Gender Equity Policies in Higher Education in Japan
Sanae Kawana
BA, Hokusei Gakuen University, Japan MBus (Research), Queensland University of Technology
A thesis submitted in fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of PhD through the Centre for Learning Innovation, Faculty of Education,
Queensland University of Technology
2010
Principal Supervisor: Dr. Bruce Burnett Associate Supervisor: Associate Professor Sandra Taylor Associate Supervisor: Professor Susan Danby External Supervisor: Professor Harumi Sasatani
Keywords
power, gender, discourses, gender equity policies, feminists’ activities, higher education, Japan
iii
Abstract
In a similar fashion to many western countries, the political context of Japan has been transformed since the 1975 UN World Conference on Women, which eventually led to the establishment of the Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society in Japan in 1999.
The Basic Law sets out a series of general guidelines across every field of society, including education. This trajectory policy research study targets gender issues in
Japanese higher education and follows the development of the Basic Law and, in particular, how it has been interpreted by bureaucrats and implemented within the field of higher education.
This feminist policy research study examines Japanese power relationships within the field of gender and identifies gender discourses embedded within Japanese gender equity policy documents. The study documents the experiences of, and strategies used by, Japanese feminists in relation to gender equity policies in education. Drawing on critical feminist theory and feminist critical discourse theory, the study explores the relationship between gender discourses and social practices and analyses how unequal gender relations have been sustained through the implementation of Japanese gender equity policy.
Feminist critical policy analysis and feminist critical discourse analysis have been used to examine data collected through interviews with key players, including policy makers and policy administrators from the national government and higher education
v institutions offering teacher education courses. The study also scrutinises the minutes of government meetings, and other relevant policy documents.
The study highlights the struggles between policy makers in the government and bureaucracy, and feminist educators working for change. Following an anti-feminist backlash, feminist discourses in the original policy documents were weakened or marginalised in revisions, ultimately weakening the impact of the Basic Law in the higher education institutions. The following four key findings are presented within the research: 1) tracking of the original feminist teachers’ movement that existed just prior to the development of the Basic Law in 1999; 2) the formation of the Basic Law, and how the policy resulted in a weakening of the main tenets of women’s policy from a feminist perspective; 3) the problematic manner in which the Basic Law was interpreted at the bureaucratic level; and 4) the limited impact of the Basic Law on higher education and the strategies and struggles of feminist scholars in reaction to this law.
vi Table of Contents
Keywords ...... iii
Abstract ...... v
Table of Contents ...... vii
List of figures and tables ...... xii
Grant awarded ...... xiv
List of abbreviations ...... xv
Romanised Japanese words ...... xvii
Statement of original authorship ...... xviii
Acknowledgements ...... xix
Chapter One: Exploring the Impact of Gender Equity Policy on Higher Education in Japan ...... 1 Background to the study: Gender equity and gender equality in the Japanese context ...... 2 The enactment of the Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society and gender issues in Japanese higher education ...... 4 The slow progress in implementation of gender equity policies in teacher education in universities ...... 6 Research problem ...... 11 Research questions ...... 14 Theoretical approach ...... 14 Research methods and analysis ...... 15 Significance of the study ...... 16 Thesis outline ...... 18
Chapter Two: Gender Equity in Japan—Literature Review ...... 23 Background to the development of gender equity in Japan ...... 23 The women’s movement in Japan ...... 23 Drafting of gender equality elements in the Japanese Constitution: The hidden story ...... 25
vii The chronology of Japanese gender equity movements from the post war, 1970s to 2000 ...... 29 The synchronicity of gender equity movements from the 1970s to 2000 between western countries and Japan ...... 36 The emergence of the gender equity movement ...... 38 Process of development of policies on ‘gender equality’ ...... 38 Implementation of gender equity policy: The administrative structure for implementing the gender equity policy ...... 43 The Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society ...... 45 ‘Femocrats’ in the Office of Gender Equality ...... 48 Gender equity policy in education ...... 49 Background to gender equality education in schools ...... 49 Gender equity policy in higher education ...... 51 Gender studies in higher education ...... 53 Sexual harassment issues ...... 59 Summary ...... 64
Chapter Three: Gender and Power Relations—Conceptual Framework ...... 67 Theorising gender ...... 67 Gender in the context in Japan ...... 68 Gender relations ...... 70 Gender order ...... 71 Gender regime ...... 71 Gender and power ...... 73 Patriarchy ...... 73 Hegemony in gender relations ...... 76 Resistance in gender relations ...... 78 Discourse ...... 79 Discourse, language and power ...... 79 Gender discourses ...... 82 Feminist discourses and patriarchal discourses ...... 83 Summary ...... 86
Chapter Four: Analysing Gender and Power Relations—Methodology and Research Design ...... 89 Feminist critical policy research ...... 90
viii Feminist research ...... 90 Combination with critical policy research ...... 92 The researcher’s feminist standpoint ...... 94 Research methods...... 96 Research sites ...... 96 Document collection ...... 98 Interview data ...... 100 Interview participants ...... 104 Semi-structured interviews...... 105 Interview questions ...... 106 The relationship between researcher and the researched ...... 107 Feminist critical policy analysis (FCPA) ...... 110 Feminist critical discourse analysis ...... 111 The process of analysis ...... 113 Validity and reliability ...... 116 Ethics ...... 121 Summary ...... 122
Chapter Five: Context for Policy Formulation: Gender and Teacher Education Policy in Japan—Feminist Teachers Organising for Change ...... 124 The beginning was like a ripple ...... 127 Strategies to expand the movement...... 131 1. Building support ...... 131 2. Developing a position paper...... 135 3. Lobbying key policy makers and committees ...... 137 Further developments ...... 143 The decline of the Group...... 148 Summary ...... 151
