Dr. Schoepp-Schilling receives an Award!
Dr. Schoepp-Schilling receives an Award!
Former CEDAW Member, Dr. Schoepp-Schilling was awarded the Margherita von Brentano Award 2008 from the Freie Universitaet Berlin.
Dr. Hanna Beate Schoepp-Schilling has been active domestically in internationally for the pursuit and realization of the rights of women and human rights. The Freie Universitaet Berlin presents the Award for her lifetime activities, in particular for her efforts towards the elimination of discrimination against women. (Translated from the University website.)
Dr. Schoepp-Schilling was a Member of CEDAW from Germany, from 1989 to 2008, and was one of the most experienced veterans of the Committee. She has contributed greatly to the promotion of equality between men and women for the women in Japan, including the plaintiffs of the cases against the Sumitomo manufacturers. Dr. Schoepp-Schilling and Professor Hiroko Hayashi of Fukuoka University have been friends since the early days, when they were both students of late Professor Alice H. Cook of Cornell University in the United States. In 1998, we invited Dr. Schoepp-Schilling to Japan through Professor Hayashi, and organized an international symposium “Learning from the EU on gender equality law.”
At the CEDAW meeting in 2003, when the Japanese government report was examined, we lobbied Dr. Schoepp-Schilling during lunch time with the plaintiffs of the Sumitomo cases. During the CEDAW session, she raised pointed questions on the career track-based personnel system, whether the majority of part-time workers being women could be considered indirect discrimination, on the Guideline under the Equal Employment Opportunity Law allowing different employment management categories, on the concentration of women in lower paid areas with fewer promotions, which could be considered indirect discrimination in other advanced countries, and whether the practice of employment management categories could amount to indirect discrimination. These were reflected in the recommendations from CEDAW. How these recommendations helped in achieving the successful settlement of the Sumitomo Electric Industries case is explained in page 2 of this Newsletter.
By Shizuko Koedo Chairperson Working Women’s Network
Dr. Schoepp-Schilling posed questions to the Japanese government representatives so intensively during the UN Committee session in July 2003 that the representative responded that she also felt frustrated by the slow progress in Japan. I still remember with great emotion, Dr. Schoepp-Schilling’s clear voice and resolute stance. And this led to the wonderful recommendation from CEDAW.
When I went to the UN in New York to appeal about our case in January 1994, before I started the case against my employer, Dr. Schoepp-Schilling took our case very seriously, and we have been encouraged by her ever since. The Award is a wonderful acknowledgement of her efforts over these long years. （ By Former Plaintiff of Sumitomo Electric Ms Katsumi Nishimura ）
We have known Dr. Schoepp-Schilling since we went to the UN for the first time in 1994. We also met her by chance a number of times, including the time she passed by the restaurant, where we were having a meal in Geneva in 2001, and also at the time when we met her and her husband in a small museum in New York.
During the CEDAW session in 2003, Dr. Schoepp-Schilling looked much larger than her usual self, when she was asking pointed questions to the Japanese representative after we appealed our case to her over lunch. （By Former Plaintiff of Sumitomo Chemical Ms Kinuko Ishida ）