Women's suffrage in Japan

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The women's suffrage in Japan resulting from the general adult suffrage and equality of the sexes, which are guaranteed by the Constitution of Japan. As in the other states of East Asia , it was only generally introduced after the Second World War. Women's suffrage in Japan was part of the democratic constitution that dates back to the American occupation after 1945. On December 12, 1945, active and passive women's suffrage was introduced in Japan for the lower house, and on February 24, 1947 for the upper house.

history

Women in Voting in the First Half of the 1920s

Before the beginning of the Meiji period , i.e. before 1868, as in other more feudal societies at the local level, women were allowed to vote and be elected under the same conditions as men: the right to vote was linked to paying taxes. At the end of the 19th century, only adult men were allowed to vote, and under Article 5 of the Law on the Maintenance of Public Security , women were not even allowed to participate in political meetings. Since the direct route to political activities was blocked, the advocates of women's suffrage had to rely on social organizations in their struggle to control alcohol consumption and prostitutionhad written on the flags. Even this path was not unproblematic - in 1920, 200 women had to leave a Purity Society convention fighting against registered prostitution when male suffrage was discussed there. As in Germany and Austria, women first concentrated on obtaining the right to organize their struggle. With an improved education of women (in 1912 98% of girls were able to read and write) and their increasing presence in the professional world, the right of assembly became more and more important.

The main feminist leader was Ichikawa Fusae . While in the United States, she was met by Alice Paul

Ichikawa Fusae, Japanese feminist and politician, independent MP in the Upper House from 1953 to 1981

as well as other women's suffrage activists like Carrie Chapman Catt . She returned to Japan in 1924 and founded the radical Women's Suffrage League of Japan . In 1925 the right to vote for men was introduced and shortly afterwards the House of Commons dealt with a petition for women to vote. Although it was rejected, it was a sign of progressive thinking: the parliamentarians wanted to show that Japan did not lag behind in international comparison.

In Japan the state was a more important factor than in northern states, since its organs represented the divine Tennō . Women were thus inclined to cooperate with the state and enjoy official protection for confirming the morality of the state's image of women. From the 1930s onwards, women's political participation was portrayed as beneficial to national interests. Japanese observers noted that the introduction of women's suffrage did not result in radical social changes or riots in either the United Kingdom or the United States. In 1931, many MPs saw women's suffrage as a means of preserving the virtues of Japanese women.

As in other states, the House of Commons was ready to allow women to vote at local and provincial levels, but the House of Lords rejected the relevant laws in 1929 and 1930. Finally, in 1931, the government itself introduced a bill for the electoral law that wanted women to have political rights at the age of 25; However, men acquired these at the age of 20. The project failed because of the conservative opposition, which attributed the political activities of women to have a negative impact on their being and the household. There were also ideological struggles in the women's movement, which led to disagreement over women's suffrage.

The political crisis in Japan in the 1930s meant that reform movements such as advocating women's suffrage were hindered. The Women's Suffrage League magazine was forcibly discontinued in 1941. In 1940 the parties were abolished, and in 1942 the government merged all women's groups into the Greater Japan Women's Association to increase activities in Japan, including the mobilization of women and children. Ichikawa Fusae became chairman of the association. Although she had originally opposed militarism, her attitude changed when her country was at war. She also believed that it would benefit women's suffrage if the value of women as supporters in this difficult situation was shown.

The first female MPs in the Japanese House of Commons, 1946.

After Japan's defeat in 1945, Ichikawa urged the Prime Minister to introduce women's suffrage instead of the American occupiers, but she fell on deaf ears. The liberal government that followed was more open to women's suffrage, and it seems quite possible that there would have been a change in this matter even without the occupation . The occupiers re-admitted political parties and initiated a series of far-reaching reforms aimed at democratizing Japan, including measures such as the introduction of the right to vote for women over the age of 20. Thus, only after the defeat of Japan and the occupation by the Americans in 1945, earlier political restrictions on women were lifted and active and passive women's suffrage was introduced: on December 12, 1945 for the lower house , on February 24, 1947 for the upper house . Thus universal suffrage was part of the democratic constitution that dates back to the occupation.

As in other states, gaining the right to vote for one group went hand in hand with the loss of the right to vote for others: Male Taiwanese and Koreans who had lived in Japan and had been allowed to vote since 1925 lost their right to vote under the new constitution this constitution linked voting rights to Japanese nationality. In this way, gender inequality was replaced by ethnic inequality.

Here, as in other states, women's suffrage was achieved after a period in which women supported the nation during a war at home. Parallels can also be made between Japan and other states that were not originally governed democratically: these include Germany or the states of the Habsburg Empire after the First World War or Italy and France after the Second World War Long blocked women's suffrage had to be defeated and pushed back before women's suffrage could be achieved.

67 percent of women went to the Shūgiin election on April 10, 1946 and 39 women were elected.

Ichikawa had been banned from public life for four years by the occupiers, mainly for supporting the government's propaganda organization. After her return to the political stage, she was an independent member of the House of Lords from 1953 to 1981 and one of the few women's rights activists in the world who had been able to use her skills for a successful parliamentary career.

By 1952, while the legal foundations for women's equality in political, social and economic terms were in place, little progress has been made in challenging male prerogatives in government.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Jad Adams: Women and the Vote. A world history. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2014, ISBN 978-0-19-870684-7 , page 367.
  2. ↑ a b c Jad Adams: Women and the Vote. A world history. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2014, ISBN 978-0-19-870684-7 , page 368.
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g Jad Adams: Women and the Vote. A world history. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2014, ISBN 978-0-19-870684-7 , page 369.
  4. ↑ a b c d e f g h Jad Adams: Women and the Vote. A world history. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2014, ISBN 978-0-19-870684-7 , p. 370.
  5. ↑ a b c d e f Jad Adams: Women and the Vote. A world history. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2014, ISBN 978-0-19-870684-7 , page 371.
  6. ↑ Kumari Jayawardena: Feminism and nationalism in the Third World. Zed Books London, 5th Edition 1994, pp. 252-253.
  7. ^ Mart Martin: The Almanac of Women and Minorities in World Politics. Westview Press Boulder, Colorado, 2000, p. 202.
  8. ↑ June Hannam, Mitzi Auchterlonie, Katherine Holden: International Encyclopedia of Women's Suffrage. ABC-CLIO Inc., Santa Barbara, Denver, Oxford 2000, ISBN 1-57607-064-6 , p. 158.
  9. ↑ a b Jad Adams: Women and the Vote. A world history. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2014, ISBN 978-0-19-870684-7 , page 372.
  10. ^ Mart Martin: The Almanac of Women and Minorities in World Politics. Westview Press Boulder, Colorado, 2000, p. 204.