Gender Equality As a Global Goal: Where Do We Stand Now?

Asako Osaki | Director, Gender Action Platform
Visiting Professor, Kwansei Gakuin University, School of Policy Studies Asako Osaki is a policy and advocacy expert specializing in gender mainstreaming and empowerment of women and girls. After receiving an M.A. in international affairs from Columbia University, she joined U.N. Development Programme (UNDP) and served as the program manager at the Bureau for Development Policy, specializing in the promotion of gender equality and women’s empowerment in developing countries by helping to implement international commitments such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), Beijing Platform for Action, and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Since her return to Tokyo in 2005, she has been active in mainstreaming gender in Japan’s policies and programs, both those of domestic and overseas assistance, working with government, international organizations, NGOs and research institutions to address gender issues.

Wendy C. Shiba
Wendy Shiba is a retired attorney and business executive whose career included private practice, teaching as a tenured law professor, government service, and serving as an executive officer of three NYSE-listed companies. Before retiring, she was Executive Vice President, General Counsel & Secretary of KB Home, one of the nation’s largest homebuilders, in Los Angeles. Ms. Shiba was a member of the 2010 Japanese American Leadership Delegation to Japan and serves on the Board of Trustees for the Japanese American National Museum. She was a Commissioner on the American Bar Association’s Commission on Women in the Profession and its Diversity & Inclusion 360 Commission and is a past President of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association. She has received numerous awards for her leadership in advancing diversity and inclusion in the legal profession and her work dedicated to mentoring and empowering women.