AGENDA
42 ELLE AUSTRALIA
YURIKO KOIKE,
GOVERNOR OF TOKYO, JAPAN
Age: 64 Education: Arts degreeWHAT MADE YOU GO INTO POLITICS? Since I was a child, I’ve
always liked a challenge. I’m not interested in what
other people have already done; I like to find my own
way. That’s why I left my university in Japan and
decided to go to Cairo University and study Arabic.
WHO ARE YOUR ROLE MODELS? My parents. They taught
me it’s important to spend a life doing what I like to do.
WHAT PROBLEMS DO YOU FACE IN YOUR CITY? Firstly, there’s
the earthquakes that keep striking Japan. We’re also
suffering from typhoons. And now there’s the threat
of terrorism. I want to make Tokyo a “safe city”.
Secondly, I would like to make a city where men,
women, children, the elderly and people with
disabilities can all play an active role. Thirdly, Tokyo
is “the engine” of Japan. It’s my job to make the engine
more eco-friendly and more efficient.
WHAT ABOUT GENDER EQUALITY IN YOUR COUNTRY? There’s
a policy that aims to increase the number of women
in all fields to 30 per cent by 2020. If the policy is
not taken seriously, the city and the nation
will be very weak.
WHAT ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT STEPS
TO COMBATING CLIMATE CHANGE?
Greenhouse warming, poor air
quality and water shortages are very
serious, as well as traffic and the
ensuing pollution. And the problems
of waste products and the ocean have
to be taken into account. I want to make
Tokyo the leading environmental city. Tokyo doesn’t
have any power plants, but [I want] each house [to]
generate electric power by itself.
WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO YOUNG WOMEN TODAY? If
we think every day about big ambitions, we may
exhaust ourselves. Divide the ambition into smaller
groups and achieve small ambitions one by one. qPATRICIA DE LILLE,
MAYOR OF CAPE TOWN,
SOUTH AFRICA
Age: 65 Education: “My life experience, my fight and
my love for this country”WHAT MADE YOU GO INTO POLITICS? During the height of
apartheid, you weren’t allowed to go to any school
of your choice, or go into any entrance of a shop –
there were separate entrances. In 1976 there was
a spontaneous uprising in our country because of the
youth not wanting Afrikaans to be forced on them;
there was a violent response from the South African
police, killing young children. I said to myself, “You
can no longer just sit, you have to do something.
You need to become part of the resistance.” I risked
getting 10 years in jail, but I just couldn’t sit back
anymore and watch this happen in my country.
WHAT ARE THE MAIN ISSUES WOMEN FACE IN YOUR
COUNTRY? Abuse has become the norm in our
country rather than the exception.
WHAT ABOUT GENDER EQUALITY IN YOUR COUNTRY?
We have got one of the most progressive
constitutions in the world. It outlaws
discrimination on the basis of race, sex and class.
We’ve got a wonderful Bill Of Rights, with
a section on children. So the legislative framework
is in place. The Employment Equity Act makes sure
you have equity in the workplace. But the challenge
remains that those rights are just on paper. So it’s up
to women to claim those rights.
WHAT ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT STEPS TO COMBATING
CLIMATE CHANGE? We’re proud of our retrofitting
program. We’ll fit houses with [insulated] ceilings and
waterproof the walls... it saves a lot of money for thepeople living there as they’ll
spend less on heating. We
can solve the energy crisis if
every person becomes an energy
generator – technology must evolve
so we can have solar panels on the roof
of every house. We set a target by 2020 that we need to
see between 10 and 20 per cent renewable energy.
WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO YOUNG WOMEN TODAY? As
mothers, we shouldn’t treat boys differently to girls.
I saw it with my own eyes – my mother put my brother
on a pedestal. Mothers spoil their boys and end up
raising brats. When they marry, they expect the same.WHAT ABOUT GENDER EQUALITY IN YOUR COUNTRY?
I believe no matter how hard you try to establish
a legal requirement for equity in salaries, inequality
still exists and unfortunately it’s a very real thing. Jobs
normally performed by women remain underpaid.
WHAT ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT STEPS TO COMBATING
CLIMATE CHANGE? We’ve come up with a number of
programs – it’s essential to turn cities into more natural
environments and make them as green as possible.
Add to that doing everything possible to get traffic
under control, as well as the heating in buildings,
which is responsible for a lot of emissions.
WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO YOUNG WOMEN TODAY?
The adventure of working to change your environment
and improve life conditions for everyone is a fascinating
experience. I’d tell them they must learn to be happy,
and that they can do so by dedicating their lives to
improving the world around them.Patricia De Lille’s mantra:“Speak
the
truth.”
Yuriko Koike’s mantra:“Girls can be
ambitious,
t o o .”Edited by: Virginie Dolata. As told to: Emilie Gambade; Sophia Genitz; Marta Krupinska; Marta Szarejko; Genevra Leek; Benedetta Poletti; Françoise-Marie Santucci; Mayumi Yawataya. Photography: Niquita Bento; Patricia Gallego; Rodney Macuja; Michał Radwanski; Emanuele Scorcelletti; Emma Svensson; Masatoshi Hamanoi