4/26 homework
I heard Yuka Ogata's story from a friend in class. Ogata attended a meeting of Kumamoto's city council with her baby in 2017. However, other lawmakers forced her to take the baby out. Looking at the photos about this story, I felt bad to see Ogata alone fighting as a female lawmaker against lots of male lawmakers. I learned that women cannot make a loud voice in society, so the burden of housework & childcare for working women does not disappear.
Nowadays, Japan doesn't know exactly what working women really need. Most policies for working women are made from many male politicians. These policies are not helpful for them because male politicians are not toujisha. Effective policies only can be made from toujisha’s view. However, there are few women politicians in Japan. For example, parental leave systems do not have effective power. According to The Asahi Shimbun Globe+, UNICEF ranked Japan's parental leave system as the No. 1 in the world in 2021. However, Japan's parental leave acquisition rate is very low. This is because there is invisible pressure to do not use parental leave in companies. So many workers cannot use this freely because of getting of pressures like matahara.
I want to focus on two issues ; few women leaders in politics and negative attitudes for parental leave in the workplace. And I have three questions ; why it’s difficult for people to use parental leave systems in the workplace, how to make an action network of women in politics to come up with policies for working women, and what policies other countries are doing to help women with having a balance between working and housework & childcare.
reference
1) Japan's day care crisis is turning working moms into activists, CNN, Pamela Boykoff, July 8 2019
Japan's child care crisis breeds a new kind of activist - CNN
2) 「制度は立派なのに…」の日本 男性育休の先進国ヨーロッパ、何が違うのか, The Asahi Shimbun GLOBE+, 朴琴順 , Nov 23 2021
「制度は立派なのに…」の日本 男性育休の先進国ヨーロッパ、何が違うのか：朝日新聞GLOBE＋ (asahi.com)
5/10 homework
It was very impressive that Voice Up Japan is distributing sanitary pads in ladies’ toilets of Chuo University. Tissues are distributed free of charge in toilets because many people around the world use them. In this point, I had a question why sanitary pads are not distributed free of charge in toilets even if half of the women in the world use sanitary pads. In Mimosa's announcement, LGBTQs people don't want to be treated like special groups, they just want to live a normal life as an ordinary human being. Until this time, I thought that they need special help because I treated the socially disadvantaged groups as special people who are different from me. However, I realized that this idea makes me think they have nothing to do with me.
Thanks to this experience in the Diversity Center, I come to think it is most necessary to listen to the social disadvantaged groups’ voices and know what they really want from society in order to live a normal life. In Japan, the Tokyo Rainbow Pride was recently held, and there was blocking traffic for disability right movement in Korea. I found that there are some people who complain about it due to street noise and blocked roads. This is a trivial reason compared to the fact that socially disadvantaged groups have suffered from unequal treatment from society, so they are living a hard life. I want to know that how the socially disadvantaged groups could ask for understanding from people who don't care or support even though they tried to raise their voices to the world.
5/17 homework
I learned that social perceptions of housework and childcare are very different in countries where the roles of women and men are well divided. In Japan, when a husband tells others that his wife is pregnant, he says, "My wife is pregnant. However, In France, people say, "We're pregnant." French people think that housework and childcare should be done by men and women. In Japan, the acquisition rate is significantly lower than in France, although Japan’s parental leave system is ranked No. 1 in the world. I think this is because there is a lack of proper awareness of the role allocation between men and women.
In addition, I confirmed that female lawmakers are having difficulty doing working, housework, and childcare together in Japan. I think many women could be further intimidated if female lawmakers who represent women cannot be a good model. Therefore, as many female lawmakers as possible should become successful models, so they can give a positive effect on women and promote women's rights socially. This effect will help Japanese people to have the proper awareness of gender role allocation and encourage use of parental leave.
In the next research, I want to focus on how to increase female lawmakers, use of parental leave, and how these can lead to fair sharing of housework and childcare between men and women. Therefore, I’d like to look at the voices of female lawmakers and office workers to know what kind of concerns they have. And I have four questions now.
1. What is the causal relationship between the small number of female lawmakers and the low acquisition rate of the parental leave system?
2. Why is Korea running a quota system in parliamentary elections, but there are still fewer female lawmakers?
3. How can we prevent matahara if the boss in the company claims that even if it is matahara, it is only advice?
4. How can Japan, like France, have an awareness of the fair division of roles between men and women in society?
5/ 24 homework
Before this research, I thought that if lawmakers actively take parental leave, they could be an good model for citizens and lead to use of parental leave. However, I learned that it’s difficult for even lawmakers, regardless of sex, to take paternity leave. This is because they get complaints from citizens. There are three reasons. ; there is no need for lawmakers to take parental leave because of enough money and flexible working hours, citizens want them to work nonstop because they get the money from taxes citizens pay, and there is no law about parental leave for lawmakers. Moreover, in this environment, even if a small number of female lawmakers want to balance between working and childcare, the parliament does not cooperate with them. After discussion with my friends, I found that a real policy of gender equality could never come out of a democracy that excludes women.
