In 2021 June, Turkey withdrew from the Istanbul Convention (※1) aimed at preventing violence and gender discrimination against women, sparking protests at home and abroad. That same month, a ruling by Japan’s Supreme Court that the Civil Code, which does not allow married couples to use separate surnames by choice, is constitutional stirred controversy in Japan. Meanwhile, there are also cases where institutional reforms are being made in an effort to achieve gender equality. In Chile, which has until now lagged behind on gender equality, a new constitution will be drafted in July by a Constitutional Convention composed equally of men and women. Drafting a constitution by a gender-parity assembly is the first in the world and will be an important step toward gender equality.

Thus, while there are cases where discrimination against women continues or worsens, efforts toward gender equality are also taking place around the globe. How well are Japanese news organizations conveying this reality? In this article, from the standpoint of international reporting, we analyze Japanese coverage related to discrimination against women.

A woman serving as chair of Chile’s Constitutional Convention (Photo: Mediabanco Agencia / Frickr [CC BY 2.0])

Issues of discrimination against women and international efforts

Before analyzing coverage, let’s look at the current state of discrimination against women. With the aim of achieving gender equality and eliminating all forms of discrimination against women, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women was adopted at the UN General Assembly in 1979. According to Part 1, Article 1 of the convention, “‘discrimination against women’ shall mean any distinction, exclusion or restriction made on the basis of sex which has the effect or purpose of impairing or nullifying, on a basis of equality of men and women, the recognition, enjoyment or exercise by women (irrespective of their marital status) of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any other field.” Specific issues include the gender wage gap, barriers to women’s advancement in politics and the economy, and sexual violence and sexual exploitation. Moreover, “discrimination against women” can also mean women experiencing intersectional discrimination, where multiple forms of discrimination occur simultaneously. For example, transgender women may experience discrimination both as sexual minorities and as women, while women from ethnic minorities may face discrimination both as minorities and as women.

Since the convention was adopted in 1979, its goals are still far from being achieved. According to a 2018 report by the International Labour Organization (ILO), the monthly gender wage gap averaged 20.5% worldwide. In other words, women are working for about 80% of men’s wages. In countries such as Pakistan and Sierra Leone, the wage gap exceeds 40%, underscoring the severity of gender disparities. Furthermore, the World Health Organization estimates that 30% of women globally have experienced sexual violence, but many are unable to report it for fear of exposure or retaliation, suggesting that the actual number of survivors is higher than the statistics indicate.

Street art representing discrimination against women (Photo: Vulvani / Wikimedia Commons [CC BY-SA 4.0])

There are several indices that quantify such gender disparities. First, the World Economic Forum (WEF) has published the Global Gender Gap Index (GGI) annually since 2006. This indicator is the one most commonly used in Japanese media, and when its rankings are released each year, it often garners attention. It measures gender gaps in four areas—health, education, politics, and the economy—without taking a country’s development level into account.

By contrast, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) publishes the Gender Inequality Index (GII), which assesses, across three dimensions—reproductive health (sexual and reproductive health), empowerment (※2), and labor market participation)—the extent to which potential human development (※3) is hindered by discrimination against women. Thus, rather than measuring the achievement of gender equality itself, this index gauges whether people can realize their potential depending on the degree of gender equality. According to this measure, Japan performs better than on the Global Gender Gap Index, perhaps because it is a high-income country. As the way discrimination against women—and the disparities arising from it—is captured differs by index, it is important to note what each indicator emphasizes. Since 2010, the Gender Inequality Index has been used by UNDP in place of the Gender Development Index (GDI) and the Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM). Currently, the indices used by UNDP and WEF are the Gender Inequality Index and the Global Gender Gap Index. In this article, we use the Global Gender Gap Index, which measures gender disparities themselves rather than whether people can achieve self-realization.

How is the world addressing discrimination against women? For example, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adopted at the United Nations in 2015, set out 17 goals to be achieved by 2030 and 169 specific targets to help achieve those goals. Whether goals are achieved is measured by proportions set out in the global indicators, and countries report their progress. Among the 17 goals of the SDGs, Goal 5 is “Achieve gender equality.” The aim of this goal is to eliminate all forms of discrimination against women and girls and protect fundamental human rights, while also promoting women’s empowerment so that positive effects spill over into other areas of development. For example, if access to education becomes equal for boys and girls, it will help advance Goal 4 of the SDGs, “Quality education for all.”

