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Women and the 2011 East Japan Disaster

Fumie Saito
Version of record first published: 25 Jun 2012

To cite this article: Fumie Saito (2012): Women and the 2011 East Japan Disaster, Gender & Development,
20:2, 265-279
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Women and the 2011 East Japan Disaster

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Fumie Saito

This article describes the gender issues that have emerged after the earthquake and
tsunami that hit East Japan in March 2011, and how the government and society
responded to these issues. The gender issues that emerged were not new; rather,
they repeated what had already happened following earlier emergencies in Japan,
indicating a failure on the part of the government to integrate a gender perspective
into emergency planning and response, and ongoing gender inequality in Japanese
society.
Cet article decrit les proble`mes relatifs au genre qui ont surgi apre`s le seisme et le
tsunami qui ont frappe lest du Japon en mars 2011 et la manie`re dont le gouvernement
et la societe ont reagi face a` ces proble`mes. Les questions de genre qui ont ete soulevees
navaient rien de nouveau ; elles ne faisaient en realite que reiterer ce qui setait deja`
passe apre`s des situations durgence anterieures au Japon, indiquant dune part lechec
de la part du gouvernement au moment dintegrer une dimension genre dans la
planification en vue de situations durgence et lintervention dans ces situations et,
dautre part, linegalite entre les sexes qui continue dexister au sein de la societe
japonaise.
Este ensayo examina las cuestiones de genero que surgieron tras el terremoto y el
tsunami que asolaron Japon Oriental en marzo de 2011 y como el gobierno y la
sociedad respondieron ante ellas. Los temas de genero que emergieron no son nuevos;
al contrario, se repitieron las fallas detectadas en Japon en anteriores emergencias,
lo que indica que el gobierno no ha integrado la perspectiva de genero en sus planes
de emergencia y respuesta, y que la inequidad de genero persiste en la sociedad
japonesa.
Key words: disaster response; womens participation; government policy; East Japan
Disaster; reconstruction

Introduction
2011 was a catastrophic year for Japan. On 11 March, earthquakes and a tsunami hit
Tohoku region in north-east Japan, a largely rural area where traditional gender roles

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are dominant. As of 11 January 2012, the death toll related to the East Japan Disaster
had been recorded at 15,844, with 3,450 still missing.1 In the areas that were worst
affected by the disaster, women made up 54 per cent of deaths.2
Following the earthquakes and tsunami, people in the affected areas fled to
evacuation centres set up in schools and community centres. Food, water, bedding,
daily necessities, and medical care were provided by the government, companies, and
non-government organisations (NGOs); however, these failed to reach all victims since
the scale of the disaster was so massive. In total, 468,653 people were evacuated to
2,417 centres. While people began moving into temporary housing in early April, it
was more than nine months before all the evacuation centres were closed. In the early
response period, gender issues were most evident in the context of the operation of the
government evacuation centres, as described below.
Earthquakes and the tsunami also hit the coastal area of Fukushima, causing
damage to the Fukushima nuclear power plants. The radiation fallout from these
nuclear power plants caused the forced evacuation of people living locally; many other
people living in the surrounding areas (but outside the designated evacuation zone)
also chose to evacuate, out of fear of the health impacts of exposure to radiation. The
issue of nuclear radiation raised stress levels and caused additional concern among the
victims.
Japan has experienced several large-scale earthquakes in the past 20 years (for
instance, Hanshin/Awaji in 1995, affecting the city of Kobe, and Niigata Chuetsu in
2004), and following each of these disasters, there was recognition that a gender
perspective had not been adequately applied or effectively integrated into planning for
immediate disaster response, or the reconstruction period thereafter.
Despite some minor reforms at government level, and lobbying on the part of
womens rights groups, lessons from these previous disasters were not heeded and
effective gender-sensitive policies and guidelines were not implemented. As a result,
the gender-related issues that emerged following the East Japan Disaster were very
similar to those that had emerged following previous disasters.
This article begins by considering gender inequality in Japan, in particular in the
region affected by the disaster, and then examines how the failure to incorporate a
gender perspective into the disaster response led to problems that affected women and
other people in vulnerable positions, by drawing on specific womens experiences in
the aftermath of the disaster. This article also considers the work of women officials
and of the many grassroots womens groups in the region, who worked hard to meet
the needs of women and others affected by the disaster. The article also explores the
lack of responsiveness of the Japanese system of administration, which contributed to
frustration among the victims. The paper concludes by arguing that womens greater
participation in decision-making processes is necessary to improve womens experiences during the emergency response and the post-disaster reconstruction period.