Shinjiro Koizumi made headlines for taking parental leave despite the negative atmosphere about parental leave. He insisted that he wanted to change the atmosphere by taking parental leave. Obviously, Japan's parental leave system is well-established to be highly regarded, so if the system is implemented properly, women and men can have enough time in their house, reducing the burden of housework and childcare for women. However, the coercive atmosphere about parental leave is killing the practicality of the system. Therefore, seeing Shinjiro Koizumi's case, I thought it is necessary to solve the problem by practicing the actions of celebrities instead of reorganizing the new system. Staying in theory no longer helps.
I have three questions now.
1. What should we do to increase the number of female lawmakers?
2. What practices are needed for lawmakers to actively take parental leave?
3. What gender equality education has been implemented in countries with little prejudice against the role of women?
5 / 31 homework
The presentation of the “Marriage & Patriarchy” was impressive. I learned that Japan’s laws such as Marital tax deduction, Social security benefits, and Rent subsidy for newly married couples limit women's economic power. This relates to my research, "Why is it difficult for Japanese women to balance work and childcare & housework?" In order to take economic benefits from these systems, the total income of husband and wife should be limited, so women have no choice but to do housework or low-paying jobs. Even though men and women do the same thing in the company, women rarely get a chance to get promoted because they cannot work long because of childbirth. Women unwillingly receive less wages than men. In this environment, only husbands have economic power in family, and wives are bound to be passive for working in society. The burden of childcare and housework goes to the women automatically.
I thought it was an interesting idea to point out that the systems which give couples economic benefits discriminate against women from having economic power. This is because discrimination happens in places that are invisible rather than visible. In Japan, a democratic society, many people know diversity and equality are important. Various systems and organizations are working enough for them. Direct discrimination has disappeared as before, but nonetheless, minor discrimination still exists in everyday life. (225)
6/7 homework
In discussions about my presentation, it was interesting to hear that there are biological factors which make a perception “childcare is a role of women”. Women feel responsible for their children strongly because they have had a baby in their stomachs for months. However, men don’t have a physical connection with their children like women. Considering only biological factors, I came to think that raising children could be a women's responsibility. However, now gender equality is an important factor in society. Boundaries between what women and men can do are becoming blurred, and childcare and housework are duties for both men and women. In this point, I could relate to the opinion that parents should teach right lessons of gender role to their children. For children exposed to an environment of incorrect gender role, parents must teach them what is wrong at home and explain the concept of gender equality.
Through a dialect-themed presentation, I learned that the diversity of dialects in Japanese should be preserved. During the discussion, it was interesting to hear the experiences of speaking in dialect in each area. Speaking dialect is not only a means of communication but also a connection with people in the same area, and to be able to express one's thoughts and feelings better than standard language. I think keeping dialects alive helps preserving language diversity, makes dialect speakers feel a sense of belonging to their area, and guaranteeing their identities. This is also related to Ainu and Ryuku’s language issue. (251)
6/14 homework
The debate on 「same-sex marriage」 was interesting. I learned what to be careful about in improving understanding of LGBT people through the media. The media can spread positive perceptions of sexual minorities, as it gives information to many people in various forms. However, LGBT has become an interesting genre like drama, and there is a risk of giving distorted information that is not real. I also got first impression of LGBT from animation. In the animation, I felt that LGBT people are special, and love each other in special situations. But now I know they are like us and love each other having many problems. I don’t want to deny media’s power. Because I was able to have an interest in sexual minorities thanks to easy access to them through animation. The power that media allows many people to be interested in LGBTQ cannot be ignored.
The start story of 「gender inequality in politics and leadership」 was impressive. This is because when I saw the candidate posters during the election, I felt that most of them were only men too. There is a perception that men have stronger leadership than women. This is related to my theme, 「The working women cannot balance working and childcare/housework 」. Women do not have enough opportunities to demonstrate leadership like men from an early age. An important role (class president) is played by men, and a role (secretary) is played by women. Men are guaranteed more opportunities to develop leadership than women. So, men take on important tasks such as politics in society, and women stay in roles that assist men at home. Therefore, even if women try to work in society, they must always have to do childcare and housework. (293)