Chapter Six: Formulation of Policy: Gender and Power in the Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society, Japan ...... 154 Background to the development of the Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society .. 156 Gender and power in the Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society ...... 162 Focusing on the gender roles of women ...... 166 Gender discrimination and human rights ...... 171 Gender equality (men and women) ...... 181
ix Gender equality and the discourse of economic need ...... 186 Gender sensitive perspectives ...... 190 Summary ...... 192
Chapter Seven: From Policy to Bureaucracy: Gender Equity on Education in Bureaucracy ...... 195 The Senior Coordinator of Women’s Policies in Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) ...... 196 Policies in MEXT ...... 198 The organisational culture of MEXT ...... 201 The backlash against the revised Basic Plans for Gender Equality ...... 208 References to gender eliminated from the Basic Plan for Gender Equality ..... 218 Summary ...... 238
Chapter Eight: From Bureaucracy to Higher Education—The Impact of Gender Equity Policies in Higher Education ...... 242 Changes in university administration ...... 246 National universities ...... 246 Private universities ...... 261 Preventing sexual harassment in universities ...... 273 The recognition of sexual harassment in Japan ...... 273 Educating staff ...... 274 A case study of a sexual harassment prevention committee ...... 276 Sexual harassment in teacher education courses ...... 281 Summary ...... 283
Chapter Nine: Conclusion ...... 287 Japanese feminists’ activities in the field of education ...... 289 The objectives of the Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society ...... 291 What happened to the policy as it moved between sectors? ...... 293 The impact of gender policy at level of the university ...... 295 The sexual harassment prevention system as a driving force of change ...... 299 Implications for policy and practice ...... 301 Further research ...... 303 Summary ...... 305
Appendices ...... 307
x Appendix A: Ethical approval certificate ...... 309 Appendix B: Information on Consent (English and Japanese versions) ...... 311 Appendix C: The Interviews ...... 315 Questions ...... 315 Interviewees—assigned numbers and institutions ...... 316 Appendix D: Certificate of Endorsement of Translation and translated data ...... 319 Translated data with the original Japanese data ...... 320 English version and original Japanese version of policy documents ...... 349 Appendix E: Published article on electronic journal of contemporary Japanese studies/September 20, 2009 (http://www.japanesestudies.org.uk/articles/2009/Kawana.html) ...... 369
References ...... 387
xi List of figures and tables
Figure 2.1: National Machinery for the Promotion of the Formation of a Gender-equal Society ...... 45 Figure 2.2: Change in the proportion of male and female teachers in higher education ...... 57 Figure 3.1: Conceptual framework ...... 86 Figure 6.1: Documents involved in the development of the Basic Law ...... 162
Table 2.1: Progress in the prevention of sexual harassment in universities (as of 2004) ...... 60 Table 4.1: Documents and interviews used in the trajectory study ...... 100 Table 6.1: Provisions and recommendations in source documents ...... 165 Table 7.1: Extract 1—Comparison of the wording of Article 10 of the two Basic Plans ...... 211 Table 7.2: Extract 2—Comparison of the wording of Article 10 of the two Basic Plans ...... 214 Table 7.3: Extract 3—Comparison of the wording of Article 10 of the two Basic Plans ...... 217 Table 8.1: Suggestions by the Japan Association of National Universities: In order to promote gender equality in national universities ...... 248
xii List of publications related to this thesis
Journal article (Refereed)
Kawana, S. (2009). Gender and Teacher Education Policy in Japan: Feminist Teachers Organising for Change [Electronic Version]. Electronic Journal of Contemporary Japanese Studies, unpaged. Retrieved December 20, 2009, from: http://www.japanesestudies.org.uk/articles/2009/Kawana.html
Conference proceedings (Refereed)
Kawana, S. (2005). Gender Equity Policies and Teaching Practices in Teacher Education Programs in Japan. Paper presented at the World Communication Association, Sapporo, Japan.
xiii Grant awarded
Award from Queensland Program for Japanese Language Education Postgraduate
Research Grants—2007 Management Committee, November, 2007.
xiv List of abbreviations
CDA critical discourse analysis
CEDAW Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women
CGE Council for Gender Equality—Danjo kyodosankaku kaigi
DV Domestic violence
EEOL Equal Employment Opportunity Law
GAD Gender and Development
GEI Gender Empowerment Index
GEM Gender Empowerment Measurement
GHQ/SCAP Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers in the General Head Quarters
HEB Higher Education Bureau—Kotokyoikukyoku
ILO International Labour Organisation
IWYLG International Women's Year Liaison Group
JANU Japan Association of National Universities—Kokuritsu daigaku kyokai
LDP Liberal Democratic Party
MEXT Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
MSWC Measures to Support Women’s Challenges
NGO Non Government Organisation
NWEC National Women’s Education Center
OGE Office of Gender Equality
PT Project Team—the “excessive sex education” and “gender-free education” investigation Project Team of the Liberal Democratic Party—Kagekina seikyoiku, jenda furi kyoiu jittai chosa purojekuto chimu
xv SCJ Science Council of Japan
SICBICGE Special Investigative Committee regarding Basic Issues of Council for Gender Equality—Danjo kyodosankaku kaigi kihonmondai senmoniinkai
SICBPGE Ad hoc Special Investigation Committee regarding the Basic Plan for Gender Equality—Danjo kyodosankaku kihonkeikaku ni kansuru senmonchosakai
SISIC the Severance and Influence Special Investigation Committee—Kanshi eikyou senmon chousakai
UNWCW UN World Conference on Women
WCSP Women’s Challenge Support Policy—Josei no kyaria shien shisaku
WCSSP The Women’s Career Shaping Support Project—Josei no kyaria keisei shien puroguramu
WWII World War II
xvi Romanised Japanese words
For romanised Japanese words, the Hepburn system was adopted.
xvii Statement of original authorship
The work contained in this thesis has not been previously submitted to meet the requirements for an award at this or any other higher education institution. To the best of my knowledge and belief, the thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made.