A UN Women-hosted session on sexual harassment (Photo: UN Women / Flickr [CC BY-NC-ND 2.0])

Let’s also look at the specific targets for gender equality. Target 5.2 calls for “eliminating all forms of violence against all women and girls in public and private spheres, including trafficking and sexual and other types of exploitation.” Target 5.5 focuses on women’s participation in politics and the economy, aiming to “ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making in political, economic and public life.” There are nine targets under Goal 5, all closely related to the issues discussed above. This shows that discrimination against women is a major issue that needs to be addressed at the global level.

Trends in volume of coverage

So how much do Japanese media report on issues of discrimination against women around the world and the efforts to address them? Here we analyze the case of the Mainichi Shimbun. First, we look at the extent to which international reporting mentions discrimination against women. Searching for articles that referenced “gender,” “gender equality,” “discrimination against women,” or “women’s rights” on the Mainichi’s international pages over the 20 years from the end of June 2001 to the end of June 2021 yielded 385 pieces (※4). A simple calculation would suggest an average of 1.6 articles per month over these 20 years. In reality, however, the number varies by year. Which years saw more articles, and which saw fewer? Below is a graph showing changes in article counts over the 20-year period (※5).

As the graph shows, the period 2020-2021—that is, from early July 2020 to the end of June 2021—had the highest number of articles in the past 20 years. One factor behind this was the Tokyo Olympics in the summer of 2021. For example, many pieces were published related to the Olympics, such as articles themed around women and sports and coverage of athletes holding study sessions on gender equality. Article counts have also been on the rise since early July 2019, driven by increased reporting on the debate over abortion restrictions in the United States and on International Women’s Day (March 8), established by the United Nations to advocate for women’s rights and participation in society. According to a survey by the “Roundtable Conference of Working People,” chaired by the Director of the United Nations Information Centre in Tokyo, public awareness of International Women’s Day rose from 32% in 2015 to 87% in 2019. Growing interest in International Women’s Day in Japan in recent years likely increased media attention to it.

A building lit up for International Women’s Day (Photo: UN Women / Flickr [CC BY-NC-ND 2.0])

Outside of the early July 2020 to end of June 2021 period, the number of articles was also relatively high in 2004-2005, i.e., from early July 2004 to the end of June 2005. During this period, there were relatively many articles themed around the Islamic world. Afghanistan and Iraq, in particular, were frequently covered, likely due to the United States’ military interventions. This suggests that coverage tended to follow the global situation of the time—especially U.S. actions—rather than focusing on discrimination against women per se (※6).

As noted, although there are steep increases in certain periods, international-page articles about discrimination against women generally remain at a small, steady volume of about 10 to 20 per year. However, the counts above also include pieces that matched the keywords but were not substantively related. For example, an article may include only a phrase such as “Mr./Ms. X, who works on activities such as protecting women’s rights,” and yet appear in the search results even if the content is not actually about discrimination against women. Examining the content, only 184 articles were judged to have women’s discrimination as a main theme rather than just the wording. Over 20 years, that translates to about 0.7 articles per month on the international pages dealing with discrimination against women.

What the coverage contains

What kinds of topics are being covered? To make the analysis easier, we grouped the 184 articles into nine themes: “Discrimination against women in the Islamic world,” “UN and national efforts to eliminate discrimination against women,” “Sexual minorities,” “Abortion rights,” “International Women’s Day,” “Sexist remarks and criticism thereof,” “Royal succession,” “Sexual violence and sexual exploitation,” and “Other” (※7). The graph by category is as follows.

As the graph indicates, articles on “discrimination against women in the Islamic world” were by far the most numerous, accounting for 30% of the total. In the early 2000s, the collapse of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and the Iraq War, along with U.S. intervention, drew attention to the Middle East and surrounding areas, which in turn put a spotlight on the treatment of women in Islamic contexts. Just as the collapse of the Taliban occurred in 2001 and the Iraq War began in 2003, articles on discrimination against women in the Islamic world increased. Although the volume decreased after the early 2000s, coverage continued, for example with reports on Iran lifting its ban on women attending soccer matches in stadiums.

