Arab News Japan

TOKYO: Marking the UN’s International Woman’s Day, hundreds of Japanese women took to the streets of Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya on March 8 evening calling for gender equality, the end of sexual and domestic violence and world peace.

A declaration was released by the activists asking the Japanese government to adopt concrete measures for equal rights in the Japanese society, such as providing the same wage for men and women, dealing swiftly with harassment in the workplace, and ending the mistreatment of female trainees of foreign origin residing in Japan.

 They also called on the government to instruct the medical authorities to facilitate using anti-pregnancy pills, which is hard to get in Japan, although the country legalizes abortion.

Some women raised slogans encouraging the government and authorities to advance the trend, whereas some women achieved advances in Japan for the first time. A woman is elected for the first time to head the largest trade union in the country.

A Member of Parliament belonging to the Constitutional Party of Japan attended the rally and spoke of the disparity of female lawmakers who make up about 10 percent of parliamentary seats.

One of the protest organizers told Arab News Japan that the situation of many women has deteriorated after the coronavirus pandemic, where many women facing economic hardship committed suicide.