Description
A grassroots movement initiated by ordinary citizens, known as the “Women’s and Children’s Rights Movement,” emerged in Japan. The catalyst was media coverage just before the Golden Week holiday in 2023, which highlighted concerns that the proposed LGBT Understanding and Enhancement Bill threatened to undermine women’s single-sex spaces.
At the time, Moe Fukada, who was in the United States, returned to Japan and organized a women’s gathering. There, she received earnest consultations from working mothers, who expressed deep anxiety: without the preservation of female-only spaces, they feared an inevitable increase in cases of young girls being sexually assaulted in women’s restrooms.
Responding to these concerns, Moe Fukada issued a public call via social media to protect women and children. The appeal resonated widely across Japan, sparking an overwhelming response. What began as no formal organization—just a network of women mobilized online under the banner of the Women’s and Children’s Rights Movement—resulted in grassroots volunteers distributing as many as 500,000 leaflets nationwide in their determination to safeguard girls.
However, this citizen-led effort soon faced suppression from a prominent political figure. One day, Moe Fukada received a single letter bearing the official seal of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). The document, which many perceived as intimidatory in tone, arrived at her doorstep…
