1.0 Introduction
“You educate a man; you educate a man. You educate a woman; you eucate a generation”, said Brighham Young, a very reputable American religious leader. In the past few decades, our world is suffering from masculinity-dominated culture. Many countries overemphasized on economic prosperity constructed upon individualism and materialism. The trade-off is environmental sustainability. However, as early as 1987, the concept of sustainability was first appeared in the Brundtland report of “our common future”. It states that economic development should be not made at the expense of the development opportunities of future generation. Femininity culture, instead, could effectively facilitate the process of achieving the sustainability goal. It is because feminine power is closely associated with caring. Besides, an increasing number of studies shows that gender inequalities are generating very high economic costs and leading to social inequities and even environmental degradation. Under such context, women participation should be promoted in global sustainability affairs. On the 60th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) of the United Nations, “women empowerment and its links to sustainable development” had been made as the key priority theme. It shows that how women may contribute to environmental sustainability and why it is important to eliminate gender inequalities to attain sustainable development goals (SDGs). However, sustainability is gradually replaced by a new concept called circular economy. This economic model would add value in the process of achieving sustainability. Originally, environmentalists and social organizations are promoting sustainable development without convincing major stakeholders about the benefits for doing so. For instance, it is difficult to force developing countries to cut down the carbon emission when they are at the early stage of industrialization. Circular economy could significantly reduce wastage of resources or turn them into useful resources. In this process, both sustainability and economic benefits could be attained. However, in almost any society, women suffer from lack of access to decent work and face many challenges such as gender discrimination, gender stratification or distorted media enculturation. They are also denied access to basic education, health and often are victims of violence. Women make up almost half of the world’s population. They could equally contribute and benefit from social and economic development. As the aforementioned, femininity as compared with masculinity is even more preferred in promote sustainable development. It thus requires women to take leadership positions in the whole process. Currently, not very many researches focus on investigating the relationship between circular economy and women leadership. It is also the novelty of this research.
2.0 Literature review
2.1 Women empowerment
In the Beijing Declaration and platform for Action(BPfA), adopted by member states in 1995, women empowerment becomes widely recognized as the social and societal norm(BPfA,1995). In BPfA, women’s empowerment is defined as women gaining more power and control over their lives. In other words, it shows that women historically disadvantaged or discriminated as compared with their male counterparts from economic, political and social aspects. Therefore, from femininity’s viewpoints, women empowerment is also an effective measure to achieve gender equity. Within BPfA, member states believe that obligations, opportunities, and other rights should not be dependent on sexual identity.
According to the report published by UN Population Fund, if women are empowered with financial autonomy, it is more likely for them to make their own decisions(Ghisellini, Cialani&Ulgiati, 2016). If they could get an access to a wide range of opportunities and resources, it is highly feasible for them to influence their own families and even influence the direction of social change. In this way, a more equal political and social order would be established. It would also be beneficial for a country or a society to achieve gender equity. However, women empowerment is not zero-sum game between women and men. To empower women is not equivalent to withdraw power from men. In fact, both parties should play their own roles equally in a society.
In the report of UN World Survey on the role of women in Development, the collected data reflect that women empowerment will actually promote social, political, economical and environmental sustainability(UN, 1989). The caregiver position of women actually facilitates the reallocation of public resources in health, education, social security and other sectors. Education, for instance, encourages women’s participation in labor force. It thus allows women to have financial autonomy as they can have their own income. The money they earned could be used to support their future study. In addition, they could also spend the money on the nutrition, health and education of their children. In this way, social and economic sustainability could be attained. According to the UN World Survey, if women’s employment rate is equal to men’s, the U.S’ GDP could increase by nearly 10%. As the women empowerment is lagging behind their western counterparts. The increase in GDP of Japan could be as much as 17%. Moreover, if women are allowed to get an access to production tools or productive assets, the net agricultural output especially in developing country could be increased more than 5%.
