Women in japan

Women are equal to men in Japan under the law (Articles 14 and 24 of the Constitution of the State of Japan ). There are, however, differences in social life and the world of work. For example, it is more difficult to combine work and family life and the average income of women in Japan is lower than that of men.

Cultural history

Until the beginning of the Muromachi period , Japanese society was centered on women. Amaterasu , the sun deity, was female and it was generally believed that women had the supernatural abilities to communicate with gods; a power that men did not have.

It was not uncommon to find female rulers like the legendary ruler Himiko in the 3rd century , and until the 8th century there were a total of six female empresses. In both the Heian period and the early feudal age , women enjoyed a great deal of freedom, worked under the same conditions as men, dominated literature well into the 12th century, and had inheritance rights. "They could own property, receive education, and were allowed, albeit discreetly, to have lovers."

This women's rule was continued for a long time by the common people such as farmers, fishermen or traders in rural regions, where around 80% of the Japanese population lived at that time. By contrast, the life of women in higher positions, mainly in the nobility, was increasingly determined from the 6th century onwards by Confucianism , in which the life of women was tied to the three duties of obedience and four virtues. The duties of obedience consisted of obedience to the father before marriage, to the husband during marriage, and to their son after the death of their husband, the four virtues being modesty, proper language, diligence, and humility.

An example of the gradual change in the image of women is a story from the Kojiki , in which the wedding between a princess and her brother led to the brother's banishment, but she followed him and they lived on together. In a second version from the Nihon Shoki, however, which was changed by Confucianism, it is said that the princess alone was banished. In terms of political society, women became completely submissive to men until the Edo period after they were banned from government officials by the Taika reform in the 7th century.

In the Edo period women were almost completely dependent on men, as they had few rights themselves. They therefore took care of the household or, for the rural areas, worked in rice fields.

In the Meiji period , which marked the beginning of Japanese modernization, the norms of the samurai class spread throughout society as class differences gradually abolished. Women lost both power and equality in society and in the labor market. The society was gradually dominated by men.

After the Second World War, women's rights were redefined by the 1947 Constitution, which placed special emphasis on gender equality. The women's suffrage was not introduced until the 1945th

Social role

For a long time, the traditional woman embodied the image of the so-called ryōsai kenbo ( 良妻賢母 ), ie the "good wife and wise mother". The women of the prewar generation who were born around 1935 accepted this image, and so they took care of the household chores, the upbringing of the children and supported their husbands, the breadwinners. They were raised under these standards, and also with men being considered superior to them.

In the first generation after World War II , women were given access to education. They were raised on the premise that equality was a necessity. Eventually, with increasing life expectancy , more responsibility was placed on women. They now not only had to look after their children, but also their husbands longer. Despite new laws and attempts to enforce equality, the image of women was firmly anchored in society. They were expected to take on the role of traditional housewives. This made them increasingly dissatisfied, which is why they also sought activities outside of their own home.

In the following generations, the image of women changed constantly. For example, the new constitution of Japan, which was based on the legal system of the United States, placed greater emphasis on equal rights for women. Over time, they became more independent and self-confident, but still had to take care of family and household, so that the compatibility of work and family was difficult and still is.

Marriage and family

history

Up until the 11th century, due to the society being centralized around women, it was common on all social levels for the man to move to the woman's family after the wedding ( 婿入婚 , mukoirikon ) or to live separately from her and his wife only in certain areas Was allowed to visit nights ( 通い婚 , kayoikon , visiting marriage ). Even marriages between children who had the same father were mostly accepted, provided the mother was different, but as fatherhood became more important, incest was banned.

Japanese mother with twins, 1917

Japanese family in the 1950s

Eventually, with the increased influence of Confucianism, women had to move to the families of their husbands, with more emphasis on the benefits for the family than on the benefits for the young couple, so that arranged marriages ( omiai ) increased and marriage eventually became a pragmatic, non-romantic bond with no deeper emotional ties between the partners, a model that lasted into the 19th century when an arranged marriage promised financial security.

Love in marriage became modestly important in the 1920s. Only after the Second World War did this change, so that the mutual consent of the spouses was considered a prerequisite for marriage. The expectations of women rose as their self-confidence grew.

