In recent years, female participants within military organizations in each country have been increasing, while at the same time, Gender Studies as a discipline has also been growing. From the 1980's, studies focusing on gender integration in the military have developed in the research area of ‘armed forces and society’ including civil-military relations. Since the 1990's i.e., the post-Cold War era, research perspectives have expanded to include not only gender equality but also diversity management of human resources in military organizations. The international norms of gender (gender role ideology) are transforming into the following: ‘Men and women both work, do housework and care the children’. After the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 was adopted in 2000, the promotion of ‘gender mainstreaming’ is accelerating in the security sector as led by NATO members.
In Japan, since the Basic Act for Gender Equal Society was established in 1999, the basic policies related to the promotion of the gender equal society have been undertaken. Following this trend, within the Self-Defense Forces (SDF), the proportion of female personnel has currently increased to about 6%. The SDF also revised restrictive policies on female job assignments to include some combat-related occupations and overseas missions, while also improving work-life balance measures. The move to achieve gender equality and gender mainstreaming within the SDF has been slow but has steadily advanced. The Act on Promotion of Women's Participation and Advancement in the Workplace, put in effect on April 2016, requires the government and major private sectors to come up with viable action plans to further expand female participation in the workforce. In April 2017, Ministry of Defense issued “The SDF Female Personnel Empowerment Initiative,” which provides current guidelines for more inclusive gender policies by increasing the percentage of female personnel and opening virtually all positions in the SDF to women.
Our prospective research projects in the Center for Global Security include: social support to the SDF families; so-called “family support” in case of large-scale natural disasters and major contingencies; empowerment of women in military organizations; developing gender education programs for both men and women; and mental health and diversity management within the Ministry of Defense and Self-Defense Forces. Furthermore, we will encourage any types of joint-research projects with internationally common agenda.