National Women’s Education Center of Japan

　This training course delivered the latest information on gender equality, including that concerning national policies, international trends, and gender issues in the fields of politics and the economy as well as reports on cases of gender equality centers and studies conducted by NWEC.
　In her keynote lecture, BANDO Kumiko, who worked in educational administration at the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology for many years and played many important roles, including Director-General of the Gender Equality Bureau, Cabinet Office, and Vice-Governor of Akita Prefecture, used statistical data to speak about the current status of gender equality in Japan and challenges. BANDO talked about how the Japanese government and other
domestic actors were responding to the issue of the country's shrinking population and the decline in the number of births; pointed out that this sense of crisis should be translated into transformations
aimed at achieving gender equality and empowerment of women and that speedy, strategic efforts should be made to this end; and expressed her expectation that administrative authorities and those
involved with gender equality centers would continue to support the development and initiatives of local female leaders.
　The course received positive comments from participants, such as "It gave me an understanding of the latest information and the necessity of promoting gender equality now," and "I now grasp the current status of gender equality; sharing the same worries has given me ideas as well."

　This online course delivered lectures on perspectives and methods required for project planning—for example, gender statistics knowledge and information gathering methods necessary to identify challenges, keys to effective project planning, and how to create program designs (drafts of projects)—and introduced projects implemented by past course participants by making the most of what they had learned from this training program, and the results they had achieved after hard work and paying attention to processes.
　The one-night two-day Face-to-Face course consisted of group work that focused on processes for creating program designs. Participants developed draft plans while receiving advice from advisors who had deep experience in planning projects at gender equality centers,and participants proactively exchanged opinions and shared their results. In addition, this course provided networking opportunities, including social gatherings.

　The course received positive comments from participants, such as "The online course helped me to learn about the idea of gender equality and priorities for city government employees; it taught me not only the basics but more practical knowledge that will be of help in actually planning projects at work, which I found worthwhile," and "The Face-to-Face course created a sense of closeness that I could not have felt on Zoom and made a difference in my attitude towards gender equality."

　TERAMACHI Shinya (Practical Professor, Miyazaki Municipal University), a researcher specializing in gender and education, gave an evidence-based lecture on gender issues found in schools. He spoke not only about initiatives of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology related to the acceleration of appointment of female managers and measures against child sexual abuse but also case　studies on "wellbeing" and "gender equality education" in schools and the social circumstances surrounding children today (e.g., sexual diversity, LGBTQ, and online threats to children). In an information exchange session, participants were divided into four themed groups—namely, "Work-Life Balance for Teachers," "Supporting Women in Getting Promoted to Managerial Positions and Forming Their Careers," "Diverse Responses to Pupils and Students," and "The Coordination Required to Promote Gender Equality in Schools"—in which they exchanged opinions on the current realities of and initiatives in various regions.

　The course received positive comments from participants, such as "I have come to realize how much I and my organization were bound by unconscious biases," and "It gave me an opportunity to stop and reflect, causing me to realize things I must keep in mind as a teacher."

　This online course consisted of seven different lectures, including those on basic gender perspectives for understanding those who consult; response skills; how to create, manage, andoperate counseling rooms that are safe and secure for everyone; and trends in new legal amendments, such as recipient-centric support systems, joint custody, and other changes observed after the enforcement of the Act on Support for Women Facing Difficulties. In addition, information exchange sessions were held in which participants discussed the challenges they face in daily work operations with peer participants and advisors, and they shared their ideas about solutions.
　In the one-night two-day Face-to-Face course, participants exchanged opinions on new support systems based on the Act on Support for Women Facing Difficulties through panel talks andgroup work, thereby learning about support policies suitable for their respective regions. The primary advantage of the Face-to-Face course was that participants could proactively communicate with one another through social gatherings and other occasions outside the training as well in order to build networks of personal contacts engaged in support for women in different parts of Japan.

　The course received positive comments from participants such as "I came to realize unconscious gender biases in myself," "The lectures included role-playing and were practical and easyto-understand; I am glad they taught me how to respond to different situations," and "I spoke about many different things with other participants I had just met as if we had known each other for a long time, which gave me courage."

　In his keynote lecture, TATSUKI Shigeo (Professor, Doshisha University), who specializes in welfare and disaster management, presented principles for protecting the lives of diverse socially vulnerable groups in disasters towards the realization of disaster management that does not leave anyone behind. He described the basic mechanism by which damage spreads due to the division between efforts during normal times and efforts during disasters, as well as how inequality and disparities before a disaster may affect the sense of recovery from a given disaster. Giving the example of the Beppu Model, he spoke about the importance of cross-boundary cooperation as a means of addressing these problems.

