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xvii introduction The early 1990s were often described as onna no jidai or “the era of women.” The implication was that women in Japan had not only attained a large measure of equality in a highly affluent society and could exercise freedom in choosing from a variety of options in their pursuit of a fulfilling life, but also that as a result they enjoyed happier, fuller, and more balanced lives than their male counterparts who were tied exclusively to their work. Support for this notion could be seen in the significant strides made by women in securing greater rights and opportunities in the home, workplace , schools, and the political field, particularly in the decade following the United Nation’s International Women’s Year in 1975. The passage of the Equal Employment Opportunity Law (EEOL) in 1985 opened up the previously all-male career track within Japanese companies to universityeducated women. The Child Care Leave Law of 1991 required companies to grant unpaid leave to either parent until the child reached the age of one. A number of professions and occupations previously open only to men now admitted women, many of whom were coming from four-year universities , and were perhaps affected by the growth of women’s studies courses on many college campuses. Local, regional, and national female politicians increased in numbers and visibility. And married women, including those with children, entered the labor force, and also participated in a wide range of activities outside the traditional confines of the home, including adult learning and community-related programs, volunteer work, and environmental , political, and peace movements. While these were tentative steps, the climate seemed charged with optimism. There seemed to be no end to women’s increasing ascendance. Twenty years later, the picture is less rosy, for there is little progress to be seen. Instead one sees regression in aspects of Japanese women’s lives. A number of simple facts tell the story. First, the United Nations Develop- xviii ment Programme’s Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM), which rates the extent to which women participate in economic and political life by assuming positions of leadership and policy-making, reported that, in 2008, Japan’s ranking was fifty-eighth out of 108 nations. Further, Japan’s ranking on the GEM has shown little improvement over the past twenty years. Other statistics reveal that women occupy only 10 percent of managerial posts, in contrast to women in the US and many European countries, where the figure is 30 to 40 percent. The proportion of seats in the Lower House of the National Diet (legislature) occupied by women in 2010 was just 11 percent (fifty-four out of 480 seats), while in the Upper House the figure was 18 percent (forty-four out of 242 seats). The paucity of women in policy-making positions may be a significant factor impeding national progress. If more women were in positions of national influence, they might provide fresh perspectives on policies relating to the economy, with special attention to employment, social welfare, and social security, as is the case with the two politicians profiled in part VII, “Feminism and Political Power.” They might also move the nation forward toward gender equality. Another negative development during recent years has been the growing poverty of women, treated in chapter 18, “Employment and Poverty” by Mami Nakano. The Japanese economy, which remained in recession for a decade starting in 1990, has taken a dramatic turn for the worse after the global economic downturn that began in 2008. The consequences as seen in salary reductions, bankruptcies among many smaller-sized companies , worker layoffs, and replacement of regular employees by non-regular (temporary, contract, and part-time) workers, together with reductions in government spending on health and social services and the deregulation of certain employment practices, have all wrought increasing hardship on many Japanese. The expressions “waakingu poa” (working poor), “hinkon” (poverty), and “kakusa shakai” (social disparity) have entered the popular lexicon and replaced the formerly popular perception (which may have been inaccurate to begin with) that Japan was a more or less egalitarian society in which the majority of people belonged to the middle class. Income inequality and relative poverty among the working-age population as a whole has risen to the point where it is now above the average found among the thirty member countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD 2006, 2008). But the situation for women—who occupy a more vulnerable position to begin...

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