It's Science

Just in case you thought that the dearth of female speakers was limited to the foreign policy field, you should check out this upcoming conference hosted by the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation on Energy Innovation.

Now, ITIF is a great organization, doing some significant research and outreach on the crisis in American R&D and competitiveness. There is a need for their work that explores American declining manufacturing and S&T education as well as the effect of foreign industrial policy policies on the US economy. But it appears, that they are also contributing to the problem.

They seem a bit oblivous to the fact that a whole segment of the S&T workforce is underdeveloped. Worse, it seems to encourage this model in its own offices. None of ITIF's staff are women, except that pretty redhead who is the executive assistant. Nor are there any people of color, but that is a whole other problem.

Of the 33 speakers at this day-long December 15th event, only three are women. One had to be invited as she holds a governmental position in a relevant agency, the Department of Energy. The other two hold the traditional female slots for conferences. They are moderators. Being a moderator is a form of "spokesmodel" in Washington. You get to be there, introduce the product, but never say any more.

And always keep in mind, that Washington is Hollywood for ugly people. Thus, there is a good likelihood that these gals are homely. Note that none of them sent in pictures. Maybe this is a way for men to feel good about themselves--they are not such a mess after all, and they might have a shot at these ladies.

There is no mention on ITIF's site about women in math and science as a specific topic of interest or concern, although it seems an implicit assumption to their campaign to encourage better training and education in those fields. There is a link to a 2008 blog posting about a study in the Notices of the American Mathematical Society titled “Cross-Cultural Analysis of Students with Exceptional Talent in Mathematical Problem Solving” is aimed at rebutting the hypothesis of some scholars that men and women have separate “intrinsic aptitudes” for mathematics.

The report goes a step further and argues that one important reason for the lower numbers of women in graduate level mathematics programs is that “it is deemed uncool within the social context of USA middle and high schools to do mathematics for fun; doing so can lead to social ostracism.”

And unsaid, it never stops. You just become invisible later in life.

This issue was raised in passing at a 2008 Innovation Economics conference co-sponsored by ITIF. A member of the audience asked a panel what the United States should do to boost home grown talent in STEM fields. In response to the question, a male panelist argued that one key factor to improving the supply of domestic talent in STEM fields is to increase the number of women and minorities who pursue these degrees.

But, as you can see little is being done to lead by example. Yes, it is not easy finding willing, women speakers in any field. But, I think meeting organizers should try a lot harder. Indeed, equality is when women are accepted for the same level of mediocrity as their male counterparts.

An Anniversary

October 31st was the 10th anniversary of UN Security Council Resolution 1325. It was the first UN resolution to acknowledge how women were affected by conflict and the critical role they must play toward making the peace. The resolution initiated a decade of recognition of and remedies for the violence inflicted upon women during warfare. No more is rape an acceptable consequence of war.

No one was more outspoken in its support than US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who traveled to the UN to present American support for the resolution. Under her watch, Congress reintrouced the International Violence Against Women Act on February 4th, 2010. It makes combating gender-based violence a "strategic foreign policy imperative" of the United States. The act begins to establish inter-agency mechanisms for assisting victims of international violence and bringing their perpetrators to justice. It may be voted on during the upcoming Lame Duck session.

Bosnia and the Congo are the recent graphic examples of how women suffer when conflict break out. Their modern, documented antecedent was Imperial Japan’s Comfort Women system during the Pacific War in the middle of the 20th century. Women of all ethnicities were forced into sexual slavery and trafficked to serve the needs of Japan’s military, as well as colonial government and industry representatives.

Often, as is common in today’s conflicts, the Japanese military used rape was used as an instrument of warfare and subjugation. Whether the rape was one of opportunity or provision, it was always one of power. Japan’s soldiers and sailors raped because they could.

UNSC Res 1325 is about returning power to the women abused. The violence inflicted upon women and children in warfare is now recognized as unacceptable and its perpetrators no longer can operate with impunity. Although the Comfort Women had no remedies and no voice, their tragedy helped make the world aware of how unjustly sexual violence affects women and societies.