The next most common category was “UN and national efforts to eliminate discrimination against women.” Articles on national initiatives included, for example, a piece on the Vatican considering appointing women to the position of “deacon” in the Catholic Church. Articles on UN initiatives included coverage of the UN Secretary-General condemning discrimination against women here, and a report on the U.S. vice president’s speech at the Commission on the Status of Women. However, among UN-related articles, those with a Japan-centric angle—such as the UN’s criticism of male-only imperial succession—were somewhat more common than content focused on broader global developments. Of the 31 articles in “UN and national efforts to eliminate discrimination against women,” 7 were judged to have a Japan-centric perspective, accounting for about 22% of the total.

Which places are covered

Next, we analyze which regions the 184 articles covered. In this analysis, the country mentioned most often was the United States, accounting for 20.9% of all articles. Behind this is the tendency of Japanese media to pay constant attention to the United States, not only on this issue but more broadly in foreign news coverage. The next most common was Afghanistan (※8), likely due to the Afghan conflict in which the United States intervened beginning in 2001. Similarly, Iraq, the fifth most frequently mentioned country, was likely influenced by the Iraq War. In third place were France and Saudi Arabia—where women’s rights are severely restricted—tied. Coverage of France included articles on the history of abortion legalization, while coverage of Saudi Arabia often focused on loosened restrictions on women, such as allowing women to travel abroad without a male guardian’s permission.

Students studying at a girls’ high school in Afghanistan (Photo: GPA Photo Archive / Flickr [CC BY-NC 2.0])

How severe is discrimination against women in the countries that receive coverage? How much coverage is there of countries and regions where discrimination is particularly severe globally? We analyze this below.

As noted, we use the Global Gender Gap Index for 156 countries published by the World Economic Forum in 2021. For clarity, we classify the countries mentioned in the articles into an upper half (ranks 1 to 78) and a lower half (ranks 79 to 156) (※9).

As a result, articles about countries in the lower half—i.e., where discrimination against women is severe—accounted for 40.6% (53.5 out of 131.5 articles) of the total (※10). Of the 25 countries mentioned at least once in the sample, 14 were in the lower half of the index (※11), constituting a majority. However, in terms of article counts, the lower-half countries had fewer pieces than those in the upper half—meaning that each lower-half country tends to be covered less frequently than upper-half countries.

How many of the relatively frequently covered countries fall into the lower half? The chart below shows the top 10 countries mentioned. Yellow indicates countries in the upper half of the index, and blue indicates those in the lower half.

Although we noted that lower-half countries tend to have fewer articles per country, the chart shows that 7 of the top 10 countries mentioned are in the lower half. However, looking at the composition of lower-half countries, most are in or near the Middle East (including Central Asia’s Afghanistan), with Thailand and India being the only ones outside that area. In other words, attention is concentrated on a limited set of countries, and even within the lower half there are large disparities in coverage. According to the index, the 10 worst countries include, from the bottom, Afghanistan, Yemen, Iraq, Pakistan, Syria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Iran. Of these, as the chart shows, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Iran are covered relatively often, whereas Pakistan appears in only 1 article over 20 years, and Yemen, Syria, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo appear in 0 articles in this analysis. Thus, even among lower-half countries, certain Middle Eastern states receive frequent coverage, while other regions with severe discrimination against women receive few articles.

Among upper-half countries, as noted earlier, the United States is the most frequently covered. Other countries are all in Europe, indicating a bias here as well. Japan-focused content was excluded from the rankings as we looked at international reporting, but to illustrate how much domestic perspective appears even within foreign news, Japan is shown at the far right, with 14.5 articles—second only to the United States. This shows how strongly Japanese media center their own country in international reporting.

The World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report assesses the severity of discrimination not only by country but also by region. It finds that discrimination against women is most severe in the Middle East and North Africa. While the Middle East is indeed a particularly severe region—and is relatively frequently covered in our sample—coverage of North African countries is sparse, with just 2 articles (Morocco: 1, Egypt: 1) compared to the Middle East. In South Asia, the region with the next-most severe discrimination, there were 6 articles (Bangladesh: 1, Pakistan: 1, India: 4), which is more than North Africa but still fewer than the Middle East. In Sub-Saharan Africa, the world’s third most severe region for discrimination against women, not a single country was covered.

