 Well, thank you very much, Matt, and it's a pleasure to be back here at CSIS. This conference comes on the heels of the World Assembly for Women Meeting in Tokyo, which took place a couple of weeks ago. I was in Tokyo around that time, and there seemed to be a lot of excitement about the conference, which involved not only the prime minister, but his wife, who I understand will be speaking here later today. This conference we've put together today, I think, will really get at some of the hardcore issues that are being faced by women in Japan, but also in the United States as well. And I believe that talking about how the U.S. and Japan can cooperate with respect to women's economic impairment issues in third countries and discussing why women's participation in the Japanese workforce is so critical are really two very important topics. Let me start and just say women's full and equitable participation in the workforce is an issue that's important to the United States and Japan. And while the U.S. has made a lot of progress in this area, and perhaps more progress than Japan, it's a work in progress. And empowering women and getting women to be key participants in the workforce is really critical to both of our economies and to creating prosperous societies where opportunity is available to all. Ambassador Kennedy, who has become very active on the front of Womenomics, I think has summed up this issue very well by saying that this is not just a woman's issue, it's a man's issue, it's a family issue, it's an economic and security issue, and a moral issue. Japan is both a driver of global economic growth and a partner of the United States in promoting economic progress in the Asia Pacific region, and our economies are closely linked and the United States is deeply vested in Japan's success and future prosperity. That's one of the reasons why we're working so hard to conclude the TPP negotiations with Japan, and it's one reason why we also want to see womenomics succeed in Japan. On the TPP front, this is an important week with Ambassador Froman and Minister Murray scheduled to meet starting this afternoon. We are looking forward to productive discussions as the ministers review progress in the negotiations, identify where gaps exist in the talks, and work through the outstanding issues all with the goal of concluding these important negotiations as soon as possible. There is an emerging consensus that TPP is an essential ingredient into Abe's third arrow, but I'm not here to talk about TPP today, so that's all I'm going to say. So closer to the topic at hand, empowering women is also a very important part of Abe's third arrow, and it's all in the quest for creating a stronger, more vibrant, and growing Japanese economy. And in many ways, Japanese women really hold the key in a country that faces enormous demographic challenges, well known to all of you in the room, and as one of the leading scholars in this area, Kathy Matsui said that by really integrating women into the Japanese workforce, Japan's GDP could grow by almost 13 percent. And even if the gap were enclosed, but female employment was raised to the level of other G7 economies, GDP in Japan could increase by 4 percent according to the IMF. I understand that the prime minister has set a target of having women occupy 30 percent of leading positions in the Japanese government and business by 2020. I was told in the early 90s that Japan doesn't agree to targets, that's what they told us in all the trade negotiations, but this seems to be a valuable target. And in that quest, in his cabinet reshuffle earlier this month, Prime Minister Abe has appointed five female ministers, and he has also appointed a woman to head the LDP's Policy Research Council. And he's also announced a number of steps aimed at removing the obstacles to participation by women in the workforce, which I'll touch upon shortly. But before I comment on the challenges and measures to address them, I just want to touch briefly about what we're doing in the United States. As I noted, the U.S. has its own challenges as well when it comes to gender equality in the workplace, and just last week, the Census Bureau reported that the gender wage gap between men and women, while narrowing slightly last year, has not improved much since 2007. This summer, the President hosted a summit on working families to propel a national conversation about how we can update the American workplaces to ensure the U.S. economic competitiveness and promote equity in our workforce. President Obama announced a package of public and private sector efforts that include steps to protect pregnant working women, to expand apprenticeships for women, to target resources to help more women enter high-paying fields, and to make childcare more affordable. He also ordered every federal agency to expand access to flexible work schedules and give employees the right to request them. The President has repeatedly underscored his belief that providing opportunities for working women and families is the right thing to do for our economy, because when women succeed, America succeeds. And indeed, women have made great strides in the American society. They have made important inroads into leadership positions in the U.S. government. A