It is built in remembrance of the girls and women that were sexually enslaved by the Imperial Japanese Army through deceit, coercion, and brutal force.

It depicts three teen-age girls, with each being of a specific nationality—Chinese, Korean, and Philippine—and altogether representing the estimated 200,000 "comfort women" from countries across East and Southeast Asia that were occupied by the Imperial Japanese Army before and during World War II.

[7] Steven Whyte, the sculptor of the "Comfort Women" Column of Strength statue, is a British-American artist living in Carmel, California.

His works also include a life-sized Jumbo the Elephant at Tufts University and a multi-sculptures monument entitled National Salute to Bob Hope and the Military.

[9] Whyte also describes himself as a "sculptor of people" who prioritizes "the emotional quality and impact of the sculpture" and intends for his work to become catalysts for public responses, interactions, and conversations.

"[7] In 2015, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously passed the resolution to build a memorial dedicated to comfort women, under the push led by retired judges Lillian Sing and Julie Tang.

"[12] The memorial is privately funded by the Comfort Women Justice Coalition and was established in cooperation with other community organizations and city agencies.

[7] In a double-blind competition, British-American artist Steven Whyte’s design was chosen from more than 30 submissions from all over the world by an expert jury of arts professionals, community organizers and citizens.

[18] According to the Japanese national newspaper Asahi Shimbun, Yoshimura contended that the relationship between Osaka and San Francisco of trust was "completely destroyed" by the placement of the statue.

The installation of the San Francisco statue worried some Japanese-Americans who felt it stigmatized the community and offered only a one-sided account to the comfort women story.