Washington, DC, September 25, 2014 — The Asia Foundation and the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) Simon Chair in Political Economy, hosted “Womenomics: Why it Matters for Japan and the World” on September 23. The Foundation’s Associate Director of the Women’s Empowerment Program Eileen Pennington took part in the engaging discussion on the United States and Japan’s cooperation on women’s economic empowerment in developing countries.
The forum began with opening remarks from Wendy Cutler, Acting Deputy U.S. Trade Representative, and Matthew P. Goodman, William E. Simon Chair in Political Economy and Senior Advisor for Asian Economics. “We hope to try to get beneath the surface and try to look at the real reasons why women don’t participate in the economy as much as they could and should in Japan and the developing world,” said Goodman.
“This year The Asia Foundation celebrated a 20 year anniversary of a dedicated Women’s Empowerment Program, and we work on three mutually reinforcing areas as it relates to women’s empowerment – first to enhance women’s political participation and decision making, second to promote women’s economic empowerment, and third to enhance rights and security,” said Pennington. “We know that women are empowered in all three of these areas, they are much better positioned to be able to play a meaningful role in their communities and societies towards transformative change.”
“Womenomics” has become a forefront of Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s agenda. Pennington went on to discuss the collaboration between the United States and Japan to further women’s economic empowerment. Other speakers included: Chad Steinberg, Senior Economist at the International Monetary Fund; Rui Matsukawa, Director, Gender Mainstreaming Division, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Japan; Miko Oyama, U.S. Representative, KEIDANREN; and Robert Feldman, Managing Director, Morgan Stanley. Watch the full forum here.
Photo Caption: Left to right: Eileen Pennington, Associate Director of The Asia Foundation’s Women’s Empowerment Program; Amanda Van Den Dool, Program Analyst at USAID; Yumiko Tanaka, Senior Advisor on Gender and Development, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA); Amy Studdart (moderator), Deputy Director & Fellow, William E. Simon Chair in Political Economy, CSIS
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