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Gender inequality in Japanese society

In the 2011 Global Gender Gap index issued by the World Economic Forum, Japan
is ranked 98th out of 135 countries. Women occupy 11.3 per cent of seats in the
House of Representatives, and only 4.2 per cent of places at the managerial level of
companies (Cabinet Office 2011). At local level, womens participation in decisionmaking bodies is even lower. For example, the average percentage of female managers
at prefectural level is 6.0 per cent, and in Tohoku, where the disaster hit, it falls below
5.0 per cent.
In Tohoku, agriculture and fishing are the major industries. Women work in
these industries, making up 51 per cent of the agricultural workforce in Tohoku
(as of February 2010), and 18 per cent of those working in fisheries (2008). However,
the ratio of womens participation at the decision-making level of Agricultural
and Fisheries Cooperatives is less than 5 per cent. It is unsurprising then that the
head of Iwate Fisheries Cooperatives Womens Group says that men never listen to
them.
In Tohoku, gender roles remain very traditional. Women are seen as responsible for
taking care of other family members, and are reluctant to speak out and challenge men
in public forums. As has been observed in the aftermath of other large-scale disasters,
stereotypical gender roles can play a significant role in shaping the way people
experience a disaster (Japan International Cooperation Agency 2007). While there does
not appear to have been a link between gender and rates of mortality in the East Japan
Disaster, traditional gender roles and expectations did have a direct impact on
womens experiences in the post-disaster and reconstruction periods, as will be
discussed below.

Government policy on gender and disasters

Inclusion of a gender perspective into disaster planning
Two national plans are relevant to gender and disaster. One is the national gender
equality plan, which first incorporated disaster prevention in 2005. The Third Basic
Plan for Gender Equality, issued in December 2010, stresses the importance of
promoting gender equality in disaster prevention as a priority issue. More importantly
for disaster planning, the 2005 Basic Plan for Disaster Prevention incorporated the
different needs of women and men, and the participation of women in disaster
prevention. Recent amendments to the disaster prevention plan incorporate gender
aspects more specifically, for instance: setting up areas where women can dry their
laundry; providing rooms for changing clothes and feeding babies; ensuring that
necessities such as sanitary items are distributed by women; and promoting more
women into management teams at evacuation centres as well as temporary housing
communities.
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Gender sensitivity at the early stage of the disaster response.3

The Gender Equality Bureau at the Cabinet Office worked vigorously in the period
immediately following the disaster, sending out notices and staff to local government
bureaus in order to raise awareness of gender issues, especially in the evacuation
centres. The Bureau also urged local government offices to take measures to prevent
violence against women. At the same time, the Bureau set up a website for the East
Japan Disaster, which was continuously updated with new directives, information
alerts, and examples of good practice at evacuation centres. This practice was a
reflection of the Third Basic Plan for Gender Equality.
However, despite the efforts of the Gender Equality Bureau, in a fact-finding
mission to the affected areas two months after the disaster, the international
organisation Human Rights Now found that women were facing many difficulties in
the evacuation centres, and that policy directives from central government were not
being fully implemented (Human Rights Now 2011). One of the reasons why
implementation was so weak is that the Gender Equality Bureau does not have
enough authority to ensure co-ordination between different government branches. The
bureau only consolidates each ministrys policy and makes it available to the public by
publishing a white paper. There is also not enough co-ordination between the gender
equality department and disaster prevention department.
In addition, as more and more state power is decentralised to the local government
level, it is now the local authority that is primarily responsible for disaster prevention
and post-disaster reconstruction. At the local disaster prevention councils, it is rare to
have someone from the gender equality department present. Also, as mentioned
above, the rate of womens participation is generally lower within local authorities
than at the national level, and this is particularly the case in regard to local level
disaster management. In 2008, the percentage of female members on local Disaster
Prevention Councils was only 3.4 per cent at prefecture and 2.7 per cent at municipal
levels (Association of Prefectural Governors 2008). This appears to be reflected in a lack
of consideration for gender issues in disaster prevention planning at the local level. For
instance, over 80 per cent of local authorities did not include special measures for
women and vulnerable people such as setting up a day-care centre, safety measures
for preventing violence against women and sexual harassment, and support for
families caring for ill people, people with disabilities, and elderly people in their
administration manuals for evacuation centres (Association of Prefectural Governors
2008).