quarter of the President's cabinet are women, and many of his top advisers in the White House are also women. My own agency, USTR, is making strides, too. Since I joined USTR in 1988, I've worked for three female U.S. trade representatives, and at present, close to half of the senior staff of USTR are female. More broadly, in the federal government's senior economic service, about one-third of those appointees are women. So the representation of senior women in senior management jobs within the U.S. government has been growing, but once again, our work is not complete. Now, just taking this down a notch, if I can make a few observations, being a female trade diplomat and looking back in my 20-odd years of negotiating with the Japanese, I have seen dramatic changes that have led to increased diversity in the workplace and increased opportunities for both women and minorities. From the late 1980s, when I was a junior negotiator to my current position, I have seen firsthand the unique collection of skills that women bring to the negotiating table. And some of you may disagree, but in my view, women are good listeners, good problem solvers, good at putting themselves in the other side shoes, and also good at working through the divergent positions within their governments to develop a consensus view. And I think all four of these attributes are really key to being an effective and successful trade negotiator. At the same time, women also face unique challenges at the negotiating table. One, I think they are tested very hard by their male counterparts. And as a result, there's a need for female negotiators to really be on top of their game and to be able to prove themselves both with respect to substance, but also with respect to remaining firm at the negotiating table. Another challenge facing women at the negotiating table, and this is one which I have faced many times with the Japanese through the years, is that through the years, a number of my counterparts have been very uncomfortable facing a woman across the negotiating table. And the obvious way to kind of sense that is when you're sitting across the table and they don't look at you, but they look at the guy sitting next to you. And the list goes on and on. In my field, also, you can't help but notice how few women are part of the negotiating, the Japanese negotiating teams, particularly at senior levels. At junior levels, I do see that changing now, and that's very encouraging. Many, a number of the recent appoint, the recent cap, excuse me, the recent shuffles in the bureaucracy over the summer have promoted some of my close colleagues in Japan to more senior positions. And I think over time, as more women are at the junior ranks, you'll see more women getting to the senior ranks. I have enormous respect for the women who have made it to the senior management positions in Japan, and I really can't imagine the obstacles that they have had to face to get there, including at times probably very little support from their male colleagues. So now let me just change to the topic more at hand more generally. What are the changes that are needed to allow more women in Japan, not only to enter the workforce, but to remain in the workforce and to reenter the workforce perhaps after they've had families? First, I think it's important that policies are implemented, legislation is passed on a top-down basis. The prime minister has made womenomics a major part of his domestic reform agenda, and in his growth strategy, he's pledged to expand funding for daycare facilities. He's also proposed legislation to address tax and pension rules seen as penalizing work in women, and as well as legislation that would advance his goals of increasing the percentage of women in public and private sector leadership positions. And all of this is welcome and so needed in Japan. But as the prime minister himself has said, there's still a long way to go, and we all know too well that top-down policies alone can't make women's empowerment a success. The solution is simply more complex than this. So I'd like just to offer a few thoughts and other steps Japan should take or should consider taking if it is indeed serious about women's empowerment. First, and probably the most difficult issue to get your hands around is developing new attitudes in the workplace. New attitudes need to be cultivated over time, they can't be mandated. And as the prime minister himself has observed, Japan's corporate culture is still one of pinstripes and button-downs. And he's called on corporate Japan to follow his lead in bringing more women into the leadership ranks. Executives and working-level people must come to terms with their own biases that shape their thinking and decision-making and really develop a mindset that embraces equality and is open to change, recognizing the role that women can play. This is no easy feat and something that can happen overnight. Second, I think that Japan needs to look at establishing more flexible work policies, and this is in addition to more daycare and aftercare facilities, but those are important elements. And all of these more flexible work policies, including, for example, telecommuting, would all be with the objective of achieving a better work-life