Inspired by the basic principle of equal pay for equal work, a group of working women in Osaka is gearing up to pressure the government to narrow the gap in wages between male and female employees.
The Working Women's Network, a civic group formed by female workers in Osaka in 1995, is putting together a report on sexual discrimination in the workplace to be distributed in November to members of the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).
CEDAW, comprising 23 experts on women's issues from around the world, monitors the implementation of measures to eliminate discrimination against women in countries that ratified the 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, which Japan signed in 1985.