Gender issues in the early response and recovery period

Many accounts of womens experiences in the evacuation centres and in the period
following the disaster reveal a consistent failure to consider their needs and priorities,
resulting in women feeling frustrated, uncomfortable, and at times, unsafe.

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Women and the 2011 East Japan Disaster

Reinforcement of traditional gender roles

Womens traditional roles were emphasised in the evacuation centres. Women were
directed by evacuation centre leaders or at the initiative of womens groups to
prepare meals in the evacuation centres, whereas men were not expected to contribute to this task, even if they had nothing else to do. Women were exhausted, and
frustrated because they did not receive any money in return for preparing meals,
whereas men had the option of collecting and removing rubbish, for which they
received payment.4 In places where houses were not destroyed by the earthquakes
or the tsunami, many families took in relatives whose homes had been destroyed
or damaged. This placed a disproportionate burden on housewives, as they were
expected to take care of their own families and of the relatives who were staying as
well. There was no support available to these women, or any way for them to voice
their concerns. The only time they received any respite was when members of NGOs
from outside the region visited and took them out to nearby cafes, away from their
families.
Lack of privacy
The national government provided partitions to each prefecture to be distributed to the
evacuation centres, to provide privacy for families and individuals. However, it was
reported that managers in some of the evacuation centres were unwilling to distribute
the partitions. One manager reportedly said that they did not need them because they
had to be bonded as one. There were also delays to the distribution of partitions,
because local officials did not consider them a priority. Some young, single women left
evacuation centres as a result, since they felt unsafe. They decided to stay with friends
or relatives, even though staying in private houses was not recommended, because of
the threat of aftershocks.
Nowhere to dry womens underwear
Washing machines were only made available in evacuation centres in late April. Up
until then some people washed their clothes in local rivers. Even after washing
machines were provided, there was no separate room where women could dry their
clothes. Many women did not feel comfortable drying their underwear in public, so
they had to throw their underwear away, resulting in shortages (Human Rights Now
2011). Some womens organisations started a project to address this; they would collect
dirty clothes, wash and dry them, and then deliver them back to the evacuation
centres. In total, 287 volunteers participated in the Washing Network. The project not
only helped address the immediate problem of lack of space to dry clothes, but also
created connections between volunteers and the women they were supporting
(Munakata 2011).
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A room for women

At one big evacuation centre in Fukushima, a special room for women was set up,
where massages, health consultations, and tea were available. This provided a space
where women could relax and socialise away from their families. About 50
/100 women
a day used this facility. Women appreciated the provision of this room, as witnessed
by some of the comments recorded by the Fukushima Gender Equality Centre (2011):
Thank you for making this room. Its like my vitamin.
I feel I am saved.

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Violence against women

Research suggests that violence against women tends to increase after a natural
disaster (see Fisher 2010). Cases of sexual violence were reported following the
Hanshin/Awaji Earthquake in 1997, but at that time pressure from the community that
praised the victims stoicism, and anti-feminist criticism in the right-wing media,
forced victims and womens support groups to remain silent. As a result, it took a
while before women started to talk about what had happened to them (Womens Net
Kobe 2007).
Sixteen years later, similar cases of sexual and domestic violence against women
were reported following the East Japan Disaster. Research by one womens group
highlighted 14 cases, while another womens organisation reported that about 15 per
cent of the 324 calls to consultation services between 29 March and 23 July 2011 were
to do with violence against women (Osawa et al. 2011; Sendai Gender Equality
Opportunity Foundation 2011). Young women, both evacuees and volunteers working
in the evacuation centres, reported experiencing sexual harassment. It was also
reported that a woman was beaten to death at a temporary housing facility in
Ishinomaki in August 2011.
Overall, there was little understanding about violence against women, including
among evacuation centre staff and other officials. Women working at one shelter
complained that male managers in evacuation centres refused to allow them to
distribute flyers with information about consultation services for women experiencing
violence, stating there were no such cases in the evacuation centre. However, as there
are no official statistics available, it is difficult to capture the whole picture regarding
violence against women after the disaster.