Sexual abuse and violence by the Japanese military was prevalent throughout Asia during the Pacific War. Women and girls were not the only victims. The Comfort women remain one the great unresolved history issues of the WWII. And Asian governments, especially Korea and China, use it legacy to remind Japan of its moral obligations.

Thus, it was a surprise that so few Asian countries gave their vocal support to the anniversary of UNSC Res 1325. Missing were South Korea, North Korea, Thailand, Singapore, Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, and Mongolia. Only Australia had its Foreign Minister deliver special remarks and these were not at the UN. Otherwise, just the country representatives to the UN or lower presented their national statements of support. 

Malaysia and South Korea did what Japan did in 2008 at the adoption of UNSC Resolution 1820, which noted that “rape and other forms of sexual violence can constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity or a constitutive act with respect to genocide.” Its national representative showed support through his capability as head of a UN organization and not his country.

In this case of 1325, Malaysia’s UN delegate also headed the UN Economic and Social Commission. South Korea probably hoped that the strong support given by Ban Ki Moon, the UN Secretary-General, 1325 was sufficient.

It was not. It was especially not sufficient for a country that says it champions the Comfort Women cause.

For perspective, on June 19, 2008, the UN Security Council adopted unanimously the landmark resolution 1820 (2008) after a day-long ministerial on “Women, Peace and Security.” Then US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice noted that there had long been dispute about whether sexual violence against women in conflict was an issue the Council was authorized to address.

“I am proud that, today, we respond to that lingering question with a resounding ‘yes!’” she said, adding that the world body was acknowledging that such violence was indeed a security concern. “We affirm that sexual violence profoundly affects not only the health and safety of women, but the economic and social stability of their nations,” she said.

Japan, interestingly, did not as other G-7 countries offer a statement in support of the resolution. Instead, its UN Representative Ambassador Yukio Takasu as Chairperson of the UN Peacebuilding Commission gave a statement commending the leadership of the UN for the debate at the meeting.

The Government of Japan, then led by Yasuo Fukuda, certainly noted this resolution’s implications for its long-festering Comfort Women problem. However, even in the face of this dramatic, international perceptual change that women are not just merely part of war’s collateral damage and that violence against women is among the most pervasive and insidious human rights violations, Japan remained equivocal.

In 2010, the Japanese government supported 1325 with a statement from the Makiko Kikuta, Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs who affirmed the essence of Council resolution. She said peace could not be achieved without the participation of women, yet women and children remained the principal victims of every conflict. The international community must comprehensively address prevention, participation, protection and recovery, she said, adding that doing so would, among other things, enable identification of what was needed to make the objectives of the resolution a reality. She urged the formulation of a country-specific strategy with a gender perspective when implementing peacebuilding activities.

This DPJ government's show of support, which was not merely a MOFA bureaucratic statement, is a long way from the LDP’s distancing itself from the issue in 2008. The DPJ showed an unusual sensitivity to American policy priorities. Whereas the US has long championed women’s human rights, Japan as demonstrated in 2008 was not always an enthusiastic supporter.

If the US Congress fails to pass the International Violence Against Women Act during the upcoming Lame Duck session, Asian motivation to support 1325, 1820, and further measures will be lessened and American moral leadership seriously undermined. There is more at stake than funding a foreign aid budget.

Notes

November 25th - International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women 

UN Unit to End Violence Against Women

 "The International Violence Against Women Act's Uncertain Future" by Elizabeth Weingarten, Oct 7 2010, The Atlantic

White House Fact Sheet on S.Res.1325

Women's Where

Just in time for the opening of Washington’s political season, Cabela’s sale catalog came. Now don’t get me wrong. I do not plan to track, stalk, shoot, kill, gut, skin, stuff, and display any the multitude of Asia policy talking heads who will promote themselves over the next few months. Even if it is open season…

Not only are there the mid-term elections, but the presidential campaign for 2012 is also beginning. The policy wonks need to get on the radar fast and the more sound bites and platitudes they offer the better. Expect a rush of turgid op-eds, fatuous interviews, and redundant programs this fall that will all showcase the, er, talents of Washington’s Asia policy professionals. There will be a raft of vanity reports written primarily by interns (these used be girls but now they tend to be male South Asians) masquerading as policy proscriptions.

