These programs were operated under our old organization.
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The Japan Foundation, among its many programs, has undertaken an exchange program for Japanese and European women since 1993. Once a every year, a women's group in a certain field from some European countries was organized to exchange opinions with Japanese women in the same field and have an insight of our society.

Last year, we focused on starting businesses by women. Female entrepreneurship appeared as a viable choice of a female working style. Japanese and European entrepreneurs, researchers studying working women, and staff members of support organizations for female entrepreneurs joined our discussion. They exchanged their opinions on why female entrepreneurship has been increasing and on the current problems female entrepreneurs are facing. They made many suggestions concerning the difficulties facing female entrepreneurs and ways to conquer those difficulties; the relationship between volunteer activities and starting a business contributing to society, such as a welfare business; and the role that female owners of companies should play; etc.

This year, our theme will be the part-time worker, a role which many Japanese women - especially married women - select (or are forced to select) as their work style. In Japan, slightly more than 30% of all female employees work part time and slightly less than 70% of all part-time workers are women. Actually, due to the long recession, the number of female part-time workers has been increasing to a greater degree than that of female full-time workers. Quite a few female part-time workers are working as many hours as full-time workers, but under drastically inferior working conditions as far as salaries and social benefits are concerned. Some of them have instituted lawsuits.

In Japan, part-time work is, by definition, thought to be woman's work. However, if Japan had a proper social-benefit system for part-time workers, it would be an attractive working style even for male workers. The objectives of the exchange program are to review the systems of the entire society by considering woman's work and to collect suggestions on points to be improved. To grasp the situation of the part-time worker in Japan more accurately, we will invite specialists on this matter from European countries whose economic levels are similar to that of Japan and where the social benefits available to part-time working are reported to be better. We believe that exchanging opinions with them will lead to important insights.

 

TOKYO SYMPOSIUM
"Learning from the European Part-timers' Situation"

 

OSAKA SYMPOSIUM
"Women, Part-time Work, 21st Century "