The role of women in the disaster response

Women public officials
Recent staff cuts at the local authority level contributed to the strain encountered
by public officials in the region affected by the disaster
/ many of whom were also

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victims
/ and meant many were overburdened in their work. In one evacuation
centre, just two officials were responsible for 5,000 people. In one example, the female
manager of an evacuation centre worked 12-hour shifts where people were continuously shouting at and scolding her. This lasted for over two months and she
developed hair loss due to continuous stress. Even today she feels sick every time she
recalls her workload at that time (Endo 2011).
Assumptions about traditional gender roles also aggravated the situation of women
public officials who were housed in the evacuation centres, who were expected to
prepare meals for other evacuees on top of their regular duties, when they returned at
the end of a long working day.
Womens centres
In Japan, almost all prefectures have womens centres or gender equality centres, run
by public, semi-public or private organisations.5 These centres usually offer career
advice, and provide counselling for women and assistance to victims of domestic
violence. In the initial stage of the disaster, womens centres played a pivotal role in
responding to womens practical and emotional needs.
Morioka Womens Centre, one of the centres located near the affected area, started a
Supply Delivery Care Project at the end of March, which delivered goods such as
underwear and cosmetics as requested. Up until the end of September, they made
about 400 deliveries. Volunteers from the group also visited evacuation centres with
midwives to consult on health issues, ran violence against womens hotlines, and
shopped for elderly people living alone in temporary housing.
Saitama Prefecture, while not directly affected by the disaster, accepted people who
were evacuated following the accident at the Fukushima power plant. The Saitama
Prefecture Womens Centre, With You Saitama, organised a cafe in order to enable
people who had been evacuated from Fukushima and locals to meet, which helped to
deal with issues of isolation.6 With You Saitama also ran womens policy advocacy
workshops to consider local disaster prevention plans from a gender perspective.
Through the workshops participants became motivated and gained sufficient knowledge and self-confidence to present their own policy recommendations for disaster
planning.
Despite the vital services they offer, some womens centres are on the brink of
closure, some face being merged, and some have reduced their services due to severe
budget cuts from local government. This trend reflects the lack of interest in gender
issues among the public and the authorities.
Womens Fire Prevention Clubs
Womens Fire Prevention Clubs are voluntary associations in the community that aim
to prevent fires in households. As of 1 April 2010, there were 10,709 clubs in total, with
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approximately 1,720,000 members.7 They are expected to be a primary responder and

leader for disaster prevention in the community. About 80 per cent of their budgets are
subsidised by the state. In rural areas like Tohoku, women have tighter social networks
that often centre on community-oriented organisations, such as these Fire Prevention
Clubs.
During the East Japan Disaster, these associations set up soup kitchens for victims,
and delivered necessities and meals for elderly persons and others who could not
move into evacuation centres. These activities ran smoothly thanks to their local
knowledge, and their co-operative and pre-existing relationships with other associations in the affected communities (Asano 2012). However, these associations are
facing decline, as fewer young people are interested in joining as volunteers. This
may signal weaknesses in the capacity of communities to respond to disasters in the
future.