A woman in Lebanon designing clothes (Photo: UN Women / Flickr [CC BY-NC-ND 2.0])

Conclusion

We analyzed coverage of discrimination against women in international reporting from three angles: volume, content, and location. The issue that stands out is that the volume of international reporting on discrimination against women is overwhelmingly small. As noted above, at 0.7 articles per month, it is questionable whether the severity of the global issue is being conveyed. We also found that coverage tends to accompany specific events—particularly those connected to Japan, such as the Olympics, or to U.S. actions—rather than capturing discrimination against women on a global scale. Given these tendencies, coverage may well decline now that the Olympics have ended. The fact that there was not a single article over 20 years on a country like Yemen, where discrimination against women is severe, may indicate that the severity itself is not being placed at the center.

As set out in the SDGs, tackling discrimination against women is a major goal that must be achieved. In Japan, the SDGs have begun to attract broad, if vague, attention in many contexts. Yet it is hard to say that interest is growing in addressing discrimination against women from the perspective of gender equality advocated in the SDGs. Discrimination against women is a global issue, and countries are strongly urged to work on eliminating it. It is all the more necessary to create more opportunities to cover the issues faced by women across different countries and regions and to focus on the essence of the problem, not just the domestic context.

※1 A treaty opened for signature at the Council of Europe in Istanbul on May 11, 2011, aimed at protecting women from all forms of violence and ensuring prevention, prosecution, and elimination.

※2 While empowerment originally means “to give authority,” here it refers to fostering women’s self-esteem, self-determination, and social participation.

※3 Human development means creating an environment in which people can realize their potential and lead productive, creative lives according to their needs and interests.

※4 Using the Mainichi’s Maisaku database, we searched the international pages (Tokyo morning and evening editions) for the period from June 30, 2001 to June 30, 2021 with the query “ジェンダー OR 女性差別 OR 男女平等 OR 女性の権利” (“gender OR discrimination against women OR gender equality OR women’s rights”). The search also extracted articles describing transgender and sexual minorities. Articles on transgender people and on sexual minority women were counted as 1 article; where “LGBT” was used and could include transgender and sexual minority women but was judged not to focus exclusively on these groups, it was counted as 0.5 article.

※5 Because the data for 2021 only run through the end of June, we segmented years accordingly (e.g., from the end of June 2001 to the end of June 2002).

※6 Reference article (Mainichi Shimbun)

2009/7/28 (Tokyo morning edition) “The War on Terror and the U.S.: Part 3, Afghanistan’s Asymmetric War / No. 5 (final): Challenges Remain in ‘Liberating’ Women”

※7 “Discrimination against women in the Islamic world”: Articles about women’s rights, systems, and discrimination in the Islamic world fall under this category.

“UN and national efforts to eliminate discrimination against women”: Articles on policies, systems, and decisions by the UN or individual countries aimed at addressing gender issues fall under this category.

“Sexual minorities”: Articles concerning sexual minorities that address discrimination against women fall under this category.

“Abortion rights”: Articles related to issues surrounding the legalization of abortion fall under this category.

“International Women’s Day”: Articles that discuss the state of discrimination against women and gender equality based on International Women’s Day, or that explain its history, fall under this category.

“Sexist remarks and criticism thereof”: For example, articles reporting that a minister made a sexist remark and women’s groups protested fall under this category.

“Royal succession”: Articles on whether women can inherit thrones and whether gender equality can be achieved within royal families fall under this category.

“Sexual violence and sexual exploitation”: Articles related to sexual crimes and sexual exploitation fall under this category.

“Other”: Articles related to discrimination against women that do not fit into the categories above fall under this category.

※8 In fact, Japan was the next most common after the United States, but it was excluded from the ranking because we focused on international reporting.

※9 Taiwan, the Vatican, and Palestine were excluded because they were mentioned in articles but do not have Global Gender Gap Index data.

※10 While there were 184 articles in total, 52.5 of them did not mention any specific country and were excluded from this part of the analysis, leaving 131.5 articles.

※11 The 14 countries are: Thailand (80th), South Korea (101st), China (104th), Egypt (129th), Turkey (133rd), Bahrain (137th), India (140th), Qatar (142nd), Morocco (144th), Saudi Arabia (147th), Iran (150th), Pakistan (153rd), Iraq (154th), Afghanistan (156th)

Writer: Maika Ito

Graphics: Maika Ito

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