Women in Japan

Late 19th/early 20th century depictions of Japanese women, Woman in Red Clothing (1912) and Under the Shade of a Tree (1898) by Kuroda Seiki. Japanese Woman (1903) by Hungarian artist Bertalan Székely.

The extent to which women could participate in Japanese society has varied over time and social classes. In the 8th century, Japan had an empress, and in the 12th century during the Heian period, women in Japan could inherit property in their own names and manage it by themselves: "Women could own property, be educated, and were allowed, if discrete (sic), to take lovers."[9]

Countess Ryoko Mutsu, wife of notable diplomat Count Mutsu Munemitsu. Photographed in 1888.

Yanagiwara Byakuren, a poet and member of the imperial family.

From the late Edo period, the status of women declined. In the 17th century, the "Onna Daigaku", or "Learning for Women", by Confucianist author Kaibara Ekken, spelled out expectations for Japanese women, stating that "such is the stupidity of her character that it is incumbent on her, in every particular, to distrust herself and to obey her husband".[10]

During the Meiji period, industrialization and urbanization reduced the authority of fathers and husbands, but at the same time the Meiji Civil Code of 1898 (specifically the introduction of the "ie" system) denied women legal rights and subjugated them to the will of household heads.[11]

Women were given the right to vote in 1945, after the Japanese surrender in WWII. As the new de facto ruler of Japan, Douglas MacArthur ordered the drafting of a new constitution for Japan in February 1946.[16] A subcommittee including two women, Beate Sirota Gordon and economist Eleanor Hadley, were enlisted and assigned to writing the section of the constitution devoted to civil rights and women's rights in Japan.[17][18] This allowed them greater freedom, equality to men, and a higher status within Japanese society. Other postwar reforms opened education institutions to women and required that women receive equal pay for equal work. In 1986, the Equal Employment Opportunity Law took effect, prohibiting discrimination in aspects like dismissal and retirement. The law was revised in 1997 to be more comprehensive, prohibiting discrimination in recruitment and promotion as well. Another round of revision in 2006 also prohibits job requirements that disproportionately advantage one gender over another, or indirect discrimination.[19] However, women remain economically disadvantaged as a wage gap remains between full-time male and female workers. There also exists a wage gap between full-time and irregular workers despite the rising percentage of irregular workers among women.[19]

Female representation in politics

Proportion of women in Japan's national parliament, 1997–2020

In 1994, Japan implemented electoral reform and introduced a mixed electoral system that included both single-member districts (SMD) using plurality and a party list system with proportional representation. In general, the proportion of female legislators in the House of Representatives has grown since the reform.[20] However, when it comes to women's representation in politics, Japan remains behind other developed democracies as well as many developing countries. As of 2019, Japan ranks 164th out of 193 countries when it comes to the percentage of women in the lower or single house.[21] In the 2021 Japanese general election, less than 18 percent of candidates (186 out of 1051) for the House of Representatives were women.[22] Of these 186 candidates, 45 were elected, constituting 9.7 percent of the 465 seats in the lower chamber.[23] This number represents a decline from the 2017 general election, which resulted in women winning 10.1 percent of House seats.[23] The decrease in women's representation has taken place although the Japanese government has expressed a will to address this inequality of numbers in the 21st century of the Heisei period through several focused initiatives,[24] and a 2012 poll by the Cabinet Office found that nearly 70% of all Japanese polled agreed that men were given preferential treatment.[25]

Japanese women fare better when it comes to local politics. As of 2015, women made up 27.8% of the local assemblies in the Tokyo's Special Wards, 17.4% in designated cities, 16.1% in general cities, 10.4% in towns and villages, and 9.1% in prefectures.[26] In 2019, the proportion of female candidates in local assembly elections hit a record high of 17.3% in city assembly elections and 12.1% in town and village assembly elections.[27] Similar to that in national politics, women's representation in Japan's local politics has seen a general upward trend since the 20th century, but still lags behind other developed countries.

