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Risutora: the Impact of Globalization and Restructuring Upon Women in the Japanese Workforce

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Risutora: the Impact of Globalization and Restructuring Upon Women in the Japanese Workforce • Risutora: The Impact of Globalization and Restructuring upon Women in the Japanese workforce A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Political Economy Research Centre Faculty of Social Sciences Beverley Bishop January 2003 Abstract Risutora: The Impact of Globalization and Restructuring upon Women in the Japanese Workforce This thesis is an analysis of the relationship between gender and globalization in one specific national context: Japan. Japan's position as an affluent, industrialized liberal democracy, with a distinctive model of capitalism, means that Japanese women's experiences of globalization differ from those of women both elsewhere in Asia, and in other First World countries. The actions of the Japanese state and Japanese companies have been instrumental in the globalization of production, which is now having reCiprocal effects upon the Japanese national model of capitalism. In response to global economic change, the Japanese model of capitalism is being intentionally restructured through company practice and legal change. This restructuring (risutora) impacts differently upon men and women, as the liberalizing processes associated with globalization interact with specific local institutions, including the ideal of the three generation family and the position of women in the Japanese national model of capitalism. After an analysis of the mainstream literature about globalization, the state and historical institutionalism and feminist literature about gender and globalization, the thesis demonstrates that the complex trends associated with globalization have produced pressures for two kinds of, ostensibly contradictory, employment reforms in Japan. There are pressures for labour market deregulation, to increase the international competitiveness of Japanese production. There are also pressures for the 're'-regulation of labour to establish a prinCiple of sexual equality at work. The deregulation of employment, including the removel of sex-specific protective legislation, has made it increasingly difficult for many women to pursue full-time careers. A detailed examination of the impact of the Equal Employment Opportunities Law (EEOL) shows that this legislation has led to the formalization of the gender-based segregation of regular workers, and encouraged employers to employ an increasing proportion of women in non-regular pOSitions. Nevertheless, social and political changes, which are also associated with globalization, are leading an increasing number of women to seek higher status careers or longer tenure in the workforce. These changes are also providing campaigners for women's labour rights with new opportunities for effective action, as this thesis demonstrates, using a case study of an activist group. Notes on Citation Style 1) Where the full names of Japanese individuals are cited in this thesis, in accordance with Japanese convention, the given name is written before the family name. 2) Where websites are quoted in-text, only the date and author are given. Instead of page numbers, website addresses can be found in the bibliography. Summary Table of Contents Full Table of Contents iii - vii List of abbreviations viii-ix Glossary of Japanese Terms x-xi List of Tables and Figures xii Acknowledgements xiii-xiv INTRODUCTION Chapter One: Aims, Methodology and Structure of Thesis 1 -20 PART ONE: ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK Chapter Two: Globalization, the State and Historical Institutionalism 21 - 61 Chapter Three: Gender and Globalization: A Critical Review 62 -100 PART TWO: BACKGROUND TO THE ANALYSIS Chapter Four: The Japanese Model of Capitalism and the Globalization Of Japane,se Production 103 - 146 Chapter Five: Women Workers in the Post-War Model of Capitalism in Japan: Continuity and Change 147 - 181 PART THREE: THE IMPACT OF GLOBALIZATION AND RETRUCTURING ON WOMEN WORKING IN JAPAN Chapter Six: Re-Regulation, Restructuring and Women in the Regular Workforce 182 - 228 Chapter Seven: Deregulation, Restructuring and Women Working in Non-Regular Positions 229 - 269 Chapter Eight: Globalization and Women's Activism in Japan 270- 300 CONCLUSION Chapter Nine: Conclusions and Discussion 301-314 BIBLIOGRAPHY 315-349 Appendix A Details of 1996n Pilot Survey 350-357 Appendix B Interviews with working women 358 Appendix C Elite Interviews 359 . '. ii Full Table of Contents Full table of contents iii-vii List of abbreviations viii-ix Glossary of Japanese Terms x-xi List of Tables and Figures xii Acknowledgements xiii-xiv INTRODUCTION Chapter One: Aims, Methodology and Structure of Thesis 1.0 Introduction 2 1.1 Context 3 1.2. Central Aims of Thesis 6 1.3 Methodology 7 1.4 