Insufficient protection for women from vulnerable groups

Evacuation from Fukushima
As of 23 February 2012, 62,674 people had evacuated from Fukushima into other
prefectures, following the accidents at the Fukushima nuclear power plants. Many of
these evacuees were women who left with their children out of concern for the effects
of radiation on their childrens health, while their husbands remained in Fukushima to
work. In a survey conducted among evacuees in Yamagata, the prefecture that received
the highest number of evacuees from Fukushima, it was found that about a half of
the families questioned were headed by single parents, of whom about 50 per cent
intended to remain in Yamagata for at least a year.8 There have been reports of couples
separating or divorcing, as a result of differences in opinion regarding the effects of
radiation.
Pregnant women and children are entitled to higher levels of compensation than
others, and priority radiation screening. However, many young women are also
worried about the impact of radiation on their reproductive health, and possible
discrimination against them when it comes to marriage, but there are no dedicated
health or counselling services available to help them to address these fears.
Women with disabilities
The Japan Disability Forum (JDF), a network of 13 organisations working on behalf of
disabled people, set up its headquarters for the comprehensive support for persons
with disabilities within one week of the disaster. According to research by JDF
conducted in Minami-Souma City in Iwate prefecture,9 about half of the disabled
people they interviewed had to return home from evacuation centres within three
weeks. The reasons for returning home included insufficient wheelchair access, mental
stress, and a lack of understanding of their needs in the evacuation centres. It was also

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Women and the 2011 East Japan Disaster

difficult for them to sleep on the floor, and there were concerns about medical access.
Twenty-two per cent of respondents did not or could not evacuate at all, and stayed at
home, even in cases where their homes were unsafe and when they did not have access
to daily necessities.
It is disappointing to note that this survey data did not contain any information
regarding the particular needs and hardships of women with disabilities, even though
women comprised about one-third of the respondents in the survey. This is symbolic of
the lack of consideration given to gender issues, even in groups concerning persons
with disabilities.
However, in one positive development, in April 2011, Disabled Peoples International and Womens Network Japan collaborated to produce an information brochure
for women with disabilities living in evacuation centres. This suggested how to
respond to the differing needs of various groups of disabled people, including the
special needs of disabled women, and in particular, how to ensure that disabled
womens voices are heard in times of disaster.10
Foreign-born women
There are three main categories of foreign-born women living in the affected region:
foreigners married to Japanese men, students, and trainees. Foreign women married to
Japanese men in this region are mainly from the Philippines, China, and Korea. Their
husbands mostly work in farming or fishing, and their in-laws usually expect a foreign
bride to be a dutiful housewife, taking care of her husband and his family and doing
the housework.
In the stressful period directly following the disaster, many of these women wanted
access to information in their own languages. The Multi Language Centre FACIL, a
group based in Kobe, helped create a radio programme in Tagalog (the national
language of the Philippines), which was broadcast in the affected area, and a church
in Kesenmuma City offered masses in Tagalog. The Purple Hotline, organised by
National Womens Shelter Net to provide support to victims of violence against
women, provided services in Chinese, Thai, Tagalog, Spanish, and Korean.
In addition to language, employment is another concern. Many foreign women
previously worked in fish processing, but lost their jobs when the companies they
worked for were damaged or destroyed during the disaster. Thanks to the coordination of the Japan Association for Refugees, some of these foreign women were
trained to become care assistants, and some of them successfully obtained jobs in
nursing care facilities. They also learned how to read Kanji Chinese characters,
improving their literacy and gaining increased confidence and more support from their
families. This is a rare case where some women were able to improve their situation as
a result of post-disaster reconstruction efforts.
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Moving into the reconstruction period

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The emergence of womens rights networks

