Gender Roles in Japan Essay

Throughout time, the role that Women had in the early twentieth century to the present has changed drastically and it has changed for the better. Japanese American Women residing in the United States, has experienced the evolution of their culture, tradition, values and their role in society. However though it seems as if there is no time in this ever so rapid society, they still continue to pass down culture and tradition through each generation. Some key terms that are crucial in order to understand the essay are, Issei, or the first generation, Nisei, the second generation ,and Sansei, known as the third generation.Over time the Women slowly moved away form being the average Homemaker and transforming into a respected and valued member of society.

1. Why did Cato object to repealing the Oppian law? What was the basis of his objections?

As mentioned earlier, Miss Sasagawara does possess worthy merits such as being intellectual and refined. However, her merits are disregarded simply because she was different in appearance from the rest. Yamamoto uses Miss Sasagawara’s character to challenge the presupposed notion that people who are different are necessarily not of value and thus unable to contribute positively to society. There should not be a belittling attitude taken, such as the reception Miss Sasagawara received when she took upon herself to teach a class of girls ballet, and was the only adult rewarded with a bath towel, an intimate gift that she had to open in front of the audience, bearing in mind that this very act could possibly be seen as humiliating based on traditional conservative Japanese culture.

Within chinese society, this meant that the ideals for a women were strictly tied to their role within the family home, and specifically the inner chamber. The prevalence of this model of feminine behavior is backed by the many writings directed toward the instruction of women. One of these is written by Song Ruozhao, and her Analectics for Women became a text of rules to aspire to within the Tang dynasty (SEAT, 415). This writing emphasises the role of women in maintaining the family, and the shame associated with “the ways of lazy women” (p. 419). In actuality, it is unlikely that this perfect female ideal could ever be achieved. This did not mean that women did not try, but it can be assumed that this would have been more common for those of the elite classes. For those women who were of lesser birth, it is probable that they would have had more flexibility with the gender roles, as their labor would have been needed to supplement with tasks that were seen as traditionally masculine, such as in

In society, women are often recognized as being the weakest and dependent gender while men are the most powerful. In Ihara Saikaku’s novel From Life of a Sensuous Women, he challenged the views on women by society and represented women as strong and powerful individuals. The novel was made of short stories where women used their sexuality to their advantage and to gain power over men. The women also did not follow the responsibility that society believes they should adhere to, such as marrying a man, having kids, and being the housewife who cooks, cleans and takes care of her family while her husband goes about his job. Instead, they lived with a loosed sexuality and had several lovers, which was not considered as to what the traditional women do. In addition to not being a housewife, the women had the ability to play sports and be good at them. These characteristics that were given to women challenged society and what they believe the ordinary women should be like. In From Life of a sensuous Woman, Saikaku showed how women might use the power of sexuality to overpower men, managed to question the traditional view of women as the compliant housewife, and challenged the assumptions of females as the weaker gender.

8. In what different ways did Japanese and Korean women experience the pressures of Confucian orthodoxy?

The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka provides an interesting perspective to the American experience through the eye of Japanese women around the time of World War 2. The author uses a number of unique writing techniques which originally confused me, but once accustomed created an immersive and intimate reading experience. Otsuka also inserts a number of metaphors and symbols throughout the novel with various possibilities for explanation depending on the opinion of the reader.

The stereotypical woman was expected to serve all men, especially her husband. Being that woman's rights were extremely restricted, women were susceptible to losing ownership of their wages and property, especially once they were married.

Therefore, because of women's role as child-bearers, women in the Heian times were considered to have quite an important role to play in politics. As Richard Bowring puts it, women were regarded as ‘vital pawns', where their purpose was to deliver a boy to inherit the power and legacy of the family 8. In this sense, the Empress has a large amount of power. However, regardless of a women's position, there is always a male with a higher position – her father, the emperor etc. Even so, this is not to say that men are not dependent on women. This inescapable cycle of life and men's dependency on women is what grants women their power within the court.

Western clothing for women truly made its mark in Japan after World War II. The women began wearing Western-style dresses, because they were less expensive and easier to care for than kimonos (The World Book Encyclopedia [J], 48)

During this time Japanese society looked down on Japanese women as useless and helpless. Women under samurais had to follow strict household rules as to those who were poor had to work in the public or become a Geisha. They had to work most of the day on their knees. They had to make sure the house was clean every day and had to maintain smile (Modern Butterfly). Japanese women were supposed to be attentive to their husbands when he is home.

In the essentially dual religious system in Japan, ideologies and traditions play a heavy role in the everyday life of the Japanese people. Shintoism and Buddhism intertwine and complement themselves in Japanese culture, despite Buddhism coming in from mainland Asia. A particularly powerful idea from Buddhism is mono no aware, the realization and acknowledgment of the impermanence and its place in the world. This idea that nothing stays the same forever manifests itself heavily in Japanese literature, whether in personal writings or fictional works. Despite spanning hundreds of years, each work was shaped by and include manifestations of mono no aware. I intend to underline and pinpoint instances that mono no aware is influencing these works, and discuss similarities and differences between them. In this paper, I have three works that I will explore, each one corresponding to a different time period before the pre-industrial revolution; The Diary of Lady Murasaki comes from the classical period, Essays in Idleness from the medieval, and the immensely popular play Chushingura from the pre-modern era.

Gender roles and the rights of women in society are fundamentally the same in 18th century Europe as in Japan at the turn of the century. In both societies women are looked down upon as the weaker counterparts of men; useful only for improving the lives of men. Because society believes women only live to improve the lives of men they feel that women don’t need to be educated, they don’t need to own property, and that women should suit the taste and needs of men. The idea that women are lesser than men in society and don’t deserve the same privileges and rights shaped the role of women in Europe and Japan. Women in Japan and Europe are forced to rely on men because they are

In addition, gender role is significant in Japan. After the World War II, women have equal legal right with men. Japanese women start to go to college and get jobs. However, in traditional Japan culture, when women married, they become a housewife. Japanese women take care their family and listen to the husband. The husband become a financial support in the

A famous Japanese writer Ihara Saikaku, born in 1642, was a son of a wealthy merchant in Osaka. He had a wife and three kids, one of which was blind and in addition to taking care of his family, he learned to write haikai poetry and comics at a young age. Since his wife died at a young age, he became adventurous as “he traveled extensively writing about the various parts of the country” (Rollins, para.4). One of his first novels is called Koshoku Ichidai Otoko in 1682, which led to Saikaku becoming the first Japanese writer able to reflect the life of the modern city Japan and how he supported equality.