Gender Inequality In Japan Essay

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Gender Inequality in Japan from a Linguistic Perspective
Introduction
Japan is often described as the most developed, westernised country in Asia and with its economy being the third largest in the world – falling behind the United States and China (Nagano 2014) – it faces many of the same issues those of us in the western world are familiar with. One such issue, not limited to the western world, disadvantages roughly one half of the population, that of sexism and gender equality. Seeing as ideas, beliefs and stereotypes are all spread through language, the Japanese language itself is argued to be the greatest contributor to sexist notions. In the essay to follow I shall examine the roots of the modern Japanese woman and modern women’s language;
In Gulliver’s (2012) case studies of modern women living in Japan in the period between the two world wars she notes the traditional restraint placed on women both in their occupational lives and their self-expression. Due to these boundaries many women mainly performed duties around the house and if they had careers most women turned to novel writing, which was done at home.
The expectation for women to be stay-at-home mothers and wives is still very much prevalent in Japan to this day (Nagano 2015). From the occupational perspective, the greatest example of gender inequality in Japan can be seen in the low percentage of professional women working in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Female scientists trained in STEM make up only 13.8% of the workforce (Homma et al. 2013). This is the lowest among developed countries. Surveys conducted suggest that women are less likely to pursue a career in STEM due to a lack of female authority in the area, as well as an unconscious bias from male scientists when evaluating female colleagues (Homma et al.
Efforts by feminist groups and youth movements are challenging the societal expectations placed on them and are rejecting outdated Japanese concepts of femininity, altering the language used by them and about them. The desired result of such language reform is a change in the view of Japanese women being submissive, delicate and innocent, moving towards a more assertive, authoritative female identity. Such a change will render such notions as a woman’s duty being a “good wife and a wise mother” outdated and grant them greater opportunities in their

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