Signature:
______Sanae Kawana
Date: October 10th , 2010
xviii Acknowledgements
I would like first and foremost to acknowledge my supervisors, Dr. Bruce Burnett,
Associate Professor Sandra Taylor and Professor Susan Danby, who began this journey with me about five years ago. I am grateful for their generous, patient and supportive supervision. Their scholarship, rigorous counsel, enduring commitment and friendship to me made this project possible and successful.
I am particularly indebted to my external supervisor Professor Harumi Sasanati,
Hokakido University of Education, who agreed to support me and used her academic network to investigate the situations in higher education in this project. I would sincerely like to thank my editor, Ms. Susan Leggett-Banks, for her professional and wonderful job throughout. Without her supportive engagement, kindness and encouragement as a friend, this project would have been hard to complete.
I also thank the many people who cooperated in this project, especially, those people who kindly agreed to share their precious time for interviewing, and the many other people who helped me with data collection and gave me inspiration. It was enjoyable and stimulating for me to meet and talk with them.
I am grateful to many friends in Brisbane. I would like to express special thanks to
Professor Caroline Hatcher and her husband, Paul, and son, Joshua. They welcomed me as a family member whenever I visited QUT in Brisbane. Caroline helped me not only as a friend but also as an academic critic. I cannot say thank you enough for their warm support: it made me feel positive in going on this long journey. xix Finally, on a personal note, I am most grateful to my partner, Norihito Kawana, for his whole-hearted support. His words “relax and enjoy the study” revitalised me many times. I also owe gratitude to my children, Hirokazu and Ayaka, for their patience and understanding. I appreciate being blessed with such wonderful people.
xx Chapter One: Exploring the Impact of Gender Equity Policy on Higher Education in Japan
This qualitative research study investigated the impact of gender equity policies in higher education in Japan. The research examined the path of the Basic Law for a
Gender-equal Society (1999) and its related policies—which together form the basis for gender equity policy implementation in Japan in the twenty-first century—from its development to its impact on universities, particularly those involved with teacher education—Kyoiku Shokuin Yousei Katei. In studying this critical policy, I investigated universities that offered teacher education because of the important role that teachers play in nurturing next/future generations.
My initial interest in this area came from my reflections on personal experiences as a mother observing classes in elementary schools, middle schools and high schools, and on my experiences as a teacher observing students in higher education. Together, these led me to consider the importance of educating students about gender studies, particularly those students who will be teachers in compulsory education, as they have the opportunity to contribute to a paradigm shift toward change and a gender equal society.
In addition, there was another motivation for my tackling this research: my drive to develop myself academically as a local activist. From the 1990s, I took a community activist role in several gender equity activities organised by the local or national government. This involvement led to my forming, with several other local activists, a women’s group for raising consciousness on gender issues, which organises and runs 1 workshops and lectures in the prefecture. I also belong to academic studying groups on gender issues in Japan. These practices/activities of my everyday life helped me conceptualise the social phenomenon and gave me “the notion of an insider’s sociology” (Smith, 2004, p. 225) as a feminist positioning. Such “insider positioning”
(Smith, 2004, p. 225) as a feminist researcher and a feminist activist gave me an advantage during in-depth interviews with feminist academics.
This introductory chapter discusses the historical and political background to the implementation of gender equity policy in Japan. This is followed by a brief literature review that highlights the significance of research focusing on gender equity issues in
Japanese higher education, particularly in the area of teacher education. The chapter then introduces the research problem and a series of specific research questions. The final section of the chapter briefly introduces the study’s overall theoretical research design and methodology, concluding with an overview of each chapter contained within this thesis.
Background to the study: Gender equity and gender equality in the Japanese context
My own use of the term ‘gender equity’ is based on my understanding of it as a notion for ensuring that “procedures are equitable” (Poiner & Wills, 1991, p. 7). Poiner and
Wills’s (1991) definition of equity focuses on “the criteria for [distribution] and on the fairness of rules governing liberal democratic institutions” (Poiner & Wills, 1991, p.
7). The Japanese government officially explains the goal of gender equality in the
Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society stating that “gender equality aims at achieving genuine equality and developing procedural practices to achieve it between women 2 and men by planting the idea of respecting human rights deeply into society’s soil”
(Prime Minister’s Office Japan, 1998, unpaged). As stated in the Basic Law, the aim of “gender equality [policy] is to develop procedural practices to achieve” gender equality; the basis is that the idea of gender equity is a “procedural notion” relying on
“fairness”. Thus, for a working definition, policies, ordinances, laws, regulations and plans that are implemented in order to achieve gender equality can be called gender equity policies.
However, it is important to note the usage of the term ‘gender equality’ in the
Japanese context. Because the term developed in different historical and political contexts, there are differences between the Japanese and Australian/English meanings of the term ‘gender equality’. Although ‘gender equality’ is the English translation of the term ‘Danjo Kyodosankaku’ used by the Japanese national government in its policy documents, the literal meaning of the Japanese expression is “the equal participation of both men and women”. Unlike the Australian context, the Japanese government does not use the English expression ‘gender equity’ in gender related policy documents, and instead uses the expression ‘gender equality’.
