Malayan Women during the Japanese Occupation

Accounts of the Japanese occupation of Malaya and Singapore have portrayed women as war victims, as heroines and as participants in the resistance, but Japanese attitudes towards Malayan women have received little attention. Drawing on archival records, memoirs, newspapers and oral history interviews, this article shows that women, whether they resisted Japanese rule or acquiesced in it, enthusiastically embraced change during the period of war and occupation. Through officially sponsored community organizations, Japanese and local leaders implanted ambitions that led to broader participation of women in Malayan society and politics after the war.