One of the positive outcomes of the disaster has been the emergence of new
womens networks and groups at local and national levels. Several hundred women
and men from all over Japan gathered at a conference focusing on gender in the
East Japan Disaster on 11 June, three months after the disaster. The conference
led to the establishment of the Gender Equality and Disaster Reconstruction
Network.
Rise Together: Womens Network for East Japan Disaster, a Tokyo-based network of
local and national womens groups, researchers, and activists, supported by Oxfam
Japan, was also formed at this time to support policy advocacy for gender
mainstreaming in the reconstruction process, and future disaster prevention. As a
result of these efforts, the word gender was incorporated into the Basic Act on
Reconstruction in Response to the Great East Japan Earthquake and the Basic
Guidelines for Reconstruction in Response to the Great East Japan Earthquake.11 This
was a great achievement for womens organisations, considering that there was
nothing relating to gender in the first draft of the principles for the reconstruction
framework.12
However, once again, realising gender mainstreaming in practice has been more
difficult. In the secretariat office for the government Reconstruction Headquarters in
Response to the Great East Japan Earthquake, there are five officials who are
responsible for the issue of gender equality, but all of them have other responsibilities
as well. Under such conditions, it is unlikely that the incorporation and promotion of
gender equality will be realised in the national reconstruction process, and this is
reflected in the experiences of women in the affected region to date.
On-going failure to collect gender-disaggregated data
The Japanese government received domestic and international criticism for its failure
to disclose information surrounding the accidents at the Fukushima nuclear power
plants. However, the real problem is not about disclosure; it is a more basic failure on
the part of the government to collect accurate and timely data. The lack of genderdisaggregated statistics in employment and other policy areas makes it difficult to
capture the actual situation of women after the disaster.
The third national gender action plan for 2011
/2015 requires that the government
consider gender-disaggregated data; however, these data are rarely collected even
under ordinary circumstances, since it is left to each ministry. In order for genderdisaggregated data to be gathered effectively during times of disaster, it will first be
necessary for ministries to begin to collect gender-disaggregated data as a matter of
routine.

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Women and the 2011 East Japan Disaster

Employment
At the time of the disaster, over half of women employed in the region affected
were working part-time and/or on short-term contracts. Typically, these were the posts
that companies cut first. The figures show that in the region affected, the number of
women living on unemployment insurance was 1.3 times higher than that of men, as
of November 2011.13 Despite the difficulties that women are facing, specific measures
for increasing womens employment in the region have not materialised; nor have
they been seriously considered as an issue. For example, the Ministry of Health
and Labour had not even conducted disaggregation of employment data by gender
(other than the figures concerning unemployment insurance) until a womens group
requested the Minister to do so.
In December 2011, Rise Together, along with a representative from a womens
group in the affected area, met the Minister of Health and Labour and urged her
to improve womens employment situation in the affected areas. They collected
messages from women who were suffering as a result of poor employment prospects and gave them to the Minister. These messages helped draw attention from the
media concerning the situation of womens employment. Some of these messages
included:
Women cannot find work in post-disaster reconstruction projects.
It is hard for women to look for a job as there are no day-care places.
I was forced to quit my job because I was a short-time contract worker.
I was fired because I was older than others.

Lack of childcare provision

Childcare is another problem for young women who are looking for jobs. Demand has
increased since the disaster, especially for child-care places for pre-school age children,
as some child-care facilities were damaged or destroyed. One solution would be to
allow state subsidising of private nurseries.
In addition to lack of nursery school places, there is a shortage of places in
after-school care programmes, especially for children aged 10
/12. But when a city
official asked the City Education Board to allow them to use schools for day care,
the Board refused, saying that schools are for studying only. This is an example of
the Japanese infamous system Tate-Wari, where government departments work in
isolation, resulting in a compartmentalised and non-integrated public administration.
In a post-disaster situation, more flexibility is needed to promote reconstruction and
support women.

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Gender discrimination in compensation

In the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami in Sri Lanka, compensation in the form of
land was allocated to men on the grounds that they were identified as the head of
household; this ignored the fact that prior to the tsunami, many women had owned
land independently (Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions 2011, 8).
Similarly, after the disaster in East Japan, people who lived in the affected areas
were entitled to receive various forms of compensation from the government.
However, women have tended to receive less than men, since more compensation was provided to the main breadwinner or the person registered as the head
of household
/ usually a man
/ than to other members of the family. For example,
the provisions of the Law for Compensation Money for Victims of the Disaster
accord different amounts of compensation money depending on whether the beneficiary was the breadwinner, while the support fund for reconstructing livelihoods of victims is provided to the head of the household (Yamaji 2011).14 This
constitutes a form of indirect discrimination against women, as well as devaluing
housewives contribution to the household. These provisions especially affect
victims of domestic violence who have escaped or are trying to escape from their
abusers.