balance. And for many women in the room, we've all strived with trying to achieve that balance between work and family. And as someone who's tried to achieve that for many, many years, I finally come to terms with the fact that I will never achieve that balance. And that takes a huge burden off me. But I do try every day to be a better mother and a better employee, but on certain days my family will tell me I'm into a good job, and other days my boss and my colleagues will tell me I've failed as well. Flexible work policies may help Japanese women choose to remain in their jobs, or importantly, to re-enter the workforce after childbirth. Three, I think it's really important and something that's helped me in my career, is the whole issue of having role models and mentors. Mentoring by women leaders is an important step to help advance women in the government and the private sector. And I think this is a particular challenge for Japan, where there are fewer women at that level, but I think it really calls upon the women who have succeeded professionally in Japan to really give back and to help provide important career advice and important advice, how to cope in the workplace to younger women entering the workforce. And I also think this provides a huge and important opportunity for US women and Japanese women to work together on these issues and for US women to be mentors to younger Japanese women. And finally, I'm just going to end with my last observation, which I call the go-home observation. And that is that Japanese bureaucrats, private sector folks, work way too long hours. And I'm not exactly sure what they're doing in the office, but they're always there. It's not uncommon where I can call my counterpart around midnight in my time, we can call around 11 AM here, which is midnight in Japan. And not only are the guys I'm working with are still in the office, but their whole teams are still there, ready to work more. And I think that this whole, what Japan has gotten itself into in these really, really long hours and not going home earlier, I question whether that really leads to increased productivity. And I also think it really detracts from really getting at this issue. I think shorter working hours would allow for fathers to spend more time with their families and would help put women who cannot work such long hours at a more competitive level playing field with their male colleagues. In conclusion, I am hopeful that this increasing focus on women in Japan is not just the latest fad, but indeed something that will continue for the foreseeable future. And I would just also like to say that it's important to keep in mind, particularly for the men in the audience, that women's empowerment is not at the expense of men. In the trade world, we like to say, we conclude negotiations that are win-win. Everyone comes out better. And here I would say that increasing the participation of women in the workforce and empowering them provides enormous benefits for our respective economies, our respective societies, our families, and our workplaces. I'm sure the issues I've raised this morning will be discussed in more detail throughout the morning. Unfortunately, I won't be able to stay here as we prepare for today's TPP meetings. But I really look forward to watching this later on the webcast. I think this is a really important issue, and I think the fact that CSIS has put this conference together in Washington on this issue and with the turnout today just underscores how important this issue is. And not just for Japan, not just for the US, but it's an issue where the US and Japan can work together to advance. Thank you very much. Thank you, Wendy. That was really terrific introduction. And I think you've touched a lot of the key themes. As you were enumerating the leadership positions for women at USTR, I was thinking that actually all of the senior Asia hands at USTR are women, if I'm not mistaken, for Japan, for Korea, for China, for Southeast Asia. And in the Asia field, I think we suffer because we don't have overall as many women in senior positions. So it's terrific that there's such a great core of which you're the leader of the PAC, as it were. But some of the other countries think we do this on purpose and drive them crazy. Drive the Asians crazy. That's terrific. Wendy's willing to take a couple of questions on this and not on TPP if you have questions on her comments or on these issues more generally. If you do, please raise your hand and there will be a microphone. You covered so much ground that I'm sure, okay, we'll let Mike go over here. Mike to Mike, Mike to Mike, thanks. So I won't ask about TPP, but can I ask about APEC? If you think about areas where the US and Japan and other like-minded states can work on this, APEC seems like one logical candidate. Is there much going on on womenomics or women's empowerment, economic empowerment in APEC, or do you see the prospect of cooperation in that area? Yeah, and we've had a long-standing agenda in APEC on women's empowerment and women's issues. In Honolulu, in our host year, there was some high-level conferences on this issue. Those have continued and I believe even in China this year, there was recently an event on this. But I think this is an