　In addition to the above, this course also included a report on hearings about the Noto Peninsula Earthquake; information about the Cabinet Office's human resource development efforts for disaster management and related national policies; case study reports from Kumamoto, Sendai, and Uwajima; a panel discussion reflecting on past large-scale disasters; and an information exchange session in a live streaming format.
　The course received positive comments from participants, such as "It gave me the opportunity to listen to people share what they had experienced and learned through close engagement in disaster management; their words carried extra weight," and "I felt a growing sense of alarm as I learned that despite the increasing penetration of the word 'gender equality' into the public consciousness, this level of consciousness could drop sharply in the event of a disaster like the Noto Peninsula Earthquake, putting women in danger in shelters and other situations."

　The first seminar included a three-way conversation entitled "How Elimination of Gender Gaps Can Change Organizations and Regions" among KATAYAMA Yoshihiro (Chief of the Institute of Regional Development, Taisho University & Former Tottori Governor), NAKAGAI Muneharu (Chairperson of Toyooka Art Action & Former Toyooka City Mayor), and HAMADA Keiko (journalist). The three shared the message that there should be more to the empowerment of women than merely benefiting specific organizations and that women's empowerment should also be promoted from the perspective of fairness, based on which gender discrimination should be eliminated from organizations so that everyone can be treated equally.

　The second seminar featured an online lecture entitled "Understanding What EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN Means" to give guidance on viewpoints for thinking about diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I). In addition, there was a reporting session entitled "Local Attempts to Empower Women" in which three lecturers reported about case examples of women's empowerment promoted by local SMEs and other organizations.
　The course received positive comments from participants, such as "I was moved to hear that gender equality and women's empowerment should be seen from the perspectives of fairness and human rights, which reminded me that Japan is still not a fair society; it also caused me to realize that I myself lack sufficient perspective on fairness."

　The symposium "The Past and Future of Gender Equality in Japan" included a lecture by OSAWA Mari (Professor Emeritus, The University of Tokyo), who was involved in the drafting of the Basic Act for Gender Equal Society, in which she talked about how the law had been established and its significance. This lecture was followed by a cross talk in which she was joined by three speakers under age 30 to examine gender equality issues still present in systems and customs and to discuss the importance of taking action to solve issues while involving young people.

NWEC conducted a Training Course for Women’s Archives to give those who collect women's archives an opportunity to learn useful knowledge and information, and to help them contribute to the formation of networks on women's archives.

The training session was live-streamed on January 14, 15, 2025, and 31 people watched it live. The recorded event was available online from January 23 to February 24, 2025. In total, 158 people participated in this online training course.

A lecture entitled "Discovering Women in Library History / Learning the History of Women’s Information" explored the experiences of uncovering women who utilized women's reading rooms and those who entered library professions—individuals overlooked in the modern Japanese history of libraries. It also examined the history of women's information, which began to be collected and provided from the 1970s onward, driven by international policies and movements related to the advancement of women's status, as detailed in the 2024 publication, "Women and Libraries".

The Japan NPO Center, a non-profit corporation, and the Little Women Project (Wakakusa Project), a general incorporated association, conducted the "Survey on the Activities of Organizations Engaged in Provision of Support for Women Who Have Difficulty with Life" in FY2022 which NWEC provided support as a cooperating organization. This questionnaire survey collected responses from 228 groups supporting women living with difficulty due to poverty, violence, domestic violence, bullying, unintended pregnancy, and so forth to grasp what kind of people these organizations supported, entities and specialists with which they worked in partnership, the challenges they faced in terms of their organizational foundations and operations, and other aspects. The results revealed that many groups provided a wide range of support, and more than half found it challenging to secure human resources and to diversify their sources of income.

Building upon the result of this survey, since FY2023, NWEC has been co-hosting training programs implemented by the Japan NPO Center and the Little Women Project. These training programs aim to strengthen partnerships among support groups, administrative authorities, and specialists, and among various support groups, with special emphasis on the exchange of opinions and networking between public- and private- sector stakeholders including the local level women and gender equality centers.

The Laureus Sport for Good Foundation released the Coaching Guide for Girls in October 2024. This guide outlines seven kinds of "knowledge" that coaches should possess and what kind of "awareness" is important for coaching based on such knowledge, so that children, including girls, can safely and securely participate in sports, thereby obtaining all the kinds of benefits sports provide. A checklist is also included for coaches to apply their "knowledge" and "awareness" as well as ideas for exercise sessions that coaches can use immediately. NWEC agrees with the purpose of this guide and has been cooperating in promoting it.

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