Conclusion
Reiko Masai, who sits on the board of directors for Womens Net Kobe, has been
working to promote womens rights in disasters since the Hanshin/Awaji earthquake
in 1995. She reported that:
when the World Conference on Disaster Reduction was held in Kobe, in 2005, we sent a petition
to promote the incorporation of gender perspectives into disaster management at central and
local governments; however, nothing has changed. Womens voices are still not reflected in the
policies. It is necessary to change the situation [so that] womens voices can be heard at the right
time and at the right place by increasing womens participation in the decision-making process.
Otherwise, the same thing will happen every time we have [a] disaster.15

A disaster is just a catalyst that multiplies or emphasises inequalities that exist in daily
life. In other words, many of the problems we have observed could have been avoided
by addressing the inequalities and discrimination which women and minorities face
in their daily lives, and by ensuring that women and other marginalised groups are
brought into processes of decision-making, and occupy senior-level positions in
disaster planning and management.
Japan
/ one of the richest, most developed countries in the world
/ is far behind
developing countries such as Bangladesh in mainstreaming gender into disaster
prevention (Ikeda 2009). The case of the East Japan Disaster shows that the effects of

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Women and the 2011 East Japan Disaster

disasters on women do not necessarily depend on whether the country has a high level
of economic development, but on the extent to which gender equality has been
achieved in the society. If Japan chooses to learn from the experiences of other
countries in regard to incorporating a gender perspective into disaster planning and
response, recovering from this disaster could represent a chance to build a better, more
equal society.

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Fumie Saito worked as a co-ordinator for Rise Together: Womens Network for East Japan Disaster
until March 2012 (www.risetogetherjp.org/EnglishAboutUs.html) Postal address: 155 Andrewes House,
Barbican, London EC2Y 8BA, UK. Email: fumiesaito@gmail.com

Notes
1

5
6

7
8

9
10
11

The Reconstruction Headquarters in response to the Great East Japan Earthquake

www.reconstruction.go.jp/topics/hisaisya-suikei.pdf (last checked by the author
March 2012).
Gender disaggregated mortality statistics were made available one month after the
disaster, but were not regularly updated. For example, the latest mortality figures for
the East Japan Disaster announced by the Disaster Reconstruction Agency do not
include gender disaggregated data.
The Gender Equality Bureau at the Cabinet Office conducted a survey on gender
issues following the disaster. The results of the survey are expected to come out
sometime in 2012.
Hiraga Keiko, speaking at the Symposium, Saigaifukkou wo Mezasu Danjokodosankaku (Gender Equality for Disaster Reconstruction), Morioka, Iwate, 24 October 2011.
See also Cabinet Office Gender Equality Bureau (2012, p. 2).
Forty-five out of 47 prefectures have a womens centre.
See Nagoya City Gender Equality Promotion Centre, www.tsunagalet.city.nagoya.jp/
pdf/20120127_hottospace.pdf, and Kawasaki Gender Equality Centre, http://bit.ly/
wuJsUb (last checked by the author March 2012).
See Fire and Disaster Management Agency, www.fdma.go.jp/ugoki/h2310/23.pdf
(last checked by the author January 2012).
Reported in a press release by the Yamagata Prefectural Government, 17 November
2011, www.pref.yamagata.jp/pickup/interview/pressrelease/2011/11/18150556/ (last
checked by the author March 2012).
See www.dinf.ne.jp/doc/JDF/0829_houkoku/index.html (last checked by the author
March 2011).
See Basic Response to Persons with Disabilities in Evacuation Centers, 25 April 2011,
http://bit.ly/puV2UB (last checked by the author March 2012).
See the Reconstruction Headquarters website (www.reconstruction.go.jp) for details of
both acts.

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Fumie Saito

12

13

14

15

See Seven Principles for the Reconstruction Framework, 11 May 2011, www.cas.go.
jp/jp/fukkou/english/pdf/report20110625.pdf (last checked by the author March
2012).
In the three most affected prefectures, 25,273 women received unemployment
insurance whereas 18,711 men were in the same situation (Ministry of Labour and
Health 2011).
Article 3 of the Act on Support for Reconstructing Livelihoods of Disaster Victims
stipulates the relief fund will be provided to heads of the household upon their
request.
Reiko Masai, interview with the author, Tokyo, 19 January 2012.

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