Questions/Answers

Woman Work Cafe Kitakyushu was opened in 2016 as a one-stop facility that supports employment for women to promote women’s active participation in the region. The population in Japan is declining due to a low birthrate and aging population. Particularly in the City of Kitakyushu, the labor shortage is becoming pronounced, a fact reflected in the 2015 national census showing the city had the biggest drop in population in the country. Meanwhile, nationwide the employment rate for women especially in their child-rearing years is low. Creating an environment that facilitates employment for these women has become an important issue to maintaining dynamic local communities. In the past, the national, prefectural, and municipal governments in this region separately provided support for women’s employment. However, with the idea that collaboration transcending the barriers of administrative organizations is necessary to provide even more effective support, for the first time in Japan the three governments have collaborated to establish a facility capable of providing counseling and support for women’s employment in a single location.

Amid a declining working-age population, eliminating the “M-shaped curve” depicting the drop in employment for women in their child-rearing years is turning into a crucial issue. This initiative corresponds to Category 5 in terms of reassessing and improving public services to cope with this issue in order to achieve the SDGs. In addition, this initiative is related to selected criteria in regard to transforming the structure of administrative organizations and the manner of providing public services that respond to women’s employment needs.

This initiative contributes to achieving SDG Goal 5 (Gender Equality), particularly Target 5.5, by promoting women’s employment and consequently advancing the aim of active participation of women in society, and creating a society based on new perspectives in this region. As regards an endeavor that promotes women’s employment to achieve decent work, this initiative also contributes to achieving SDG Goal 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), particularly Target 8.5.

In this region, previously the national government ran Hello Work, an employment assistance agency operated on a nationwide basis, while Fukuoka Prefecture’s scope of assistance was limited to women raising children, and the City of Kitakyushu’s support limited to matters such as single-parent families and child care workers. Each agency independently carried out employment support. However, not knowing where to go for help or having to utilize multiple facilities was a problem for women. To address this, Woman Work Cafe Kitakyushu was opened to respond to a wide range of needs regarding women’s employment in a single location. This includes not only job hunting, but also support for starting a business and career advancement, and counseling on child care facilities such as nursery schools. Furthermore, since many women are anxious about looking for work, several agencies collaborate to assist women who have multiple needs, such as job hunting and child care, and provide extensive support according to each woman’s situation and needs. For example, for women who have not worked for a long period, the time is taken to offer dedicated support.

In Japan, there are three administrative levels, national, prefectural, and municipal. Normally, they each carry out support, even for women’s employment, independently or through indirect collaboration. This initiative is the first time in Japan that the national, prefectural, and municipal governments have collaborated to open a facility capable of meeting a wide range of women’s employment needs in a single location. It is an innovative new model for supporting women’s employment and collaboration among administrative organizations.

Woman Work Cafe Kitakyushu is a facility established with the goal of being a model in Japan for supporting women’s employment. At the time of establishment, employment support facilities in various areas were referenced to examine facility functions such as reception and layout. However, Woman Work Cafe Kitakyushu is the first facility in the entire country that provides comprehensive, one-stop support for women’s employment through collaboration among the national government, a prefecture, and a city. It is an absolutely original innovation.

Woman Work Cafe Kitakyushu has often been reported on as a progressive example of support for women’s employment and collaboration among administrative organizations. To date, approximately 70 groups have visited, including the ASEAN & Japan High Level Officials Meeting on Caring Societies and administrative organizations and assemblies from Japan and abroad. Comments from these visitors include, “I feel it is a wonderful initiative” and “I want to use this employment support as an example.”

After the government, prefecture, and city agreed to establish Woman Work Cafe Kitakyushu, a project team and joint council comprised of persons from each of the relevant departments were launched, and repeated discussions were held on various matters, such as the basic approach to operation, support process, expenses, and user information system. Including expenses for establishment, the three administrative organizations are sharing operational expenses for the facility, personnel expenses for staff, and project expenses based on an agreed arrangement.

Encouraging women’s employment and participation in society is a national issue, and an extremely important one to the national government (Fukuoka Labour Bureau), Fukuoka Prefecture, and the City of Kitakyushu, which are the operating agencies of Woman Work Cafe Kitakyushu. Though the three administrative organizations are collaborating to tackle support for women’s employment through the opening of the facility, this is considered to be a lasting endeavor without a fixed term. Unless it is determined to have completed its specific societal role—for instance, if the necessity for dedicated employment support for women becomes unnecessary, the need to continue the administrative endeavor is recognized.

Yes

Though not officially evaluated, the facility has been internally tabulating and analyzing support outcomes and user attributes, as well as giving questionnaires to users with the aim of verifying and understanding facility performance.

The primary indicators are as follows. ・Results of Support: Total number of visitors, number of new users, number of users finding jobs ・User Attributes: Age, residence, marital status, existence of children, age of youngest child, employment status ・Questionnaire: Motivation for facility use, concerns and difficulties in job hunting, satisfaction with use (service, location, facility, etc.)

In FY2016, the first fiscal year of establishment, there were 50% more new users and 20% more users who found jobs than before the facility was established. In addition, in the questionnaire 98% of facility users rated the services as “very good” or “good.” Based on this, it is believed that the provision of a one-stop facility has achieved the initial goal of improving convenience.

When Woman Work Cafe Kitakyushu was being planned, a questionnaire was given to women in the city asking about the facility name and what kind of facility would be easy to use. The results are reflected in the design. In addition, reports are drawn up as needed and meetings are held to hear opinions regarding planning and facility performance that involve groups including Kitakyushu City Assembly, Kitakyushu Municipal Gender Equality Deliberative Council, and the Kitakyushu City Women’s Active Participation/Work-Life Balance Promotion Council composed of individuals from NPOs, economic organizations, and companies. Furthermore, in addition to the endeavors noted in Question 7, even after the facility opened the partnership among the national, prefectural, and municipal governments continues to work to improve the framework for even better operation and collaboration. For instance, meetings among persons in charge are held to discuss operational issues, and study sessions are conducted for staff directly assisting residents. Moreover, in 2017 the city concluded a cooperative agreement with Recruit Group, one of the world’s largest companies in reference to HR, and is implementing collaborative projects, including employment support programs that leverage private-sector knowhow.

The number of users has greatly increased through the establishment of Woman Work Cafe Kitakyushu, but a questionnaire conducted by the city revealed that many women do not take action though they want to work because of anxiety over balancing work with matters including parenting and housework. In the future, while using Woman Work Cafe Kitakyushu as a base, the breadth of employment support must be further expanded by responding to women’s needs through actions such as holding employment counseling and seminars off-base at gatherings and facilities used by women raising children.