[Provisional Translation]

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held the second meeting of the Headquarters for Creating a Society in which All Women Shine, at the Prime Minister's Office.
At the meeting, discussion took place on the draft 2015 priority policies for accelerating the promotion of active participation by women.

Based on the discussion in the meeting, the Prime Minister said,

“Today, this headquarters has approved the draft 2015 priority policies for accelerating the promotion of active participation by women. This is our first attempt at formulating priority policies focusing on the promotion of active participation by women, and hereafter I would like to aim to approve priority policies around June each year and reflect those policies in the budget.

We must first ‘practice what we preach,’ and based on these basic policies we will create and promote new priority items for accelerating efforts to further the careers of female civil servants. At the same time, we will aim to establish a bill on promoting active participation by women at the earliest possible date, and the Government as a whole will work to promote the relevant initiatives. We will also introduce a framework in the public procurement process for more broadly appraising corporations that promote work-life balance, which is indispensable for active participation by women. Furthermore I would like the relevant ministers to work as one to promote initiatives providing comprehensive support for fostering women who can fully exercise their capabilities in the science and technology field, an area that will pave the way for the future of Japan.

In addition, I hope you will enhance and promote measures that will serve as the foundation for active participation by women, such as the elimination of harassment in all of its forms, including ‘maternity harassment’; support for single parent households and irregular workers; and the improvement of women’s quality of life through the advancement of efforts to create comfortable spaces, including through upgrades to public toilets.

I would like each Cabinet member to advance rigorous reviews of budgets and system reforms for accelerating the promotion of active participation by women based on these priority policies.

Active participation by women in the field of politics is also a matter of great importance. I would like to request the cooperation of each party in moving this forward.”