Nevertheless, in this study, I have interpreted and described Japanese policies (such as laws) regarding gender equality as gender equity policies based on the provision titled
“Ideas and Aims of a Gender-equal Society” in the Vision of Gender Equality issued by the Japanese national government in 1996:
The concept of human rights is a universal value shared by the human race, and is the basic idea behind the gender-equal society. All measures must serve to achieve fairness by
3 respecting the human rights of men and women equally in all aspects, and enable each individual to lead his/her life as comfortably as possible. (unpaged)
Also, in the Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society, 1999 (Japanese Government,
1999), gender equal society is defined as that “formation of a society where both women and men shall be given equal opportunities to participate voluntarily in activities in all fields as equal partners in the society”. Thus, as Osawa (2004)—one of the scholars closely involved in forming the process of making the Basic Law for a
Gender-equal Society—argues, ‘Gender Equality—Danjo Kyodosankaku’ is a process to “achieve fairness by respecting the human rights of men and women equally in all aspects” (p. 13). Therefore, in this thesis I use the phrase ‘gender equity’ to refer to those Japanese policies designed to achieve gender equality.
The enactment of the Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society and gender issues in Japanese higher education
Under global pressure to establish gender equity officially, especially following the
World Women’s Conference in Mexico City in 1975, the Japanese Government began implementing a program of gender equity policies. For example, in response to the ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women in 1985,1 the Japanese Government legislated gender-related laws such as the Equal Employment Opportunity Law in 1986. Other laws followed, though they were enacted more slowly, including the Child Care Leave Law in 1992, and the Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society in 1999.
1 Adopted in 1979 by the UN General Assembly.
4 The enactment of the Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society (hereafter the Basic Law) was an epoch-defining development for Japanese society, signalling the beginning of a comprehensive implementation of gender equity policies. It aimed to bring about major social change within Japanese society. The Basic Law provided guidelines to introduce, and operationalise, the idea of gender equality across all fields of society, changing conventional social systems, social customs and social norms. The idea of drawing this sort of attention to gender in all fields of society can be called ‘the mainstreaming of gender perspectives’2, as featured in the UN World Conference on
Women in Beijing in 1995. Since 1999, successive Japanese governments appear to have adopted the position that ‘gender mainstreaming’ might be a breakthrough, a key to solving various social problems facing Japan (including in education), and that it
(gender mainstreaming) could be applied to all areas/forms of policy. For example,
Osawa (2002) cites the “compatibility support system” (p. 199), a gender equity policy that helped women with young children and other dependants to continue their careers, as a measure that should be seen as an attempt to address economic problems caused by the ending of a period of major growth in Japan.
The Basic Law was intended to provide the legal foundation to the implementation of gender equity policies in all fields of society, including work and school contexts.
However, progress with policy implementation has been slow across these fields. For
2According to the Report of the Economic and Social Council for 1997 (UN General Assembly A/52/3), “mainstreaming a gender perspective is the process of assessing the implications for women and men of any planned action, including legislation, policies or programmes, in all areas and at all levels” (United Nations, 18 September 1997).
5 example, the wage differential between men and women remains large in many working environments (Ministry of Health Labour & Welfare, 2003). Wage disparity within the academic sphere is not an exception. There are a number of gender biases within schools, such as the gendered division of labour and the gender imbalance in positions of power and authority within organisations such as higher education institutions and in the choice of subject majors of male and female students. For example, the Basic Survey on Schools in the Fiscal Year of 2007 conducted by the
Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) shows that while more than sixty per cent of female teachers in elementary schools are female, the proportion decreases as education proceeds, and the proportion was less than twenty per cent in universities. This tendency is a continuing phenomenon in Japan arising from a stereotyped gender bias that child care is a women’s professional niche
(Horiuchi, 1999b). Such differences are symptomatic of stereotypical role models and differential expectations in education based on gender (Kimura, 1999; NWEC, 2003).
The slow progress in implementation of gender equity policies in teacher education in universities
In contrast to the Japanese gender equity policies that target the workplace, there has been no similar rapid legislative action taken within the educational sphere. One of the few measures taken in this area (after the ratification of the International
Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women) involved allowing adolescent Japanese students of both genders to study subjects such as home economics and engineering.
6 There are some possible reasons why implementation of gender equality policy in education appears so slow compared with other arenas. One reason for this slow policy implementation may be the non-critical belief of Japanese people in general that gender equality has been achieved because every citizen is equal under the law according to the Constitution of Japan, and is thus treated equally, politically, economically, and socially (Sakai, 2007).
Some researchers (Kimura, 1999; Muramatsu, 2002b) also suggest that a possible reason for the indifference is that, after the 1947 enactment of the Fundamental Law of Education legislating equal opportunity for education for boys and girls, many believed that gender equality had been realised in education. Their analysis is supported by the results of a public opinion survey in 2003 regarding consciousness of gender equality, reported in the Gender Equality White Paper (Gender Equality
Bureau, 2003) issued by the Gender Equality Bureau in the Cabinet Office. This survey found that more than 80 per cent of people of both genders agreed that gender inequality did not exist in the area of school education. The survey found reports of higher rates of gender inequity in family life, workplace, politics, laws and social systems, and social norms or traditions (Gender Equality Bureau, 2003). This finding shows that many people, as well as the national government, are yet to open their eyes to the circumstances of gender discrimination in schools reported by many researchers (Kameda & Tachi, 2001; Mochizuki, Kondo, Mori, & Kasuga, 2005;
Sadker & Sadker, 1994). Such beliefs also seem to be reflected in indifferent attitudes to gender issues and gender related subjects in higher education (Kameda, Kawakami,
& Muramatsu, 1998b; Muramatsu, 2002b).
