Japan and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women: Implementation and Enforcement pertaining to Sex Discrimination in the Labour Market

Sammanfattning: The present study examines the status of the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in Japan, with due regard to the status of treaties in general as sources of rights and obligations in the country. Further, the study aims to ascertain whether the said Convention has been properly implemented and enforced, and to demonstrate obstacles causing deficiencies and shortcomings in regards to combating discrimination against women in the labour market. In theory, treaties enjoy a high status in Japan, however, human rights treaties are rarely directly applied by the courts. Although certain legislative reforms have been undertaken to bring domestic law into harmony with the CEDAW, the Convention has had a limited impact. The domestic legislation fails to prohibit all forms of discrimination against women and the prohibitions, as well as the statistical targets for female representation, lack the backing of an effective enforcement mechanism. Additionally, the Japanese judiciary has been reluctant to accept arguments based on the CEDAW and, so far, no litigants have prevailed explicitly on the grounds of the Convention. The vague wording of the CEDAW makes the provisions easy to circumvent, which stresses the importance of bridging discrepancies between the treaty rules and domestic law. Finally, the Government of Japan needs a more comprehensive approach in addressing the issue of sex discrimination in the labour market, which includes working proactively to modify discriminatory practices and stereotypes.