Sadly, the press follows along. For example, Washington’s Japan press corps pursued Michael Green “a Japan expert and former senior director for Asian affairs on the National Security Council (NSC) at the White House,” after his August 31st presentation at the Heritage Foundation for a quote. Green told an eager press gaggle (in both English and Japanese) that Ichiro Ozawa, former secretary general of the Democratic Party of Japan, who is now running in the DPJ presidential election is “anti-American” and that Ozawa’s “remarks made since last year have caused severe damage to the Japan-US relationship."

Although the White House does not suggest Green as a source on Obama Asia policy, he was quoted as saying: "The U.S. administration reached out to him (Ozawa, believing he was an influential political figure), but that only made matters worse. [The US Administration] does not think he will win, but it is nervous about what impact the result of the election will have on [US-Japan relations]."

Enough about the men who will benefit from all this and let’s get back to Cabela. What caught my eye was the leafy-wear camouflage jacket and pants suit on sale for half price--$39.99! That is definitely a must-have and good price point (as few are hired full time) for many of the women in Washington who work on Asia issues.

It is the perfect moderator’s suit. You can actually look like the potted plant, the ornament, the after-thought that you have been selected to be. Introduce the men, be gracious, and help assure the program organizers that women were included. Then you can blend back into the fake foliage on stage.

One problem I observe the upcoming meeting on Asia this fall is no women have invited to participate, even as moderators. For example, NBR’s release of its annual Strategic Asia report not only does again not have any women authors but no women speakers. Senator Daniel Inouye’s US-Japan Council conference, Shaping the Future of U.S.-Japan Relations, to encourage interest in the Japan-American community in helping the Japanese government lobby in the U.S. only has women speaking on a panel ghetto about Women in the Workplace & Leadership.

There are many more examples, but why bother to list them. You will get the emails. My advice is if they don’t serve lunch for free, don’t go.

Anyway, Cabela’s leafy-wear suit with “outline shattering Silent Leaf construction” deal does not come with head camouflage. Here is an area where the female moderator can personalize, accessorize. I think a nice floral headpiece would be a nice touch.

I almost took advantage of the sale, however, it occurred to me that after 20 years of working Japan policy issues complete with having authored and advised on all sorts of legislation, I have never once been invited to participate in a program or even moderate. I don’t need a gillie suit; I am invisible all by myself.

Face time

Summertime brings interns. Young, bright and energetic.

This year my two interns both showed up on the first day of work in long-sleeved shirts and hip-hugging jeans. They looked liked the coeds they are. The buttoned up shirts were their idea of office clothes.

That will not do.

Washington has its own costumery. It is traditional, conservative, and not too flashy. More important, one’s dress quickly identifies you as a successful, serious person or something else like an intern, research assistant, or a leftist. All of the latter are considered a waste of one’s time to talk with or sit next to.

You need to either sit with your peers or those you need to impress or pump for information. Casual talk is not appreciated in Washington.

I quickly gave the lecture on female dressing for Washington’s many foreign policy programs and how to be taken seriously at first glance. Pant suits are for old ladies. Dressing like a man looks awkward. The costume is fashionable skirts and dresses, yet not too trendy or imaginative. Like all good girls, you need to be understated.

This does keep you obscure and invisible. But to dress like someone in New York or LA invites nasty comments and distracts from all efforts to be taken seriously--someone with access and information.

Thus, it helps if you are naturally beautiful. My interns are.

I am not even pretty; and I have certainly never been beautiful.

So it was with fascination I read the July 15th New York Times piece, Aging Gracefully, The French Way. It is all true and I tore it out for my interns to read. The French women make understated into a statement. They wear much less make up and spend more time thinking how to present themselves than their American friends. And thus they seem much more poised and beautiful.

