Connecting People & Ideas to Advance Mutual Interests in U.S.-Asia Relations

Trilateral Cooperation Dialogues

Program Background

The apan-ROK-U.S. Trilateral Cooperation Dialogues was the first program under the Maureen Mansfield Womens Empowerment Inistiatve, and took place between October 1, 2021 and May 31, 2023. It focused on women’s employment in Japan, the Republic of Korea, and the United States as our countries cooperate in pursuit of a mutual goal: identifying key pathways to workforce re-entry for women amidst the COVID shocks.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought considerable distress to all nations and peoples, but a growing body of evidence suggests that women are being disproportionately affected due to discriminatory economic and legal structures and cultural biases.

The Foundation assembled a multinational team of women leaders from government, academic institutions, think tanks, the private sector, and NGOs, participating in their personal capacities, to amplify
the voices of women and share their perspectives on how Japan, the ROK, and the United States can advance toward the goal of gender equality.

The dialogue series provided a space for these women leaders to work together and learn from their counterparts. The initial sessions were held virtually, culminating with an in-person wrap-up meeting and public event in Washington, DC in March 2023.

Program Vision

We envision an ideal work environment for all employees as a place where everyone can fulfill their own potential through work regardless of gender, age, race, or other factors. Workspaces should foster diversity, equity, belonging, and inclusion. With this goal in mind, the working group defined three areas where policy recommendations can be employed to foster an equitable workplace:
  1. Promoting flexibility in the workplace to improve all workers’ well-being;
  2. Providing skill-building opportunity and leadership pathways for women and other marginalized groups; and
  3. Advocating for and institutionalizing tools that promote an equitable workplace culture.

Program Objectives

The program will produce five to six actionable policy recommendations formatted in a policy brief.

The policy brief will be disseminated electronically to participants and the policymaking communities in the three countries later in 2023.

In addition to identifying key pathways to workforce re-entry for women, the dialogue will yield the spillover benefit of fostering a spirit of cooperation among Japanese, Korean, and American women rooted in recognition of their common interests and values.

For further information, please contact Associate Director of Programs Ari Lee at alee@mansfieldfdn.org.

This program is administered by the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation with funding provided by the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo through an open grant competition award.