In the 2022 Japanese House of Councillors election a record 35 women were elected to Japan's House of Councillors, the country's upper house. The number of women candidates at the election also reached a record high of 181.[28][29][30]

Sexism and harassment in politics

Given the dominance of men in Japanese politics, female politicians often face gender-based discrimination and harassment in Japan. They experience harassment from the public, both through social media and in-person interactions, and from their male colleagues. A 2021 survey revealed that 56.7% of 1,247 female local assembly members had been sexually harassed by voters or other politicians.[38] Even though the 1997 revision of the EEOL criminalized sexual harassment in the workplace, female politicians in Japan often do not have the same support when they are harassed by male colleagues.[39] The LDP has been reluctant to implement measures to counter harassment within the party and to promote gender equality more generally.[40] However, vocal female politicians of the party like Seiko Noda have publicly condemned male politicians' sexist statements.[39]

Portrait of Ichiyō Higuchi, pioneering female author on 5000 yen banknote

A Kimono-clad woman

During the 21st century, Japanese women are working in higher proportions than the United States's working female population.[5] Income levels between men and women in Japan are not equal; the average Japanese woman earns 40 percent less than the average man, and a tenth of management positions are held by women.[5] Women are often found in part time or temporary jobs. 77% of these jobs were filled by women in 2012.[41] Among women who do work, women-only unions are small in size and in relative power.[42] A common occupation for young women is that of office lady, that is, a female office worker who performs generally pink collar tasks such as serving tea and secretarial or clerical work.

Japan has a strong tradition of women being housewives after marriage.[43][44] When mothers do work, they often pick up part-time, low-paying jobs based on their children's or husband's schedule.[45] Taking care of the family and household is seen as a predominately female role, and working women are expected to fulfill it.[46] Nevertheless, in recent years the number of women who work has increased: in 2014, women made up 42.7% of the labour force of Japan.[47] Japan has an especially high proportion of women who work part-time, and a majority of those women are mothers.[48]

In one poll, 30% of mothers who returned to work reported being victims of "maternity harassment", or "matahara".[49] The obento box tradition, where mothers prepare elaborate lunches for their children to take to school, is an example of a domestic female role.[50]

A number of government and private post-war policies have contributed to a gendered division of labor.[6] These include a family wage offered by corporations which subsidized health and housing subsidies, marriage bonuses and additional bonuses for each child; and pensions for wives who earn below certain incomes.[6] Additionally, in 1961, income for wives of working men were untaxed below $10,000; income above that amount contributed to overall household income.[6] Corporate culture also plays a role; while many men are expected to socialize with their managers after long work days, women may find trouble balancing child-rearing roles with the demands of mandatory after-work social events.[5]

Some economists suggest that a better support system for working mothers, such as a shorter daily work schedule, would allow more women to work, increasing Japan's economic growth.[8] To that end, in 2003, the Japanese government set a goal to have 30% of senior government roles filled by women. In 2015, only 3.5% were; the government has since slashed the 2020 goal to 7%, and set a private industry goal to 15%.[51]

A Japanese family as presented in a magazine in the 1950s

The traditional role of women in Japan has been defined as "three submissions": young women submit to their fathers; married women submit to their husbands, and elderly women submit to their sons.[52][53] Strains of this arrangement can be seen in contemporary Japan, where housewives are responsible for cooking, cleaning, child-rearing and support their husbands to work without any worries about family,[54] as well as balancing the household's finances.[55] Yet, as the number of dual-income households rises, women and men are sharing household chores, and research shows that this has led to increased satisfaction over households that divide labor in traditional ways.[56]

Families, prior to and during the Meiji restoration, relied on a patriarchal lineage of succession, with disobedience to the male head of the household punishable by expulsion from the family unit.[57][58] Male heads of households with only daughters would adopt male heirs to succeed them, sometimes through arranged marriage to a daughter.[43] Heads of households were responsible for house finances, but could delegate to another family member or retainer (employee).[43] Women in these households were typically subject to arranged marriages at the behest of the household's patriarch, with more than half of all marriages in Japan being preemptively arranged until the 1960s.[59][43] Married women marked themselves by blackening their teeth and shaving their eyebrows.[43]