7 Within the university sector, reports by the National Women’s Education Center
(NWEC, 2003) and studies targeting the organisational climate in higher education
(Kawakami, 2001; Tsujimura, 2004) show that organisational practices in universities remain highly gendered. First, female academics continue to be devalued, a circumstance that greatly impedes the achievement of gender equity in education
(Inoue & Ehara, 1999). In particular, women on staff in Japanese universities, and especially in the specialties of gender studies or women’s studies, are afforded lower status (Nishimura, 1996; Tachi, 2002a). For example, educators responsible for gender-related subjects are often part-time teachers who occupy the lowest position within the institutional hierarchy, and also must endure inadequate working conditions such as one-year contracts with no clear promotional pathway or pay rises.
Further, female educators, along with female students, are sometimes victims of sexual harassment and/or bullying (Ishiguro, 2000).
So, the degree to which Japanese universities are male-centred (Tsujimura, 2004, p.
99) can be observed in that female scholars are not valued within academic society unless they choose paths authorised by male scholars (Ueno, 1999). More specifically, a scholar specialising in gender-related research is more likely to be marginalised than scholars of other established academic disciplines. Moreover, the systemic forms of gender discrimination faced by female scholars are often referred to as individual cases (Tsujimura, 2005); however, as Tsujimura (2005) points out, such problems must be considered as common problems shared across the sector.
8 Despite the current and widespread critique on gender discrimination, the need for gender-related subjects and content has not yet been recognised fully in higher education (Sakamoto, 2003; Uchiumizaki, 1999a). The situation of female scholars and gender related subjects, which include broad socio-cultural subjects that in part introduce both gender and feminist perspectives, in teacher education typically represents marginalised positions. With this background, gender education has not, to date, permeated pre-service teacher education programs within Japanese universities
(Sasatani, 2001). Moreover, most subjects in teacher education do not have a gender sensitive perspective, due predominately to most teacher education classes being taught by males who, in general, are not concerned about gender perspectives
(Sasatani, 2001). Thus, the core subjects of pedagogy and psychology within these courses rarely introduce gender perspectives, resulting in many students becoming teachers without having had any real engagement with gender studies (Sasatani, 2001).
The low status of the female academic staff and students means that women in the academic field remain invisible, and this has allowed the continuation of a system in which women are neither approved of as researchers nor as the subjects of research
(Tachi, 2004).
Gender-related studies are not valued in teacher education and are generally invisible across the Japanese academic context. On the matter of the number of universities offering classes related to women’s studies, Sasatani (2001) indicates that more than half of all gender-related classes were offered only in women’s universities. Also, the
National Women’s Education Center (NWEC, 2002) comments that the increased numbers of subjects were likely to include conventional subjects that offered some
9 gender-related topics, rather than gender studies subjects. Elsewhere, however, women’s studies has become a major focus of doctoral research, such as in the higher education sector in the United States of America. Sakamoto (2003) claims that the promotion of women’s studies in academic disciplines, and its introduction to the curriculum in higher education, means the reconstruction of the whole curriculum, adding that it is typical to broadly include gender-related studies in the curriculum of higher education courses in the United States (Sakamoto, 2003). The reports of
Sasatani, Sakamoto and NWEC showed that systematic institution-level efforts to promote gender conscious environments in Japan have been limited. Thus, both women scholars and gender related subjects have remained in marginalised positions.
Despite the strong demands to include the field of gender studies as a key component of the teacher training curriculum (Uchiumizaki, 1999d), the current situation described above does not seem likely to change under the present schoolteachers’ licensing system. One of the main factors is that the curriculum of teacher education is tightly controlled with a set progression and strict curricula (Kameda et al., 1998b, p.
18), which makes it impossible to introduce gender related subjects as core subjects within teacher education. At present, most gender-related subjects taught in teacher education are electives, or subjects that fall within traditionally enclosed fields such as home economics (Kameda, 2001). Therefore, it is left to the individual efforts of each university to resolve the situation. Further, it is critical to appoint and promote gender-sensitive academics who are able to introduce gender-related subjects to teacher education so as to nurture a future generation of gender-sensitive prospective teachers. In such circumstances, it seems that universities have produced prospective
10 teachers who have, in turn, continued to reproduce a gendered school culture and a gendered curriculum in schools (Mori, 2005; Tachi, 1999).
In summary, the Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society, that was designed to introduce gender equality policy in all fields of Japanese society, has had only slow implementation in the field of education. It appears that Japan is a long way from introducing true gender perspectives into higher education, particularly in terms of the curricula of teacher education courses. It was concluded that one major reason for the slow dissemination of the concept of gender equality is the devaluation of the importance of gender issues; more specifically, women’s issues in Japanese society over all. Such current status in Japan represents the undervaluing of women’s studies and gender related studies as an academic discipline in higher education in Japan
(Sakamoto, 2003). Thus, higher education in Japan continues to function without gender-sensitive perspectives, resulting in the continued reproduction of generation after generation of teachers without sensitivity to gender issues.
Research problem
As briefly described in the previous section, a decade after the enactment of the Basic
Law for a Gender-equal Society (the Basic Law) implementation of gender equity policy in the education arena remained slow. As stated in the previous section, the gendered circumstances in educational sites have been identified by several researchers (Kameda & Tachi, 2001; Mochizuki et al., 2005; Sadker & Sadker, 1994), but those researchers have not yet highlighted the relation to gender equity policies in
Japan. Also, the low awareness of gender in educational sites is identified by
11 Muramatsu (2002) and Sakai (2007), and the marginalised situation of women’s studies, gender studies, and female scholars in higher education has been clarified by several scholars (Sakamoto, 2003; Tachi, 2004; Tsujimura, 2005; Uchiumizaki,
1999a). Nonetheless, the obstacles that have hindered the implementation of gender equity policies in Japan have still not been actively researched.
