#  Symposium: Advancing the Status of Women in a Globalizing Japan: A 70-Year Retrospective 

 



####  calendar\_today Date and Time 

 **May 7, 2015** 

 01:00PM - 06:00PM EDT 

####  pin\_drop Location 

 **Belfer Case Study Room (S020), Japan Friends of Harvard Concourse, CGIS South Building, 1730 Cambridge Street, Cambridge MA**  



 

 



 

Sponsored by  
**Showa Women’s University;**  
**Showa Boston Institute for Language and Culture;**  
**Program on U.S.-Japan Relations, Weatherhead Center for International Affairs;**  
**Edwin O. Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies**

**Symposium Description**The end of the Pacific War ushered in a period of unprecedented freedom for women in Japan. In 1945, they did not even enjoy the right to vote. Seventy years later, “Womenomics,” or the equalization of gender roles in the work force, is an integral part of Prime Minister Abe’s policies to revitalize the Japanese economy. This symposium will examine how women's economic, social, and political status has advanced in postwar Japan, and what obstacles remain.

[Symposium Schedule](http://programs.wcfia.harvard.edu/files/us-japan/files/showa_symposium_advancing_women_final_4.pdf)

(Click "Read more" to see the schedule of events.)

**Program**

**1:00-1:20PM****Opening Remarks** [Mariko Bando](http://programs.wcfia.harvard.edu/files/us-japan/files/bando.pdf)  
*Chancellor and President, Showa Women’s University, and former Director General, Bureau for Gender Equality*

**Keynote Speech** [Seiko Noda](http://programs.wcfia.harvard.edu/files/us-japan/files/noda.pdf)  
*Member, House of Representatives, and former Minister of Posts and Telecommunications*

**1:20-3:00PM****Panel 1: 70 Years of Change in Women’s Roles** Speakers:  
[Mariko Bando](http://programs.wcfia.harvard.edu/files/us-japan/files/bando.pdf)  
*Chancellor and President, Showa Women’s University, and former Director General, Bureau for Gender Equality*

[Sumiko Iwao ](http://programs.wcfia.harvard.edu/files/us-japan/files/iwao.pdf)  
*Professor Emeritus, Keio University and Tokyo City University, and author of* The Japanese Woman

[Margarita Estévez-Abe](http://faculty.maxwell.syr.edu/mestev02/)  
*Associate Professor of Political Science, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University*

Moderator:  
[Susan Pharr](http://www.gov.harvard.edu/people/faculty/susan-pharr)  
*Edwin O. Reischauer Professor of Japanese Politics, Department of Government, and Director, Program on U.S.-Japan Relations, Harvard University*

**3:00-3:15PM****Break**

**3:15-4:45PM****Panel 2: Recent Strategies to Increase Participation in Decision-Making and Management** Speakers:  
[Kathy Matsui](http://www.goldmansachs.com/our-thinking/archive/bios/kathy-matsui-bio.pdf)  
*Chief Japan Equity Strategist, Goldman Sachs, and Originator of “Womenomics”*

[Naohiro Yashiro](http://programs.wcfia.harvard.edu/files/us-japan/files/yashiro.pdf)  
*Professor, Faculty of Global Business, Showa Women’s University, and former President, Japan Center for Economic Research*

[Glen S. Fukushima](https://www.americanprogress.org/about/staff/fukushima-glen/bio/)  
*Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress, and former President, American Chamber of Commerce in Japan*

Moderator:  
[Mary Brinton](http://scholar.harvard.edu/brinton/home)  
*Reischauer Institute Professor of Sociology and Chair, Department of Sociology, Harvard University*

**4:45-5:00PM****Closing Remarks** [Tsutomu Himeno](http://www.boston.us.emb-japan.go.jp/ENGLISH/ABOUT%20US/aboutus.html)  
*Consul General of Japan in Boston*



 

 



 

 

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