On July 5 and 6, RENGO opened its “2002 Gender Equal Participation Promotion Forum” at a hotel in Okayama-city. This annual forum was co-organized with regional RENGO blocs as part of ongoing activities to realize gender equal participation in both workplaces and society. This year, the forum gathered 213 attendees (128 women, 85 men) from all over Japan, many were members of Women’s Committees and Youth Committees in affiliated organizations and local RENGO in its Chugoku-area Bloc. The participants discussed various issues relating to women’s participation in union activities.

Photo:General Secretary Kusano says, “RENGO leadership is necessary for further progress.” (July 5, Okayama)

General Secretary Kusano gave the opening speech at the forum and emphasized RENGO’s leadership by saying, “it should be noted that RENGO will demonstrate importance of its leadership for organizational expansion as well as in women’s activities.” He expressed his resolve to exchange opinions on the promotion of women’s participation at the Evaluatory Committee, which is a forum where the current state of RENGO movements is evaluated.

After a speech by Chugoku-area Chairperson Morikawa and a keynote address given by Waseda University’s School of Social Science Professor Norio Okazawa, RENGO Assistant General Secretary Hayashi raised several questions in her speech. Participants furthered the discussions at separate workshops that were each chaired by general secretaries from each of the five prefectures in the Chugoku-area bloc. Themes included “Building workplaces and society of gender equal participation.”

On the second day of the forum, a discussion meeting was held under the themes of [1] Have labor unions changed through women’s participation? [2] What is necessary for the active participation of women in union activities? RENGO Vice President Masako Uemoto chaired the discussion and the panelists were: NIKKYOSO (Japan Teachers’ Union) Okayama Prefecture Council Secretary General Shigeru Tanenobu; RENGO Hiroshima Women’s Committee Chairperson Kazuko Sakamoto; former Mitsumi Union President Makoto Aoki, an affiliate of the JAM (Japanese Association of Metal, Machinery and Manufacturing Workers.)

During the general debate that followed, attendees expressed various opinions and requests including “we all should participate in activities conducted on the workplace-level, and not leave demand-making up to the central organizations.” “(We want) local RENGO to press local organizations in small to mid-sized affiliates to participate to locally-held rallies.”

Following the adoption of the appeal, RENGO Assistant General Secretary Seiko Hayashi closed the two-day forum by stating, “More than anything else, it is important that we clearly include a gender equal principle into the labor union’s guiding principles.”