International Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest

Extract

To western observers, putting radical and Japanese feminism in the same sentence may seem incongruous. After all, this is a nation where women did not receive the franchise until the postwar constitution of 1947. Women were granted rights to abortion the following year, but did not have legal access to the pill until 1999. Today, women are guaranteed constitutional equality, but it is perfectly acceptable for businesses to deny women promotion on the basis that they might someday marry and have children. Japanese women still practice a distinctly gendered style of writing and speech, while household labor is esteemed as virtuous. As recently as February 2008, efforts to reform domestic violence laws faced a backlash from critics claiming the legislation infringed men's rights and promoted the destruction of families by encouraging radical feminism. Perhaps in this context any feminist consciousness would be considered radical, and indeed, the concept needs to be understood within its own framework and not simply accorded western values. Throughout the nation's modern history, the Japanese have consistently endeavored to define what it means to be Japanese (kokutai) , embracing modernity in concert with tradition. Japanese historiography has viewed radicalism as a reactionary impulse against the western order, expressing an emotional preoccupation with traditional and conservative ... log in or subscribe to read full text