However, I claim that the situation in higher education needs to be analysed in light of the implementation of gender equity policy in Japan. That is, though gender issues are quite political, in the educational sphere they have been treated simply as problems occurring in the classroom, and have seldom been seen as problems in relation to the implementation of policy. In other words, research on education policy itself is quite limited; in order to understand in depth and investigate the factors which supported and/or impeded the change, research on gender equity policy implementation processes is necessary.
Now that a decade has passed after the enactment of the Basic Law, it is timely to investigate what has happened in relation to this law in terms of educational settings, especially those within higher education. The literature on gender issues in teacher education (Kameda, Kawakami, & Ikegami, 1998a; Kameda et al., 1998b; Kimura,
Nakazawa, & Sakuma, 2006; Muramatsu, 1997a, 1997b; Nihon Kyoiku Shinbun,
1997; Nishimura, 1997; Sasatani, 2001; Uchiumizaki, 1999d) published around the period of the enactment of the Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society in 1999 have not been updated; the recent research on higher education seems to be quite limited. The year 2010 will be the last year of the enforcement of the Basic Plan for Gender
12 Equality, which is the second action plan of the Basic Law. Prior to the third revision of the action plan, it is worth knowing what has happened to the implementation of the
Basic Law.
Qualitative research is needed in order to elucidate the voices and experiences of the persons involved to clarify deeper understanding of the circumstances in higher education (Tachi, 2002b). To date, only a few research projects have focused on higher education (Amano & Saito, 2009; Ando, 2007; Ishiguro, 2000; Kawakami,
2001; Kimoto, 2007; Shibazaki, 2000; Tachi, 2002b; Tsujimura, 2005). Moreover, mostly the research reports for these projects discuss the situation by using statistical data issued by the national government or UN organisations, are from the position of personal accounts or take a theoretical approach. Therefore, I believe that my research using a feminist qualitative approach will uncover different and concrete circumstances based on people’s everyday life experiences and thus provide a different perspective.
The existing research has not uncovered how feminists interacted with or resisted the policy, and how power relations interacted in the process of policymaking, policy administration and policy implementation. Therefore, this study addresses this concern by investigating how feminists intervened in the gender equity policy implementation process, and how power and dominance were exercised. In light of the research background and the research problems, the study poses the following research questions.
13 Research questions
The research questions comprise one overarching question and two related questions.
Main research question:
What happened to gender equity policy in higher education in Japan as it moved from the national to the university levels?
(Question 1):
What were the objectives of the original gender equity policy?
(Question 2):
What were the feminist strategies regarding the development and implementation of gender equity policies?
Theoretical approach
Concepts such as power, hegemony and gender are the foundations used to discuss gender issues raised within this study. Due to gender relations being central to the research, I was drawn toward the theoretical approach used within critical feminist theory. Over the course of the study, written and spoken language became more important in my representation of social phenomena (Locke, 2004). Hence, in this study, I have employed critical discourse theory (Fairclough, 2001b; Lazar, 2007) and feminist critical discourse theory (Lazar, 2005b, 2007), to theorise the relationship between language and social relations, and to develop the analytical framework of the study.
Within the context of this thesis, I focus predominately on two concepts of critical discourse theory: discourse and power in the arena of gender. First, critical discourse
14 theory, as proposed by Fairclough (1989), regards discourse as “language use in speech and writing—as a form of ‘social practice’” (Fairclough & Wodak, 2004, p.
357). Hence, in examining discourse, the dialectical interaction between discourse and social factors, such as gender issues in political documents (i.e., the Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society) and spoken data in interviews, was identified to elucidate power relations in implementing the gender equity policy. Second, critical discourse theory interprets power as central to social practice. In particular, the relationships between language and power in social contexts are the major concern. Importantly, critical discourse theory argues that the relations between discourse and power are linked with social change processes (Fairclough, 2001a). In addition, gendered hegemonic power, or patriarchal power, generally connects authority with masculinity (Connell, 1987, p. 109). In summary, the two conceptual frameworks of feminist theory and critical discourse theory described above are critical in investigating the central question of how gender equity policies have been interpreted and subsequently implemented in Japanese higher education.
Research methods and analysis
As research sites in this qualitative research, I chose a national bureau of policy development and four universities offering teacher education courses. I investigated two national and two private universities, one of each was located in Sapporo (the capital of Hokkaido, Japan’s northern most prefecture) and one of each in Tokyo (the national capital). Pseudonyms are used for the university names within the thesis so as to protect the identity of the institution and the study’s informants.
15 The data collected for this research comprised policy texts, documentation such as the minutes of the ad hoc committees related to the Basic Law, and interviews with key stakeholders including policy makers, policy administrators at national level, and university staff responsible for gender equity policy implementation in universities. I conducted semi-structured, in-depth interviews with male and female academic staff involved in gender equity policy implementation in order to elucidate what was happening in the institutions, including universities, where the next generation—including prospective teachers—are educated.
In order to investigate gender discourses and power relations in policy texts and spoken language, the data were analysed using critical feminist theory (Connell, 1987,
2002; Lazar, 2005b; Taylor, 2004a) and critical policy analysis (Ball, 1990; Marshall,
1997b; Taylor, 1997). Critical discourse theory (Fairclough, 1992; Fairclough &
Wodak, 2004; Lazar, 2005b, 2007; Taylor, 2004b; Thomas, 2005) combined with feminist theory, which is useful for the analysis of the relations of language and power, was used to analyse selected policy texts.
