Pedagogy of Democracy: Feminism and the Cold War in the U.S. Occupation of Japan

4. Women, the Cold War, and the Question of Resistance

4 Women, the Cold War, and the Question of Resistance O nFebruary6,1947,FujinMinshuShinbun(Women’sDemocratic Newspaper), the official newspaper of Fujin Minshu Kurabu (Women’s Democratic Club), published a piece, “Nosaka fujin ni kiku, soren no jitsujō (Interview with Mrs. Nosaka: Social Conditions in the Soviet Union).” Nosaka Ryō—once a teacher at a women’s high school, a veteran communist activist from before the war, and wife of Nosaka Sanzō—had just returned to Japan. Along with several other women, she had been invited to discuss women’s lives in the Soviet Union, where she had lived for seventeen years. Conducted by the newspaper’s chief editor, Matsuoka Yōko, the interview was premised on a gendered Cold War rivalry that assumed that the “rationalization of domestic labor” and “conditions at the work place” were as advanced in the Soviet Union as in the United States. Soviet women’s lives could provide examples for Japanese working women, who struggled daily to build a new, democratic society in postwar Japan. Nosaka and the other participants covered a wide range of topics that reflected postwar social conditions in Japan: high unemployment, enormous inflation, spiraling commodity prices, severe housing and food shortages, and women’s economic displacement. Factories were bombed out, and even at those that were still operational, production was halted because of the shortage of raw materials. Far from sufficient to begin with, over the course of the first nine months following the surrender, 122 / Chapter 4 government rations deteriorated both in quantity and quality. Malnutrition became widespread, and some people starved to death. Illegal economic activities, such as black-marketeering and prostitution, began to proliferate. The situation for women was especially grim. Many working women were subject to governmental and industrial demobilization. Like their American counterparts, those who had been recruited to replace male workers during the war were now being pushed out to accommodate men returning from the war front and the former colonies. As early as December 1945, the cabinet was already directing female workers to return home as a way of solving the unemployment problem; this was just the beginning of the dismissal of female workers, which continued throughout the occupation period. In the interview, Nosaka painted an ideal picture of Soviet women’s lives, in stark contrast to the difficult conditions Japanese women confronted under the U.S. occupation. In the Soviet Union, there was no discrimination against women in the workplace. Gender equality in wages and job opportunities was guaranteed, and if they possessed superior skills, women workers could even earn more than their male counterparts. Since all women worked outside the home, there were no “pure housewives” in the Soviet Union. Workers—both men and women—enjoyed their lives, combining their work life with cultural and educational activities. Food was plentiful, and distributed to all through an efficient ration system. A “free market” was also available, providing additional food items at reasonable prices. Day care was easily accessible, allowing mothers to enjoy life outside the confines of home and family. The livelihoods of women widowed during the war were protected by the state, and since unemployment was nonexistent, there was no prostitution, legal or illegal. The explanation for the ideal state of women’s lives in the Soviet Union, Nosaka pointed out, could be found in the marvelous statesmanship of its leader, Joseph Stalin, whose commitment to the people of the nation was firm and unwavering. People’s welfare, rather than profit making, came first, as shown by the first major postwar state initiative: the construction of factories and housing. What a great contrast the Soviet system provided to capitalism, where people’s lives were merely a secondary concern! It was no wonder that people in the Soviet Union had an abiding faith, respect, and admiration for their leader. In the Soviet Union, “Minna Stārin ga daisuki desu (Everybody loves Stalin),” Nosaka emphasized. In occupied Japan, where Douglas MacArthur and his initiative in women’s liberation were widely celebrated, Nosaka made a point of praising Stalin’s statesmanship and the benefits it bestowed on women. Years before the Nixon–Krushchev kitchen debate, occupied Japan became a site of gendered Cold War rivalry where American and Soviet visions of women’s emancipation competed against each other.1 The contestatory nature of this interview becomes all the more obvious considering its timing. The interview took place in January 1947, when Women...