On the occasion of the visit of Ms. Annemarie Jorritsma, Former Vice-Prime Minister of the Netherlands and current Mayor of Almere, we have the honour to invite you to the following seminar.

The Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands

Political Section

 

Women in Public Office – Showing the Way to a Better Work-Life Balance?

A seminar on the promotion of gender equality

Of all OECD member countries Japan scores worst in almost all categories concerning gender equality. The current Abe government recognizes the need to tap the potential of the female workforce in its bid to revive the Japanese economy and set it on a sustainable course. How to forge change? Where to begin? Is it about empowering women, or does it go deeper and touch on the traditional roles of men and women, husbands and wives and fathers and mothers? Do women currently holding public office have an extra responsibility to move the debate forward? Or even to show what can be done?

This seminar hopes to further the debate on gender equality in Japan and maybe even come up with concrete proposals in that regard. The key-note speakers are well-known women who hold high level public offices in their respective countries. They will share their experiences as working women and their ideas for promoting gender equality. A panel of renowned experts will be asked to provide comments.  The audience will consist of (young) women and men either in business or public office actively looking to balance their ambitions with the demands of their private and work lives. Ultimately this seminar hopes to empower them and to identify change agents.

Date:              27 September

Time:              14.30 – 18.00 hrs.

Place:             Kikai Shinko Kaikan (seminar) http://www.jspmi.or.jp/kaigishitsu/access.html (Jp)

3-5-8 Shibakoen, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105-0011

Netherlands Residence (reception) http://japan-jp.nlembassy.org/locations

Language:      English and Japanese (En-Jp/Jp-En simultanious translation provided)

Key-note Speakers:

Ms. Annemarie Jorritsma, Mayor of Almere (since 2003), President, Netherlands Association of Municipalities (VNG), Formerly Vice Prime-Minister and Minister of Economic Affairs (1998-2002) and Transportation, Public Works and Water Management (1994-1998)

Ms. Yuriko Koike, Member of Parliament (Liberal Democratic Party), Formerly Minister of the Environment and Minister in Charge of Global Environmental Problems (2003-2005), Special Adviser to the Prime-Minister on National Security Affairs (2006), Minister of Defense (2007)

Ms. Emiko Okuyama, Mayor of Sendai (2009, reelected in August 2013), Vice-Mayor of Sendai (2007-2009), Head of the Board of Education of Sendai (2005-2007)

Respondents:

Ms. Kaori Sasaki, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, ewoman, Inc.

Moderator:

Yoko Ishikura, Professor, Graduate School of Media Design, Keio University

If you wish to attend this seminar, please send an e-mail with your name, function and organization to:

tok-pa@minbuza.nl before Friday 20 September.

You can also use this e-mail address for further inquiries, or call the Embassy at (03) 5776-5405.


by M.OGAWA 09/26/2013