Significance of the study
Although there are a number of research projects regarding the Basic Law (Akaoka,
Tsutsui, Nagasaka, Nagaoka, & Watanabe, 2000; Ito, 2003; Kashima, 2003; Osawa,
2002; Osawa et al., 2000; Toyoshima, 2008; Tsutsui, 2000a; Ueno & Osawa, 2001), such research is mostly descriptive and quantitative, and uses statistics. No qualitative research studies exploring the implementation of the Basic Law have been identified.
Therefore, first, this feminist critical policy study is significant in terms of its
16 qualitative approach that explored the path from the development of the Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society to its embodiment in the higher education arena. In addition, the study significantly contributes to feminist policy research regarding gender equity policies in educational fields, especially in higher education in Japan.
This research pursued the investigation of the policy implementation comprehensively. By drawing on a feminist qualitative approach, the study traced processes or the trajectory of policy implementation by interviewing key stakeholders both at the national and universities level regarding gender equity policy and practice.
As such, it provides deeper understandings of gender and power relationships among policy administrators in national government and academic institutions while, at the same time, revealing political and legal forces that influence the implementation of gender equity policies.
By focusing on the policy implementation, the findings of this research contribute to the gender and education literature and further the work already done in the area of social change in education by Fujieda and Fujimura-Fanselow (1995), Kameda et al.
(1998b), Sasatani (2001), and Uchiumizaki (1999b). The findings of my research are timely in relation to the previous research studies, in that this study reports on the current gender-equity context a decade after the Basic Law’s implementation. In particular, the findings from this research narrow the focus to problems that have emerged in Japan as the policy progresses from the national government to higher education institutions. This research will highlight principles for improved implementation of gender equity across higher education in Japan.
17 Finally, considering conventional gender related research published in Japan, my theoretical framework focusing on gender, power, and discourse and also the method of analysis using feminist critical discourse theory (Lazar, 2005b, 2007) is significant.
My research contributes not only the knowledge emerging from my findings but also from methodological aspects in doing feminist critical policy research.
Thesis outline
This first chapter has provided a short overview of the research. It discussed the background to the Japanese context of the study showing the slow implementation of gender equity policy, especially in the field of education. This chapter also indicated the low level of attention paid in the arena of higher education and the continuous marginalisation of women’s studies and female academics of gender related fields.
Given this situation, this study aimed at documenting feminists’ struggles in the development and implementation of gender equity policies in education and their impact on higher education. This feminist critical policy study aimed to contribute to further understandings of gender equity policies in higher education. The research questions were presented for these research purposes. The following sections discussed the research design and theoretical approach. Data has been collected using interviews and by examination of policy documents and minutes of meetings and the like. Feminist critical policy analysis was applied to the data in most instances, and critical discourse analysis was used to examine some selected policy documents. The methodological perspective employed critical feminist theory and critical discourse theory. The conceptual framework of power and discourses in relation to gender
18 issues in the Japanese context guided the examination and analysis of written and spoken language data in this trajectory study.
The next chapter, Chapter Two, reviews relevant literature providing the following:
(1) historical background to the development of the idea and policies on gender equality focusing on the arena of education in Japan; (2) gender equity policies in higher education discussing the impact of the Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society on universities; and (3) sexual harassment prevention measures in universities under the influence of a gender equity policy.
Chapter Three describes the conceptual framework used in this study which guided the analytical approach. I first focused on the relationship between gender, social structure and social practice. Then I examined the concept of ‘power’ in light of gender and hegemony. I argued a relation of power with the connection of language and social practice from feminist perspectives. Another central concept in this study was ‘discourse’ as a represented form of social practice. I focused on gender discourse and discussed it in the Japanese context and examined how these concepts were operationalised in investigating power relations and gender relations in higher education in Japan.
Chapter Four outlines the methodology and research design. In this qualitative study,
I used a critical feminist approach to conduct the critical policy research that aimed to examine the power relations in the implementation of gender equity policies. I collected multiple data such as policy documents, minutes of meetings, and in–depth interviews with key players. Then I presented the method of feminist critical policy
19 analysis, drawing on critical feminist theory and critical discourse theory. In addition, the logic and theoretical framework of critical discourse analysis (CDA) was explained, as the method used for selected policy documents.
In the following chapters, the findings are discussed and analysed. First, Chapter Five reports a study dealing with a Japanese feminist teachers’ group that influenced the development of a national education policy document. Using strategies learned from the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995, the feminist teachers’ movement successfully involved teachers from all over Japan within only a few months, and took actions to bring their desired outcome. The qualitative research elucidated the communication strategies of the group from a number of forgotten documents and from interviews with ex-members. This movement seemed to be the first united movement by teachers under the influence of the Fourth World
Conference on Women, which anticipated the forthcoming gender equity policy implementation in universities. Their activities took place in the years leading to the enactment of the Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society.
In Chapter Six, I investigated the development of the Basic Law for a Gender-equal
Society, the fundamental law for implementing gender equity policy in all fields of society including education in Japan. This investigation aimed to answer the first sub-research question of this study: “What were the objectives of the original gender equity policy?” I examined related documents, such as the Vision of Gender Equality, an in-house report submitted to an agency in the Cabinet Office in the process of forming the Basic Law, and the Basic Plan for Gender Equality in order to highlight
20 the embedded gender discourses and themes in the Basic Law. These feminist critical policy analyses used feminist critical discourse theory which enabled the focal points of Japanese gender equity policy to be identified in the statements in the policy documents. The analysis shows how Japanese governments have interpreted the meaning of gender equality and in which direction governments have intended to take citizens toward the gender-equal society.