After the Meiji period, the head of the household was required to approve of any marriage.[43] Until 1908, it remained legal for husbands to murder wives for infidelity.[43]

As late as the 1930s, arranged marriages continued, and so-called "love matches" were thought to be rare and somewhat scandalous, especially for the husband, who would be thought "effeminate".[43][60]

The Post-War Constitution, however, codified women's right to choose their partners.[43] Article 24 of Japan's Constitution states:

Marriage shall be based only on the mutual consent of both sexes and it shall be maintained through mutual cooperation with the equal rights of husband and wife as a basis. With regard to choice of spouse, property rights, inheritance, choice of domicile, divorce and other matters pertaining to marriage and the family, laws shall be enacted from the standpoint of individual dignity and the essential equality of the sexes.

This established several changes to women's roles in the family, such as the right to inherit the family home or land, and the right of women (over the age of 20) to marry without the consent of the house patriarch.[43]

In the early Meiji period, many girls married at age 16; by the post-war period, it had risen to 23, and continued to rise.[43] The average age for a Japanese woman's first marriage has steadily risen since 1970, from 24 to 29.3 years old in 2015.[61]

Teenage girls reading books, Summer Evening Beside the Lake (1897) by Fujishima Takeji

With the development of society, more and more girls are going to colleges to receive higher education.[74] Today, more than half of Japanese women are college or university graduates.[18] The proportion of female researchers in Japan is 14.6%.[75]

Modern education of women began in earnest during the Meiji era's modernization campaign. The first schools for women began during this time, though education topics were highly gendered, with women learning arts of the samurai class, such as tea ceremonies and flower arrangement. The 1871 education code established that students should be educated "without any distinction of class or sex".[76] Nonetheless, after 1891 students were typically segregated after third grade, and many girls did not extend their educations past middle school.[77]

By the end of the Meiji period, there was a women's school in every prefecture in Japan, operated by a mix of government, missionary, and private interests.[78] By 1910, very few universities accepted women.[77] Graduation was not assured, as often women were pulled out of school to marry or to study "practical matters".[78]

Girls' high school in early period, c. 1939.

Notably, Tsuruko Haraguchi, the first woman in Japan to earn a PhD, did so in the US, as no Meiji-era institution would allow her to receive her doctorate.[78] She and other women who studied abroad and returned to Japan, such as Yoshioka Yayoi and Tsuda Umeko, were among the first wave of women's educators who lead the way to the incorporation of women in Japanese academia.[78]

After 1945, the Allied occupation aimed to enforce equal education between sexes; this included a recommendation in 1946 to provide compulsory co-education until the age of 16.[77] By the end of 1947, nearly all middle schools and more than half of high schools were co-educational.[77]

Japanese schoolgirls wearing a seifuku in Tokyo.

In 2012, 98.1% of female students and 97.8% of male students were able to reach senior high school.[79] Of those, 55.6% of men and 45.8% of women continued with undergraduate studies, although 10% of these female graduates attended junior college.[80]

The first female Zen master in Japan was the Japanese abbess Mugai Nyodai (born 1223 - died 1298).[81][82]

In 1872, the Japanese government issued an edict (May 4, 1872, Grand Council of State Edict 98) stating, "Any remaining practices of female exclusion on shrine and temple lands shall be immediately abolished, and mountain climbing for the purpose of worship, etc., shall be permitted". However, women in Japan today do not have complete access to all such places.[83]

In 1998 the General Assembly of the Nippon Sei Ko Kai (Anglican Church in Japan) started to ordain women.[84]

Women in Japan were forbidden from participation in Yamakasa, parades in which Shinto shrines are carried through a town, until 2001.[85]

At 87 years, the life expectancy of Japanese women is the longest of any gender anywhere in the world.[18]

Abortion in Japan is legal under some restrictions. The number per year has declined by 500,000 since 1975. Of the 200,000 abortions performed per year, however, 10% are teenage women, a number which has risen since 1975.[86]