2.2 Global review of women’s empowerment development
In December 2014, UN has released report titled, “Review and appraisal of the implementation of BPfA. It shows that in the past two decades, many governments in the world are starting to remove laws and regulations which have gender discrimination elements. For instance, selective abortion, female genital mutilation and so on, are legally banned in many countries. Women are gaining political presence in parliaments. Their voices could be heard as the number of female MOPs is increasing within this period of time. However, according to the UN report, gender stratification in the workplace is still very rampant. many women are also influenced by distorted values through media enculturation. For instance, slim body shape is considered as socially desirable for women. Many women try desperately to keep slim. However, in the end, 40% of U.S college girls are suffering from malnutrition. UN also warns that the whole process of sustainable development is hampered by low female participation and leadership in the decision-making process of world affairs. Moreover, the progress of gender mainstreaming is still not supported by many governments.
2.3 Circular Economy and Sustainable development
Sustainable development, by definition, refers to the concept that development that meets the needs of current generation should not be at expense of the needs of future generation. The three pillars of sustainable development includes economic growth, social inclusion and environmental protection. In this sense, sustainability is not only limited to environmental concerns but also applied in the area of social and economic development. In September 2015, the UN Resolution in regards to the post-2015 development has proposed 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs). All the goals are expected to be met by 2030. The fifth SDG states that gender equity and women empowerment should be implemented in all countries in the world.
Circular economy, on the other hand, is new sustainable economic model. It is different from shrinking economy and frugal economy. the major focus of circular economy is to reduce wastage of resources, diminish the harm of non-renewable resources and optimize our use of current resources(Ghisellini, Cialani&Ulgiati, 2016). Car-sharing, for instance, is a newly emerged industry which would potentially reduce vacant seats per car ride. Upon practicing this new sustainable concept, our use of resources could be optimized. Long term sustainable goals could also be attained.
3.0 Research Methodology
The research methodology employed in this research is qualitative in nature. As compared with quantitative research, qualitative research aims to elicit attitude, perceptions and other responses from target respondents. In this research, as the research focus is on figuring out how women leadership could be crucial for promoting circular economy and long term sustainability, two women are specially invited to participate a face-to-face interview. They are Takahashi-san aged 45 and Matsuoka-san aged 40. The reason why middle-aged women are invited is that their perception toward women leadership are expected to be more mature than young girls. Besides, they are from managing teams Takahashi is a hr manager and Matsuoka is a senior project manager. For the purpose of confidentiality, their real names would not be revealed in the research. Moreover, the face-to-face interview only lasts for 5 minutes. Consent form has been signed with interviewees. The result of this research will not be traded for commercial purposes. The interview contents are recorded by recording pen and then transcribed into text-form. The text is also confirmed with interviewees to avoid interpretivism.
4.0 Results discussion and evaluation
The detailed interviewed contents could be referred in the appendix below. Both interviewees have expressed very similar opinions in the four shortlisted questions. In the first interview question, “Do you believe that women should take a leading role in promoting sustainable development?”, both respondents believe that women should take the leading position. In fact, many societies in the world are still patriarchal. It is unexpected that two respondents are giving such an affirmative answer. It might be attributed to the fact that they have already been at leading position in their respective companies. Takahashi believes that women are the ideal leaders to promote green values such as reducing waste of resources, energy consumption and so on, among employees. Matsuoka, on the other hand, suggests that women are care-givers due to their feminine nature.
In the second interviewed question, “How do you agree that green practices and initiatives are important for achieving sustainable goals?”, both respondents agree that these green measures are relevant in attaining SDGs. Both green practices and initiatives are considered as the core concept in circular economy, which aim to reduce wastage of resources and optimize the use of current resources. Takahashi shows me a very interesting concept, called “paperless office”. From her opinion, paper is made from trees. It would result in overcutting trees and other plants. Less paper consumption is equivalent to reduce the number of trees used in paper production. Matsuoka points out that CSR measures are commonly adopted in many enterprises in the world. They promise to promote sustainability within the framework of sustainable development and circular economy.
