A salute to the women featured in the July 31 Kyodo article "Female officials challenge status quo" and the July 31 Bloomberg article "Late hours thwart Abe's working moms."

It is these resolute, intelligent women making work and family work for them as well as their partners — rather than the senseless men who seem to believe that what matters is only work, work, work and Japan's status in the world — who shine rays of hope on the future of Japan.

Two generations after the concept of gender equality was written into the laws of this country through its defeat in war, the idea has finally begun to bear fruit.

In Japan, as in many other parts of the world, men, as a group, have always bullied women into submission by denying them education and economic power. Japanese women are now driving their country to break down its constraining status quo, which, if left alone, would jeopardize its future.

Also, a salute to those who have nurtured these women!

junko saeki
tokyo

The opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are the writer's own and do not necessarily reflect the policies of The Japan Times.