Interestingly, like their Japanese counterparts appear to spend an enormous amount of time on face and skin treatments. The Times reports:

According to a 2008 Mintel report, Frenchwomen spend about $2.2 billion a year on facial skin care — as much as Spanish, German and British women put together. If you happen to use the bathroom in a French home — something that is not considered polite, by the way — you might see a line of skin care products rivaling a shelf at Duane Reade.

Earlier this year, the Wall Street Journal reported a nearly similar phenomena in Japan:

The average Japanese woman spends 60% of her cosmetics budget on skin care, compared with 30% for American women.

A Shiseido survey found nearly 69% of Japanese women used cleanser, toner and moisturizer religiously at night, compared with only 17% of American women.

Indeed, Shiseido has documented that the average Japanese woman employs a much larger array of products each evening—as many as six products. First, she removes her make-up with an oil-based product. Then comes cleansing the face. This is followed by a lotion—a toner-like skin softener—and then possibly an "essence," or serum. Finally, she pats on an emulsion, which is less viscous than a cream, and then a traditional cream. All of this is achieved while performing an elaborate facial massage meant to help prevent sagging and wrinkling.

Wow, to average overworked, overstressed American woman falling asleep with either a bag of Doritos or pint of Ben & Jerry’s on her face is what passes for a nighttime facial “treatment.” When was the last time any of you even had the energy to brush your teeth let alone remember the order of a nighttime regime just for your face?

Well, as we all know, Japanese women don’t get wrinkles, and we do.

However, I think the Frenchwomen enjoy their life more. Here is a summary of

10 Ways to Age Like a Frenchwoman

1 Look out for No. 1

2 Keep it natural

3 No soap

4 The wonder of water

5 Diet

6 Exercise: Why? Go to a spa instead.

7 The doctor is in: Frenchwomen love their dermatologists and some women are resourceful enough — or have legitimate medical reasons, like arthritis — to get doctors’ prescriptions for weeks at their favorite spa. That means government health insurance covers much of the bill.

8 The surgeon is in but he keeps it natural not trendy

9 The look: Paris, like New York, is becoming very informal, but Frenchwomen never try to dress like their daughters. Accessories count: good jewelry, fantastic shoes or boots, and a scarf casually wrapped to conceal those neck wattles. And since Frenchwomen tend to have great legs (with help from varicose vein treatments), they wear more skirts and dresses than their American counterparts.

10 Think sexy: As the French writer Françoise Sagan wrote: “A dress makes no sense unless it inspires men to take it off you.” Buy some fun, new underwear.


Yes, ladies these are rules to live by, if we could have only been born French.

Wearing the Ghillie suit

I want a Ghillie suit. Nothing says I am not here as when you wear one.

Being a woman is a natural Ghillie suit in the Washington Asia policy Bush.

A Ghillie suit, for those of you who are not hunters or snipers, is a head-to-toe camouflage outfit made so that its wearer blends as completely as possible into its environment. They can be made specifically for bushy terrain, forested areas, and even urban environments. The name is Scottish for servant.

The point is that women who work on Asia are essentially invisible.

If we are in the room, we might as well not be there. If our questions are not ignored, some “well meaning” male rephrases them or tells the speaker not to answer. It is not unusual for us to not be invited to an invitation-only program because we "can be disruptive."

On the rare occasion we are invited to participate in a program we are usually asked only to moderate. One or two moderator or commentator slots are sometimes reserved for women to show diversity. And these slots are almost always given to only a handful of unmemorable women like Ellen Frost or Kristen Lord.

A case in point was the all-Sasakawa Foundations'-funded June program on the US-Japan Alliance that had only one pesky woman speaker. Of the 37 public presenters at the two-day conference, there was only one woman: Ms. Takako Hikotani. She was not on the original agenda (and is still not on  the web-posted agenda). Of course, unlike the male speakers she came prepared, organized, and spoke excellent English. It was embarrassing.

Ms. Yuriko Koike the vice secretary of the LDP was the only female among the keynote speakers for the pricey, invitation-only conference meals. Two other men joined her that evening to speak. Amb Ichiro Fujisaki and foreign policy gadfly Robert Kaplan. I assume they did not want her to speak alone.