In the third question, Takahashi and Matsuoka have both agreed that the gender discrimination does occur in their workplaces. Takahashi says that many women employees are underpaid. It is coherent with the concept of gender stratification as mentioned very earlier. It would result that women have fewer disposable income. It will actually exacerbate the social equity process. Matsuoka shows another major problem faced by women employees in the workplace, called sexual harassment. It is frequently reported in Japan that women are troubled with this unlawful deed. It is all attributed to the disadvantaged social position of women in Japan.
Last, Takahashi mentions that it is the unique Japanese culture which confines women in their home. It is sometimes against their willing. They have to be baby sitters as the society is expecting them to do so. However, she strongly believes that women should play a more active role in promoting sustainability. Matsuoka is thinking deeply about this question. She points out that due to feminine nature, women are more capable of taking the leading position to attain sustainable development goals. Men are relatively more aggressive and hopes to conquer the environment instead of caring.
5.0 Conclusion
In conclusion, after conducting the qualitative interview, it is indisputable that women should take a leading role in promoting sustainability, or at least, they should activity be involved in such social activities. United Nations have published 17 SDGs. All countries are promised to achieve these goals by 2030. However, without the effort of women, the process might be slowed down. Circular economy is a new branch of sustainable development. It requires that people should try their best to reduce energy consumption, minimize waste of resources and optimize resources usage. As compared with men, women seems to be more capable of leading human beings to attaint the above-mentioned goals. It is because women are intrinsically caregivers. By realizing this truth, it would be very necessary first to empower women. They should at least have equal power with men and can control their own fate and lives. If so, future sustainability would be achieved very effectively.
Reference
BPfA(1995, September). Platform for Action. In Fourth World Conference on Women (Vol. 15, p. 2).
Centre for Social Development, Humanitarian Affairs (United Nations) (1989). World survey on the role of women in development. United Nations.
Hopenhayn, M. (2006). Social Inequalities and Human Rights: Towards a Social Protection Pact. Expert meeting on population, inequalities and human rights. Population Division of ECLAC, the United Nations Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. UN Population Fund.
Ghisellini, P., Cialani, C., & Ulgiati, S. (2016). A review on circular economy: the expected transition to a balanced interplay of environmental and economic systems. Journal of Cleaner production, 114, 11-32.
Appendix: Interview Question
Takahashi-san:
1. Do you believe that women should take a leading role in promoting sustainable development?
Yes, of course. Women are equally important as males in promoting sustainable development. In my company, I think women are taking the major role in inculcating “Green” values and principles on employees.
2. How do you agree that green practices and initiatives are important for achieving sustainable goals?
Green initiatives could also be implement to facilitate sustainability in the workplace. I am not promoting paperless office in my company. I believe that green initiatives would promote employees participation in the environmental protections.
3. Is their any gender discrimination problems in your workplace?
It is true that gender discrimination happened in my company. Women are receiving relatively lower salary than men.
4. How far do you agree that to promote gender equity would be crucial for achieving sustainable development goals?
So far, there are still many Japanese women who choose to stay at home. They might not be willing to become baby-sitters but our culture and social expectations are “brain-washing” young girls. In my opinion, women should actively contribute to achieve sustainable development goals as men.
Matsuoka-san:
1. Do you believe that women should take a leading role in promoting sustainable development?
Yes, indeed. Women are born to be the leaders to promote sustainability because they care the environment much more than men.
2. How do you agree that green practices and initiatives are important for achieving sustainable goals?
Many companies are promised to take Corporate social responsibility strategies to protect environmental or ecological and environmental system. So I believe that these green practices and initiatives would be very important in promoting sustainability.
3. Is their any gender discrimination problems in your workplace?
Women are often discriminated here in Japan. Many people believe that females are biologically inferior than males. It is not true. There are frequent cases of sexual harassment in the workplace.
4. How far do you agree that to promote gender equity would be crucial for achieving sustainable development goals?
Gender equity is very important. Women also contributes half of the world’s population. They must their own social role to play. Men has masculine power. Very often, they wish to conquer our environment. However, it is not the correct way for us to promote environmental protection. Women is more capable of taking this role.