Research Report for Cycle 1

MARRIAGE & PATRIARCHY

My Starting Story and Interests

I was in a girls' school from elementary to high school. Enrolling in a co-education university last year, I started to question more about what it is to be a woman, something that I had never needed to think about seriously. In the university, I found myself not being able to adapt to a new environment with both men and women. There have been several occasions where I strongly felt that men and women are treated unfairly. Some male students objectify women when they talk to each other. Some female students do what male students expect them to and not what they want.

My Research Focus

I wanted to understand how those gender structures or systems were created and are reproduced. To start with, I thought it is a good idea to look at marriage. There are a lot of discussions concerning marriage, from same-sex marriage to dual surnames. While I completely agree that people should have the same rights in their marriage, I wondered why the institution of marriage is so important.

Starting Questions

At the start of my research, I had these questions:

Why do people want to get married?
What is the institution of marriage for?
What are the advantages of marrying in both personal and political contexts?

Main Points

The starting questions turned into these main points:

Patriarchy
Sociological & Historical Backgrounds of Marriage
Advantages & Disadvantages of Marriage, Alternatives for Marriage

Patriarchy

Patriarchy is often defined as the following. 父系の家族制度で、家長が家族全員に対し支配権を持つ家族形態.This is a definition taken in sociology and anthropology in the 18th and 19th centuries. Feminists movements in the 1960s (the second-wave feminism in the United States) expanded its definition into 男性が女性を圧力する権力構造一般, and not only about the power balance within families.

Patriarchy, along with the progress of industrialization, worked to separate public and private. Men control the public domain while women's voices are contained in the private domain. Below is an example of the results of a patriarchal society.

当事者 Voices - Mari Yasuda

Mari Yasuda（写真,立憲民主党), who ran for the 2021 General Election, received a lot of sexual harassment from voters and other politicians. She was often asked on a date or accused of sleeping with men in power. Politics is one of the most public areas, and women are not expected to have power in it.

In this cycle, I looked into the stories of two other women a journalist who was sexually assaulted, and an activist. Although the situation was quite different for each of them, there was one common problem. No matter their arguments, there is always someone who belittles their words and actions because they are women. They are expected to equip their femininity as part of their assets, which devalues the legitimacy of their power. They are considered to be "overreacting" rather than to be critically aware.

Sociological & Historical Backgrounds

At first, I looked at the sociological and historical backgrounds of marriage. It became clear that marriage was not about love but about economic and political benefits until the 18th century. Despite the emergence of free will, the notion of treating women as "properties" still exists even today.

I was introduced to a feminist theory that argues that marriage institutionally perpetuates patriarchy and gender roles. Judith Butler suggests it is another way to pursue "non-state centered forms of support and alliance," which I think is ideal but difficult to establish.

Advantages & Disadvantages of Marriage,

Alternatives for Marriage

Secondly, I focused on the existing systems of marriage in Japan and what gives advantages to the married. There are several legal advantages, including marital tax deductions and social security benefits.

I have also looked at the system of P.A.C.S. ( Pacte Civil de Solidalité) in France, which was better than パートナーシップ制度 but still far from marriage. Couples using P.A.C.S. do not have inheritance rights or adoption rights. P.A.C.S is, however, common among couples of different sex as shown in the data provided by l'Insee (the graph on the right).

Why do people want to get married?

The survey conducted by 内閣府 in 2014 shows that 70% of people want to get married because they want to have a family. This data did not really convince me because getting married and having a family look like almost the same thing. It does not succeed in showing what about marriage/family makes people want to be in it.

This might indicate the characteristics of Japanese people following something encouraged by society without question. I had thought that people today want to marry because there are clear advantages to it, but this made it clear that it might have more to do with cultural pressure.

Insights and New Interests

Through others' and my research, I realized the extent to which the government can intervene with the freedom of its people. Although I mostly looked at the issues from the perspective of marriage, 戸籍 looked crucial in understanding the situations in Japan. It has a lot to do with the rights of indigenous people like Ainu and Ryukyu.

Therefore, I would like to look at 戸籍制度 in closer detail: the history and how it affects the current system.

Reference

Justin McCurry (Oct 27. 2021), ‘It is bullying pure and simple’: being a woman in Japanese politics. The Guardian. Accessed May 28th 2022.https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/27/being-a-woman-in-japanese-politics
Satisfied Kotake (Jan 24. 2019), Act on Promotion of Gender Equality in the Political Field, Waseda University, Accessed May 28th 2022.https://www.waseda.jp/folaw/icl/news-en/2019/01/24/6503/
三宅玲子（Nov.24,2017), 日本は性暴力に麻痺している、BUSINESS INSIDER, Accessed May 28th 2022. https://www.businessinsider.jp/post-107654
Justin McCurry (Dec18.2019), Shiori Ito, symbol of Japan’s MeToo movement, wins rape lawsuit damages. The Guardian. Accessed May 28th 2022. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/dec/18/shiori-ito-symbol-of-japans-metoo-movement-wins-lawsuit-damages
Britannica. marriage (Apr 11, 2022). Accessed May 28th 2022.https://www.britannica.com/topic/marriage
Lumen. Introduction to Sociology. What Is Marriage? What Is a Family?(undated). Accessed May 28th 2022.
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/sociology/chapter/what-is-marriage-what-is-a-family/
Rajiv Desai (July 31, 2019). Marriage Is An Inherently Unfeminist Institution, THE SWADDLE, Accessed May 28th 2022. https://theswaddle.com/marriage-is-an-inherently-unfeminist-institution/
Kaori Okajima (December 6, 2018), Dividing the Sexes; The Modern Evolution of Japanese Gender Roles in Marriage, nippon.com, Accessed May 28th 2022.https://www.nippon.com/en/features/c05604/dividing-the-sexes-the-modern-evolution-of-japanese-gender-roles-in-marriage.html
内閣府政府統括官（Mar,2015), 内閣府、平成26年度「結婚・家族形成に関する意識調査」報告書（全体版）、Accessed May 28th 2022. https://www8.cao.go.jp/shoushi/shoushika/research/h26/zentai-pdf/index.html
酒井富士子（Dec 22, 2021), 「お金」で考える結婚のメリットとは？徳する制度や注意点も紹介、ゼクシィ、保険ショップ、 Accessed May 28th 2022. https://hoken.zexy.net/money/lifeplanning/marriage09.html

岩間暁子・大和礼子・田間泰子(2022). 『問いからはじめる家族社会学多様化する家族の包摂に向けて［改訂版］』. 第5章.有斐閣ストゥディア

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