The JCLU held a serial lecture titled "Enlightening Working Men" on March 3 and 18, 1997. The lecture meetings were funded by the Asian Women's Fund, under its program to support activities addressing contemporary issues for women's human rights. The objective of the lectures was to create better circumstances for both working women and men by correcting the biased aspects of male-centered society, which nevertheless used to be dubbed "women's problems."
The first lecture featured Attorney Ms. Kazue Akita, a JCLU member, who reported on the issue of sexual harassment.
At the outset of the lecture, an American video was shown to the audience which takes up cases of sexual harassment at the workplace. It was an impressive video as it took note that men are barely aware of what women take as sexually offensive, and then elaborated on the way to persuade the male counterpart in a way that would make them understand.
Ms. Akita, then spoke on actual incidents of sexual harassment which she experienced herself as a legal trainee and at the workplace, and also on legal cases she has handled.
At the workplace, women who would attempt to protestsexual harassment would often suffer enormous "punishment." In many cases, her seniors would pressure her to resign, not directly, but by involving the concerned party at her work.
A standard regarding undesired actions, Ms. Akita suggested, be measured by the average women's sensitivity. She also proposed to set up an organ to handle complaints where women's privacy is protected and which guarantees that they will not be disadvantaged by filing the case.
The lecture was followed by an active discussion. On her remarks that she was offended that female hostesses were hired for a bar association's party, male participants asked whether she objected to the profession of hostesses as a whole. In response, Ms. Akita commented that the point was the rather public, for lawyers, nature of the occasion while their presence would not have mattered had it been a private gathering.
The second lecture featured the issue of child prostitution. Speakers were Mr. Shiro Yoshioka from ECPAT Tokyo, and Mr. Masanobu Usami, secretary to Senator Sumiko Shimizu.
Mr. Yoshioka reported on the current situation of child prostitution. Child prostitution has increased dramatically in the Philippines, Thailand and other Asian countries. There are Japanese men who have been arrested in these countries for engaging in alleged child prostitution or sexual abuse. There is the possibility that some of them may be found guilty under the domestic laws of the countries concerned.
He also referred to legal measures established in various countries. Some forty countries have banned the production and sale of child pornography. In addition, more than half of which punish the mere possession of the product. The movement to ban child pornography has intensified worldwide since the mid 1990s. Whereas in Japan, legal regulation has not materialized at all.
Following Mr. Yoshioka's report, Mr. Usami updated us on the domestic movement for legal regulations. Being a secretary to a senator, he has been involved in drafting a law to regulate commercial and sexual exploitation of children. From his studies, he pointed out shortcomings found in current domestic laws and ordinances.
Then he suggested an amendment to existing laws: lower the current age of 13 in establishing forced obscenity and rape without physical assault; dispense with the condition of complaint in establishing rape or extend the period of complaint. Mr. Usami also mentioned an idea to enact a law separately which solely handles prostitution.
Regarding child pornography, the concept itself is simply missed in Japanese laws. Therefore, concerned people has begun studies on eradication of production and sales of child pornography, starting with establishing a definition for such.
The two reporters agreed that there has been an improvement in the Japanese government's attitude which had been extremely inactive before the 1996 World Convention on Elimination of Commercial and Sexual Exploitation of the Child. Although the government is still reluctant to amend or enact domestic laws, it nevertheless took an initial step with a campaign against child prostitution. Ten of the ministries and agencies involved made a poster to advocate eradication of child prostitution and child pornography.
The serial lectures resulted in a quite valuable experience as participants explored relatively new areas for JCLU activities.