The Japanese cosmetics industry is the second largest in the world, earning over $15 billion per year.[107] The strong market for beauty products has been connected to the value placed on self-discipline and self-improvement in Japan, where the body is mastered through kata, repeated actions aspiring toward perfection, such as bowing.[107]

In the Heian period, feminine beauty standards favored darkened teeth, some body fat, and eyebrows painted above the original (which were shaved).[108]

Beauty corporations have had a role in creating contemporary standards of beauty in Japan since the Meiji era. For example, the Japanese cosmetics firm, Shiseido published a magazine, Hannatsubaki, with beauty advice for women emphasizing hair styles and contemporary fashion.[107] The pre-war "modern girl" of Japan followed Western fashions as filtered through this kind of Japanese media.[107]

Products reflect several common anxieties among Japanese women. Multiple polls suggest that women worry about "fatness, breast size, hairiness and bust size".[107] The idealized figure of a Japanese woman is generally fragile and petite.[109] Japanese beauty ideals favor small features and narrow faces.[107] Big eyes are admired, especially when they have "double eyelids".[109]

Another ideal is pale skin. Tanned skin was historically associated with the working-class, and pale skin associated with the nobility.[107] Many women in Japan will take precaution to avoid the sun, and some lotions are sold to make the skin whiter.[110]

By the 1970s, "cuteness" had emerged as a desirable aesthetic, which some scholars linked to a boom in comic books that emphasized young-looking girls, or Lolitas.[107] While these characters typically included larger eyes, research suggests that it was not a traditional standard of beauty in Japan, preferred in medical research and described as "unsightly" by cosmetic researchers of the Edo era.[110]

Clothing is another element in beauty standards for women in Japan, especially with traditional aesthetics. Again, femininity is a large factor; therefore, pinks, reds, bows, and frills are all found in their apparel. Kimonos, full-length silk robes, are worn by women on special occasions.[109] Traditional patterns for women include many varieties of flowers found in Japan and across Asia such as cherry blossoms, lilies, chrysanthemums and camellia japonica flowers.

Some employers require their female workers to wear high heels[111] and forbid eye glasses.[112]

Geisha in Miyagawa-chō, Kyoto

A geisha (芸者) is a traditional Japanese female entertainer who acts as a hostess and whose skills include performing various Japanese arts such as classical music, dance, games, serving tea and conversation, mainly to entertain male customers.[113] Geisha are trained very seriously as skilled entertainers and are not to be confused with prostitutes. The training program starts from a young age, typically 15 years old, and can take anywhere from six months to three years.[113]

A young geisha in training, under the age of 20, is called a maiko. Maiko (literally "dance girl") are apprentice geisha, and this stage can last for years. Maiko learn from their senior geisha mentor and follow them to all their engagements. Then at around the age of 20–22, the maiko is promoted to a full-fledged geisha[114] in a ceremony called erikae (turning of the collar).

The percentage of births to unmarried women in selected countries, 1980 and 2007.[115] As can be seen in the figure, Japan has not followed the trend of other Western countries of children born outside of marriage to the same degree.

In Japan, the contraceptive pill was legalized in 1999, much later than in most Western countries.[116] Its use is still low, with many couples preferring condoms. Sexuality in Japan has developed separately from mainland Asia, and Japan did not adopt the Confucian view of marriage in which chastity is highly valued. However, births outside marriage remain rare in Japan.

• Birth control in Japan
• Empress of Japan
• Family policy in Japan
• Feminism in Japan
• Gender Equality Bureau, Japan
• Good Wife, Wise Mother
• Gyaru
• Hinamatsuri
• Kyariaūman (career woman in Japan)
• Overview of gender inequality in Japan
• Shōjo
• Women in agriculture in Japan
• Yamato nadeshiko
• Nyonin Kinsei Women in Shinto

History:

• Kunoichi, female spies
• Onna-bugeisha, female warriors

•  This article incorporates public domain material from the Library of Congress Country Studies. - Japan

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