Her job was to spew gender-appropriate venom upon the opposition DPJ. Her talk was a less coherent version of her January Project Syndicate essay on "it's the security, stupid." Aside from a string of bitchy catty remarks, she left the audience with the impression that the LDP got “nuttin, just plain nuttin.”

Kristen Lord was allowed to sit at the square table of luminaries, but not given an opportunity to speak. After all, the organization that employs her, CNAS, did organize the program.

So, I think that it would be appropriate, in the future, for women to wear real Ghillie suits to these programs. If you are going to be unnoticed you might as well go all the way.

And if the women of Washington had the imagination and courage of the Guerrilla Girls of the New York art community they would go en masse in their Ghillie suits to a Brookings or CSIS event and just sit in the back row…

Nothing to See Here

This morning I received an email from a noted expert on Southeast Asia. She asked me if I knew of any appointed positions in the Obama Administration's Asia Team that were filled by women.

The basis of her question was that she had been a campaign adviser on Asia as had quite a number of other women she listed who did not get positions in the Administration.

HaHaHa, I replied. The Obama Asia team is no different than the Bush team. I fact, I believe there were actually a few more women working on Asia during the Bush years than now. These women were especially good at toeing the party line and keeping a low profile.

This situation has gone on so long, that it is accepted not to see women interviewed by the press, represented on panel discussions or invited to those private meetings at "onsen and in the mountains at Aspen." And if you are not at the private meetings you do not get noticed, cultivated, and remembered.

Worse, by not attending the meetings you don't get to understand the dialogue of what is acceptable and what is not. Your opinions are not tempered by personal ties or practice. And if you are invited, you learn quickly to agree, to follow and to not stand out. Questioning the senior managers is career-ending.

This past Sunday the Washington Post featured on its Opinion page, Topic A: "Obama in Asia: Foreign policy experts assess the president's trip." The Post asked nine "experts" of which two were women. Only four experts made the print edition of which one was a woman.

Those interviewed were: Michael Auslin, Michael Green, Victor Cha, Danielle Pletka, Douglas E. Schoen, Richard C. Bush, Elizabeth C. Economy, David Shambaugh and Yang Jianli.

No matter, none were particularly supportive of the President. The former Bush Administration officials slammed him for being too accommodating to the Chinese and not focusing enough on trade. Michael Green, seemed bit too condescending, "Obama's trip to Asia should be a wake-up call to the White House about the limits of using the president's biography as foreign policy and the realities of power politics in the Pacific."

Michael Auslin, who appears to the spokesman for the Alliance Managers, summed up their position best, "The optics of the president's trip fulfilled his stated intention of announcing that the United States was "back" in Asia, but the lack of tangible policy results suggest it was a success of style over substance."

The rational voice, was Richard Bush of Brookings who said:

The major goal of this trip was to make the case for multilateral cooperation regarding the pressing challenges of the global economy, climate change, proliferation and Afghanistan-Pakistan. America cannot solve these problems alone. We cannot order others to help us. We cannot seek their help while ignoring their interests or giving disproportionate emphasis to human rights. The president understands this; his critics do not.

See, even I did not mention what the women said.

Bush Tank

Was that George W Bush in Tokyo earlier this month? Yes.

He was there for a baseball game with his old pal former Prime Minister Koizumi and a series of inspirational speeches. All this likely ended in a big fat "thank you" check to the new George W Bush Institute and maybe some envelopes of cash. Such is the tradition.

The Japanese, Koreans, and Chinese like to pay their speakers in cash and depending on your rank and value that amount can be quite large. I have always wondered how many former U.S. officials have failed to declare to U.S. Customs authorities that they are carrying into the country more than $10,000 in cash?

On November 12th, the day President Obama was supposed to land in Japan, former President Bush announced the creation of his new public policy institute at Southern Methodist University (SMU) in Dallas. The Institute will focus on education, global health, human freedom and economic growth. It will be part of the Bush Presidential Center, which will include the presidential library and museum.