It was not until 1990 that weddings were no longer needed for social or financial survival, which resulted in the average age at marriage for women rising to 25.8 years, whereas it was still common in wartime and post-war times for children to marry at the age of 2.

present

The average age at marriage for women is 28.6 years. If you have passed marriageable age without getting married, many women devote themselves to their hobbies or careers, but women who are still unmarried and childless at over 30 are considered Makeinu ( 負け犬 ) - as "loser dogs ." The idea of marriage Although the image of the independent, strong woman, which was disseminated by the media in the 1990s, no longer has the status it once had, it is still a big topic in Japanese society today. Those who have not yet found a partner by the age of 30 often receive suggestions for potential sons-in-law from their parents. One reason for this is that having children is part of the image of a "real woman," and pregnancies are almost always associated with marriage. Only about 2% of all children come from an illegitimate relationship.

When no child is born, many women devote themselves to Ninkatsu ( 妊活 ), which describes all efforts around getting pregnant, such as special yoga classes, seminars, taking medication, examinations or fertility treatments. Some women give up working life for this.

When a child is finally born, it is still up to the woman to raise it and take care of the household. Family life can often not be reconciled with a job and so over 60% of women quit their jobs after having their first child, because childcare places are scarce, the waiting lists for kindergarten places are correspondingly long and there is hardly any support or consideration from employers. Men also rarely help with the household or with the upbringing of the children, as the role of women as housewives and supporters of men is still firmly anchored, as a survey from 2012 shows, according to 51.6% of Japanese respondents for the classic roles are. Also in Japan, as in many other Asian countries, the family is seen as very important, which is why for women these are just as important, if not more important, than their other activities.

work life

Before the war, around 1920 to 1930, it was common for women to do outside work such as weaving or embroidery jobs , but these were all jobs besides which they could also keep an eye on the children. The money flowed into the family. After World War II, the ratio of working women out of all women was the highest of any industrialized country. Laws such as the Equal Opportunities Act and the 1947 Constitution now allowed women to work in typical male professions, such as in the fields of medicine, politics or jurisdiction. In 1991, a law was passed that allows women to take maternity leave until their child is 1 year old.

Nevertheless, the chances of promotion for women were and are poor compared to men. Only after about 20 years in the business do they have a real chance of advancing into managerial positions and many cannot take advantage of this opportunity, because after the birth of their first child, which occurs around the age of 30, many women step out of it completely for several years Working life, partly voluntarily, partly because it is too inflexible for companies, and only return to the labor market at around 40, but then only as part-time workers , which often excludes promotions and high earnings. The working world of women can therefore be described with an “M-curve”: the proportion of female employees among young adults is high, because in terms of level of education they are often on a par with their male fellow students in their late 20s, the age at which many Having children, this curve collapses rapidly and only in their mid-40s, when women return to the labor market, does the curve rise again.

Many women cannot find the balance between work and family life because of the long working hours, typical meetings in bars after work and the system of internal rotation, according to which employees are transferred to a new department or location about every three years , oppose this and there are hardly any role models that women can use for orientation. Employers often ignore the pressure that women are exposed to and see a woman with a child or a pregnant woman as a major burden, which is why a large number of women decide against a career. The results are that only around 11.9% of middle management and 1.1% of employees on executive boards are female. In the 2015 Gender Gap Report , Japan ranked 101st out of 145, even behind countries like Bangladesh and Uruguay. It did particularly poorly in the points “Women in Parliaments” (125th place) and “Members of Parliament, civil servants and managers” (116th place).

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has therefore initiated countermeasures such as the so-called "womenomics", according to which 30% of executives are to be female by 2020. Companies with women in management positions were also offered bonuses of around € 2,200, but no company applied for this program. There are also efforts and events aimed at encouraging women to study engineering, because the industry in particular has a shortage of workers. In general, due to its aging population, Japan is dependent on women, who could help increase GDP by up to 13%. The government recognizes the potential of women, because, according to Shinzo Abe herself, women are the "least used resource in the country," but there is a lack of further, more precise measures and the implementation of these, which is partly due to the deeply rooted image of women in society , but also to the tax system, which promises men whose wives do not earn much tax breaks and secures them a state pension without having to pay for it, or the policy of many companies that pay grants to men whose wives do not work. Something should also be changed in the wage policy, because women earn up to a third less than their male colleagues for the same work.