area that is already front and center on the APEC agenda and I think given the increased attention on this issue in Japan and with the US, it's an issue we can really cooperate on going forward in APEC and try and see how we can advance our work in this area. Okay, I saw a gentleman there who had a question. Can you just identify yourself? Hi, Doug Palmer with Politico. And this, I mean, you sort of touched on this in your comments, but it goes to a point that Mr. Goodman was making about Japan's declining workforce and I guess shrinking economy. I mean, do you think it's important for Japan's long-term economic growth and its attractiveness as a market for US exports that there be more women in the workforce? Is that going to make it a bigger market long-term? Absolutely. I mean, I think that, you know, looking at the demographics in Japan, there are going to be fewer and fewer men to do the jobs, to own the companies, to be the innovators, to be the entrepreneurs. And so logically, women have an important role to play here and as women get into those jobs and they own more businesses, they import more, they export more, and they become just more an integral part of the Japanese economy. And they help just become a more important force in the trading environment. I know you really wanted to ask a TPP question. I'm not going to ask. I'm Emma Chandler-Avery at CRS. I believe that part of Cathy Matsui's argument is that you can increase women's participation in the workforce but also simultaneously raise the fertility rate. And obviously, that's part of Japan's demographic problem. Do you think, do you buy that? And do you think that the policies that are in place in Japan make that possible? Okay. I'm going to let one of the panelists later today to really comment on that. I have read the literature which does suggest that, you know, that being in the workforce has a positive correlation with increased fertility rates, but I'm really not the expert here. Okay. I should say that Emma's done some great work on this topic for CRS and I commend it to you. Any other questions? We are one more over there and then we'll wind it up and let Wendy get back to finishing TPP, please. Thanks a lot. You mentioned changing workforce attitudes and given your long experience at USDR, can you name some tangible measures that can be taken? One, for instance, I've conceived of is if you work in an organization where senior managers really sort of practice what they preach, they prioritize work quality over work hours, then that sort of sets the tone for the organization. What specific measures do you think can be taken? Yeah. And I think that's an important question because in the workplace, you know, a lot of people take their cues from their bosses and so one thing I've always done is made sure I don't stay in the office till midnight. I try and go home for USDR at a reasonable hour. Now I'm on my blackberry from the minute I leave and sometimes my son asks me, why are you home? You're on your blackberry so much. You might as well be at work, but putting that aside, I think it's important for bosses to kind of set the tone, set the kind of the arrangements for the office because others do follow. And I'd like to say that through my career I've really tried to reach out to the younger women at USDR, particularly there's a juncture in women's careers where they start having children and then they start debating, is USDR really the place that I can, you know, can I stay here given the work demands, given the travel demands? And that's a personal decision. I'm someone who chose to stay there. I've been there for 26 years. I do have a son who's actually 15 today. And, you know, I can share those experiences and I can share my negotiating experiences as well. So I really try and give back here. Before I leave just one issue I just want to put on the table and I don't know if you're going to get out today, but something I've already begun hearing from some of my, I don't want to say Japanese friends, but I've heard these comments in Japan. And that is as women begin assuming more cabinet positions or women begin getting more senior level positions in the Japanese bureaucracy, there is going to be an issue in the workforce. We've seen this in the United States. And that is one where men could feel that these are jobs they should have gotten had they been a woman, they would have gotten the jobs. And then even women feeling, well, did I get that job because I'm a woman or did I get that job because of merit? Because I've worked so hard for this job and I want to know that I got it because I was a person and not a woman. And, you know, that's an issue we've all grappled with in the workplace as women, as men in the United States. And I think that's an issue, as I say, I've started hearing about that in Japan. So I think it's an interesting issue as, you know, I know there are many scholars and academics here and people who are really interested in this subject. And I think it's something that really is another issue between closer cooperation and dialogue between U.S. and Japanese women and men. We can share our experiences and try and work through this important issue. Thank you very much. Thank you, Wendy. That really privilege.