“The Institute will be a vital hub of critical thought and practical action,” Bush said.

To its credit, within all four areas of focus, the Bush Institute will integrate the involvement of women and social entrepreneurs. In remarks following those of her husband, former First Lady Laura Bush, who will lead the institute’s women’s initiative, said, “Research shows that when you educate and empower women, you improve nearly every aspect of society.”

Groundbreaking for the facility is scheduled for the fall of 2010, with the opening and dedication in the spring of 2013.

Chicks in Stilettos

In the May issue of the conservative monthly Foresight there is an endearing, unattributed article: Female US Defense Department Official Flournoy Seen as Holding Key to US-Japan Alliance.

The magazine says that Japan must pay attention to her "because Flournoy is in charge of the US Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR), mandated to be issued in 2010, and the QDR will inevitably affect the formulation of Japan's own National Defense Program Guidelines, slated to be issued at the end of 2010.

Well, that is essentially true. But there must be more. Is the gender of a Defense official always mentioned? To bad the article missed the fact that she has participated in the drafting of previous QDRs.

Wait, she is a key supporter of US Defense Secretary Robert Gates. He "has already proposed "changes" that will cut part of the US missile defense program and cancel the additional procurement of the F-22, a candidate to be Japan's next generation mainstay fighter plane, setting a difficult path for the Japanese government. Flournoy is considered to be a leading supporter of Gates' vision for defense."

OMG, she is Gate's handmaiden from Hell!

Japan's Foreign Ministry and Defense Ministry have no choice but to work with Flournoy. However, a senior MOD official says: "Since Japan is low in America's priorities, the response of the US side has been sluggish."

Not only is Japan shunted aside, it is being done so slowly, by a women. Next thing you know, she is going to turn up in Tokyo wearing her version of Condi's stiletto boots.

A senior MOFA official could not conceal his anxiety and told Foresight that "Although her demeanor is soft and she does not seem like a strategist, if we make a mistake in how we deal with her, it could become an impediment in US-Japan negotiations."

Chicks, you just can't figure them out.

But I am now confused. What is it that will please those MOFA boys: stilettos or French maid?

Unique Japan

Yuko raged. She was furious at male doctors and she was furious with her home country. And it was reasonable. After all, a week ago she had a radical mastectomy.

Why after 30 years of research was the survival rate the same? Why was so little research funding going toward breast cancer? Why did every doctor she talked to have a different answer?

And what is this “nonsense,” she exclaimed that Japan has a low incidence of breast cancer. Too many of her Japanese girlfriends have had breast cancer. The water, air, and food here is not that different in the U.S. “The truth,” she railed “is that doctors in Japan do not require women to get mammograms.” She ticked off all her friends and family who had never gotten an exam. By the time cancer is diagnosed it has spread to other organs and thus not recorded as a death by breast cancer.

“There is nothing special or unique about Japan” she concluded, “just that women matter less.”

I was the maid of honor at her wedding years ago. We both had gone to Smith, a woman’s college, where we learned to speak up. She came to the U.S. after failing to become a JAL stewardess. She was told she was too tall, 5’9”, and that it would be impolite for her to look down on most of the airline’s clients.

I listened and hoped that the dinner and empathy I brought helped a little to one of my oldest friends. There was not much more I could do as my friend at Japan Without the Sugar tells me Japan is unique, it is after all the only country blessed with four seasons.

My mammogram has been scheduled.

Get Involved: Susan G. Komen for the Cure, is the world’s largest source of nonprofit funds for breast cancer research and community outreach programs with $1 billion invested to date. Although Komen has international affiliates, there are none in Asia,

Women, Can't Beat Them with a Stick

Are Japanese women different from others? No is the answer long or short. In this survey on What Japan Thinks (an absolutely great site), Japanese men and women were asked what men do not understand about women. I wager that the answers would be exactly the same in the US, which is likely to come as a surprise to those Western men who think Japanese women are different or nicer.

Basically, women want to be listened to and empathized with. And men just don’t understand a single thing about women.

