Fundamental Research on the evaluation of gender responsive policies carried out by local governments and on the indicators to evaluate the gender responsive policies in Japan

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The purpose of this study is twofold: (1) to find out the background and the situation of the gender policies at prefectures and designated cities in Japan by analyzing documents issued from those local governments, the Prime Minister's Office in Japan and other organizations, by conducting a questionnaire survey addressed to women's policy divisions of 47 prefectures and 12 designated cities, and by interviewing experts on this issue in Japan as well as (2)to formulate tentative indicators to evaluate gender policies carried out at the prefectures and designated cities in Japan.The status of the local gender policies in Japan is significantly diverse. Gender polices in several areas, in Tohoku, the Japan Sea area, Chu-Shikoku and Kyushu, with a few exceptions of Fukuoka and Okinawa prefectures, are quite underdeveloped. Strong traditional social norms in those areas may be the main reason. Furthermore, even within a same prefecture, the situation of the policies differs from cities to … More towns and/or villages.Factors to promote the gender policies are weakened social norms, Governor's policies/attitudes towards gender issues, commitments of officers who are in charge of gender policies, political aims of female politicians, the magnitude of women's organizations/groups' activities and movements, and accumulation of learning activities of women's voluntary groups on women's studies. The most critical factors are the experience and the commitment of officers in charge of gender policies and the existence of women's organizations'/groups' support to those officers.The indicators to evaluate gender policies may include those for institutional mechanisms to promoting gender policies and the indicators evaluating the gender impact of various policies not only in labor, education, and welfare, but also in construction, transports and other infrastructure related fields. The formulation of the former indicators is one of the main purposes of this study. Therefore, nearly 100 indicators have been formulated. Less