Planner : Michiko Matsumura, Coordinator of City Planning
My Plan
This exhibition aims to highlight women who have advanced
into fields
that used to be exclusive to men. There are many of such jobs,
including
sake brewers, train operators, fire fighters, and boatmen.
When I worked as a civil engineer, there was an unwritten code
that
prohibited women from entering tunnel construction sites. It was
around that
time that women civil engineers formed a network. We exchanged
information
and worked together to steadily improve our skills. Finally one
of our members,
who worked for the then Ministry of Construction, became the first
women
field foreperson on a tunnel construction project.
Later on I quit my job to go to graduate school and I majored
in civil
engineering planning, which deals with planning public works.
I believe that a strong sense of participation by people in
the community
is essential to create great public spaces. In the maturing society
of Japan,
it is important that each person matures, not as a man or a
woman, but as
an individual. As this is achieved, I earnestly hope our society
will enable us
to choose jobs on the basis of our abilities and aptitudes.
Photograph: Rocks from various tunnel construction sites that
were removed
just before the tunnels were completed.
Women are moving into the jobs that used to be exclusive to
men,
such as sake brewers and cormorant fishermen.
『CAWW NEWS 』2003.3 Vol.7
The Center for the Advancement
of Working Women (CAWW)