Organization of Thesis 13 1.5 Summary 20 PART ONE: ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK ChapterTwo: Globalization, the State and Historical Institutionalism 2.0 Introduction 22 2.1 Globalization 24 Is globalization really happening 32 The hyperglobalization thesis 33 The sceptical thesis 36 The transformationalist thesis 43 2.2 The State 46 The declining power of the state 46 The 'myth of the powerless state' 49 The transformation of the state 51 2.3 Historical Institutionalism 57 2.4 Conclusion 61 111 Chapter Three: Gender and Globalization: A Critical Review 3.0 Introduction 63 3.1 Macro-level feminist analyses of globalization 67 Neo-liberal economic globalization 68 The discourse of globalization 71 3.2 The impact of globalization 73 The feminization of waged work 74 Women's reproductive work 80 Globalization and female migrant workers 81 Globalization and difference 83 The interaction of global and local forces 84 3.3 Women's Activism 87 Globalization and the women's movement 87 Sites of activism 92 Modes of response 96 3.4 Conclusion 99 PART TWO: BACKGROUND TO THE ANALYSIS Chapter Four: The Japanese Model of Capitalism and the Globalization Of Japanese Production 4.0 Introduction 104 4.1 International political economy and the emergence 105 of the Japanese national model of capitalism 4.2 The globalization of Japanese capital 113 The collapse of the Bretton Woods system 118 The Plaza Accord 120 The end of the Cold War 122 The East Asian financial crisis 125 4.3 The reciprocal effects of globalization upon the Japanese 131 national model of capitalism Increased competition for the Japanese model 132 Liberalization of the Japanese economy 137 Globalization and Japanese migration 143 4.4 Conclusion 144 Chapter Five: Women Workers in the Post-War Model of Capitalism in Japan: Continuity and Change 5.0 Introduction 148 5.1 Women's role in Japanese industrial development 149 5.2 Women's employment and the Japanese national model 152 of capitalism IV The fall in female participation in the workforce 152 Women as peripheral labour force 155 The reciprocal social effects of women's role in the 157 Japanese national model of capitalism 5.3 Women's work in postwar Japan: continuity and change 161 The gendered nature of work 161 Women's tenure in the regular workforce 164 The rise in paato work 168 5.4 The reciprocal effects of globalization on women workers 176 in Japan Liberalization and deregulation 176 Re-regulation 177 Women and migration 178 5.5 Conclusion 180 PART THREE: THE IMPACT OF GLOBALIZATION AND RETRUCTURING ON WOMEN WORKING IN JAPAN Chapter Six: Re-Regulation, Restructuring and Women in the Regular Workforce 6.0 Introduction 183 6.1 The promulation and immediate effects of the EEOL 184 The role of global processes in the promulgation and 185 Revision of the EEOL The impact of the EEOL on attitudes to women's work 189 And sexual harassment 6.2 The persistence and impact of existing institutions 191 Failure to correct for discrimination 192 The repeal of protective legislation 197 The restructuring of the workforce 200 The dual track system 201 The growth of the non-regular workforce 202 6.3 Women in the restructured regular workforce 204 Women's participation in the regular workforce 204 Women and the sogoshoku 206 Women and the ippanshoku 215 Innovations in the tracking system 217 The gyomushoku 218 The comprehensive management track 218 The senmonshoku 218 The image and reality of working for a foreign firm 221 6.4 Participation in the regular workforce and characteristics 224 6.5. Conclusion 226 v Chapter Seven: Deregulation, Restructuring and Women Working in Non-Regular Positions 7.0 Introduction 230 7.1 Deregulation and women's reproductive work 232 7.2 The increased demand for non-regular workers 239 Globalization and the demand for a larger non-regular 239 workforce 7.3 Government policy and the increased demand for female 246 workers The Worker Oispatching Law 246 7.4 The characteristics of non-regular work 248 Part-time work 249 Formally and informally differentiated from 250 regular workers Pay 254 Increased diversification in the part-time workforce 257 Age and gender profile of part-time workers 257 Combination of reproductive work and part-time 259 employment Dispatched work 260 Formally and informally differentiated from 261 regular workers Pay 262 'Oeski"ing' of the dispatched work sector 263 Age and gender profile of dispatched workers 264 Homeworking 266 7.5 Conclusion 268 Chapter Eight: Globalization and Women's Activism in Japan 8.0 Introduction 271 8.1 Women in electoral politics 273 Political representation 274 8.2 Women in trade union politics 283 8.3 Japanese feminist movements 285 Extent and nature of group membership 285 The globalization of women's activism 294 Working Women's Network: An example of an activist 297 group 8.4 Conclusion 299 VI CONCLUSION Chapter Nine: Conclusions and Discussion 9.0 Introduction 302
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