One possibility for women to have a career is to be self-employed. Organizations such as "World Banking Japan" in Osaka grant loans to founders of their own companies, whereby such companies are often small cafes or bookstores that also serve for self-realization .

feminism

prostitution

literature

Iwao, Sumiko: The Japanese Woman: Traditional Image and Changing Reality , New York: Free, 1993, print
Liew, Christine: Can it be a little longer? - Hot Beloved Love Hotels. Shadow Runner And Pearl Girl - Everyday Adventure in Japan , Oldenburg: Dyras, 2010, 199-203, print
Pharr, Susan J .: Women of Japan. Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan, Tokyo: Kodansha, 1983. 257-61, print
Reischauer, Edwin O .: Women , The Japanese, Cambridge, MA: Belknap, 1977, 204-12, print
Roberts, David, and Elisabeth Roberts: Women's Issues , Live & Work in Japan. Oxford: Vacation Work, 1999. 141-45. Print

Web links

Commons : Japanese Women - Collection of Pictures, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b Blaschke, Sonja, Japanese Economy - Little Chances For Women , Germany Radio Kultur, March 9, 2015. Accessed January 27, 2017.

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d Lill , Felix, Japan: Land of the marginalized , in: ZEIT ONLINE ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. dated July 25, 2013. Accessed February 10, 2017.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.zeit.de

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ "Iwao, Sumiko. The Japanese Woman: Traditional Image and Changing Reality. New York: Free, 1993. Print."

^ Reese, Lyn, Heroines: Heian Period (Women in World History Curriculum) , Women in World History Curriculum , 2016. Accessed January 30, 2017.

^ ^A ^b Taylor, Rodney Leon, and Howard YF Choy. San-ts'ung Ssu-te , The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Confucianism. Vol. 2. New York: Roses Pub. Group, 2005, p. 496. Print.

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Pharr, Susan J., Women of Japan , Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan. Tokyo: Kodansha, 1983. 257-61. Print.

^ ^A ^b ^c Reischauer, Edwin O. "Women." The Japanese. Cambridge, MA: Belknap, 1977. 204-12. Print.

^ Roberts, David, and Elisabeth Roberts, Women's Issues , Live & Work in Japan. Oxford: Vacation Work, 1999. 141-45. Print.

^ Jad Adams: Women and the Vote. A world history. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2014, ISBN 978-0-19-870684-7 , page 438

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Rothhaas, Julia, working women in Japan - Im Land Des Hechelns , Süddeutsche from January 4, 2016. Accessed January 27, 2017. < http://www.sueddeutsche.de/karriere/berufstaetige- women-in-japan-in-the-country-of-panting-1.2795114-3 >

↑ ^a ^b Raymo, James M., Changing Family Life Cycle and Partnership Transition - Gender Roles and Marriage Patterns , in Schad-Seifert, Annette / Conrad, Harald / Coulmas, Florian (Eds.), Demographic Challenge: A Handbook About Japan , Brill Academic, 2008. pp. 255-76. Print.

↑ Japanese Embassy, Population: News from Japan - Japan And Germany Compared to Figures , Japanese Embassy , February 2012. Accessed January 25, 2017.

↑ Tokyo Cherie, Makeinu: A Single, Childless Woman in the 30s , Tokyo Cherie , April 21, 2009. Accessed January 26, 2017th

↑ Work & Travel in Japan, The Image of Women in Japan , Work and Travel Japan , February 3, 2016. Accessed January 26, 2017.

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d Blaschke, Sonja, Marriage and Children in Japan: From half and whole women , Zürcher Zeitung from October 19, 2016. Accessed January 25, 2017.

↑ Blaschke, Sonja, Japan's Top Women Flüchten an Den Herd , Die Welt, October 27, 2013. Accessed January 25, 2017.

↑ ^a ^b Odrich, Barbara, Japan Mobilize women for the job market , Vdi-nachrichten March 27, 2015. Accessed January 27, 2017.

[deutschlandradio-1] Blaschke, Sonja, Japanese Economy - Little Chances For Women , Germany Radio Kultur, March 9, 2015. Accessed January 27, 2017.