporary responses, it is necessary to establish them as permanent institutional frameworks.

The second pillar is the “development of inclusive policies based on intersectionality.” Gender inequality does not stem from gender alone but is shaped by the complex interplay of factors such as race, class, disability, sexual orientation, and age. For this reason, policy design and implementation must involve careful analysis of these intersecting factors and ensure consideration for those in vulnerable positions. For instance, among women, individuals with disabilities, single mothers, and those with foreign roots are more likely to face multiple layers of disadvantage. Institutional designs must ensure that such individuals are not excluded from participation in any aspect of society.

The third pillar is “international cooperation and the sharing of best practices.” As a nation committed to democracy and pacifism, Japan has earned a degree of trust within the international community. Building on this position, it is important for Japan to engage actively with EU countries and UN gender-related agencies, learning from each other’s institutional frameworks and policy practices and applying these lessons domestically. For example, Sweden’s parental leave system, Iceland’s gender pay certification system, and EU directives promoting transparency all offer valuable insights for Japan to consider.

(This article is an English translation of the summary of remarks delivered by Professor Wakana Takahashi of Utsunomiya University and Distinguished Research Fellow of the Japan Forum on International Relations (JFIR) at the Foreign Policy Luncheon, originally published on June 23, 2025, in the e-forum “Hyakka-Seiho (Hundred Flowers in Full Bloom)” of JFIR.)