For example, I had a Western male friend in Tokyo who dismissed all my efforts to sensitize him to my feelings. By the way, getting men to understand you personally and professionally takes up a lot of female time. He kept telling me that if he were to have a “significant relationship” with an American woman he might pay some attention to my suggestions. His one concession was to call me by my first name, and I should be grateful. His inability to empathize eventually proved too much to me.

Interestingly, he was quite taken by one of my Japanese girlfriends who saw through him long before I did. She loathed him. And when he proceeded to pursue her with what I thought were a series of pathetically sweet and endearing presents and emails (which interestingly always included something trashing me), she simply wanted to bite his head off. Yes, these efforts were insensitive but I was touched by a certain charm to their ineptness.

She refused to agree. And it took all my girlfriend goodwill to prevent her from replying to him in the most eviscerating manner I had ever seen by a woman in any culture, short of going after him with a machete. I eventually helped her draft a kinder, gentler reply that would leave some of his dignity intact. It should be noted that the reply was vetted among a multicultural group of women—Chinese, Korean, WASP—of whom none could understand their Japanese friend’s vitriol. Yes, boys, women always discuss ad nauseam any emotional issue among their friends.

Japanese women have always been like Western women. Maybe the difference is that they have been quieter about their feelings and slower to complain. Their expectations about men are low and they understand that it is futile to complain. But this is changing. And how they now express their discontent is not pretty. In contrast, I have become much more forgiving and resigned to men’s insensitivities. And my daughter's generation seems to have given up altogether and now prefer vampires. Somehow they find the heroic undead more attractive.

International Women's Day 2009

Today is International Women's Day.

It is a global day celebrating the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future. But since I have a pretty dim view of the world of men, I am pretty much a glass-half-empty person on how much women have achieved. Our voices are still in the Wilderness and we still have to acquire power the old fashioned way. Hillary still had to hook up with Bill, Condi had to play nanny to George, and Koike has to sleep with Koizumi. Yikes!

As a veteran of Japan's "history wars," I also see all the irony in Japan's commemoration of this day of "achievement." One of today's must public issues affecting women is sexual violence in conflict. Imperial Japan's state-sponsorship of sexual violence and sexual slavery through its Comfort Women system remains a contentious history issue in Asia. Contemporary Japan's partial apologies mixed with archaic views on rape continue to damage the country's credibility on human rights.

Over at the UN Action website for Stop Violence Against Women in Conflict they note the day with a special page of commentary on how rape in conflict is among the most brutal crimes against humanity.

The UN Population Fund's Executive Director, Thoraya Ahmed Obaid writes:

Whether it is human trafficking, domestic violence, crimes committed in the name of honour or passion, child marriage, female genital mutilation/cutting, or sexual violence, which in many conflict situations has reached alarming proportions, violence against women and girls constitutes a shameful crime that is too often shrouded in silence and too seldom punished.

Violence against women and girls is not a women’s issue—it is an issue that concerns and diminishes us all. No custom, tradition or religion can justify cruel and degrading treatment.

During the Comfort Women debate over a US House of Representatives nonbinding resolution asking Japan for an unequivocal and public apology to the Comfort Women, too many Japan managers asked why was Japan being singled out. Why was a long-ago issue being dragged into the US Congress? Why should anyone care about these prostitutes? they asked.

It was as if they knew nothing about what was happening outside of the comfortable confabs of US-Japan dialogue. They think they are talking about security. They want to create a security community. Maybe if they turned on CNN and watched what was happening in the Congo, Dafur, Burma, Bosnia, Rwanda...or even read what Voice of America transmits. Or went to the UN Action website that is so eloquently called http://www.stoprapenow.org:



Or they might want to contemplate the video below. It is supposed to be a message about harassment and rape. I found it extremely uncomfortable to watch. And I found its graphic message even more difficult to understand. The video suggests that girls will entice the weak, innocent male to pursue sex. Schoolgirls are just harlots who need better discipline. These are the same arguments used to create and to defend the Comfort Women system. To me, it is disturbing at best.