Chapter Seven explored how gender issues in the area of education, as written into the
Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society which were based on the national government’s interpretation, were discussed at the level of bureaucrats and those drafting policy documents such as the Basic Plan for Gender Equality before implementation in universities. The relationships between language and other socio-cultural elements in social practices, power and gender were examined from the perspective of feminist critical discourse theory. The data uncovered various arguments and discourses behind the drafting of the policy documents related to gender, and directions on gender equality policies that lay behind the government’s official documents. This investigation also revealed some of the ‘growing pains’ of the policy documents resulting from political struggles and conflicts.
The last chapter of analysis, Chapter Eight, focuses on gender equity policy implementation at the university level in two parts. First, I investigated the situation of the establishment of gender equality administrative structures in both national and private universities. Then I investigated another gender equity system in universities, that is, sexual harassment prevention committees, which have been put in place in
21 almost all universities in Japan. I highlighted the raw voices of both male and female teachers at each level from university presidents to teachers practically involved in each project. The data uncovered struggles, efforts and resistance in the actual educational scene. The study unearthed the features of both successful cases and stagnant cases of implementation, which offer some implications for the future direction of gender equity policy in higher education.
Chapter Nine concludes the thesis, providing a summary, discussion of the study’s implications and suggestions for future change and further research.
22 Chapter Two: Gender Equity in Japan—Literature Review
This chapter begins by tracing the women’s movement in Japan from the pre-and post-WWII periods, to the present. It investigates the characteristics of the Japanese feminist movement and introduces the historical background to the idea of gender equality in relation to the Constitution of Japan. Second, this chapter discusses how the idea of gender equality as a policy was brought to Japan after the 1975 UN World
Conference on Women. It explains the significance of the enactment of the Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society in Japan and the administrative structure designed for the implementation of the law, as well as discussing policy administrators. This was the first step in enacting a broad-based gender equity policy across Japan. Finally, the discussion focuses more narrowly on how gender equity policies were introduced in the field of education. This discussion considers the circumstances surrounding gender related studies in higher education, how gender perspectives are argued in higher education, and how the topic of gender was incorporated into teacher education subject material in Japan. I conclude the last section by focusing on sexual harassment prevention policy in higher education in light of gender equity policy.
Background to the development of gender equity in Japan
The women’s movement in Japan
In this section, I examine the improvement in women’s status historically from a women’s movement perspective. The stories of women’s movements and activists can be divided into three phases: pre-war (the first phase), the movement to acquire
23 suffrage up to the end of WWII (the second phase), and the post-war to the contemporary movement (the third phase). As represented by the activities of Shizue
Kato, who was one of the first female members elected to the Diet, the first phase of the women’s movement in Japan was led by a small group of elite women influenced by western education before World War II. Fujieda (1995), in her article titled
“Japan’s First Phase of Feminism”, portrays the life histories of six women from the late 1880s to the early 1900s: Toshiko Kishida, Hideko (later known as Fukuda)
Kageyama, Toyoko Shimizu (later known as Kozai), Suga Kanno, Kajiko Yajima, and Fusae Ichikawa. In her article, Fujieda (1995) details these women’s struggles regarding women’s rights, women’s emancipation, women’s independence, and their experiences of being women’s social work organisers. Fujieda notes that the six women were the product of a Christian education brought from western countries. She argues that Japan’s modernisation was influenced greatly by Christianity from the late
1880s, and that such movements contributed to the establishment of girls’ schools in
Japan. Unlike public higher education that excluded women at that time (Ueno, 2006), the Christian private schools provided English language and western cultural education for young women. Women in the Meiji era (1868–1912) were controlled by both Confucian values (customarily) and the Imperial Meiji Constitution
(legislatively), but the Christian schools promoted a perspective that “modern women
… would have independence of mind” (Fujieda, 1995 , p. 329). Further, Japanese women gained an unexpected gift from two particular western women during the occupation period after World War II, which is highlighted in the next section.
24 Drafting of gender equality elements in the Japanese Constitution: The hidden story
The history of the acquisition of women’s rights runs parallel to the history of the legal embodiment of their rights not only in Japan, but elsewhere as well. The issue of women’s rights was not addressed legislatively in any country until the advent of women’s suffrage in New Zealand in 1864. Conflicts related to women’s rights have been occurring for over a century and, in some countries such as the United States, confrontations about amendments to the constitution regarding the equal rights of people continue today. In Japan, under the Constitution enacted in 1947 after World
War II, Japanese women were first given rights equal to men; that is, in the legal sense women were considered equal to men. Let me briefly trace how equal rights for men and women in Japan were legally assured.
The Japanese Constitution was drawn up during General Douglas McArthur’s tenure as Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers in the GHQ (GHQ/SCAP) following
WWII. Pharr (1987) indicates that the laws regarding women’s equal rights—embodied in the Constitution—were particularly radical ideas at the time, especially given that even the American Declaration of Human Rights and the United
States’ Constitution did not refer to the equal rights of men and women. For example, in some articles in the Japanese Constitution, they are ‘uncompromising’. The 14th and 24th articles are relevant:
Article 14 (1)
All of the people are equal under the law and there shall be no discrimination in political, economic, or social relations because of race, creed, sex, social status, or family origin. 25 Article 24 (1)
Marriage shall be based only on the mutual consent of both sexes and it shall be maintained through mutual cooperation with the equal rights of husband and wife as a basis.
Article 24 (2)
With regard to choice of spouse, property rights, inheritance, choice of domicile, divorce, and other matters pertaining to marriage and the family, laws shall be from the standpoint of individual dignity and the essential equality of the sexes.
Indeed, the idea that “all of the people are equal under the law” was the advent of new times for women after the oppression during the time of the Constitution of the
Empire of Japan that did not guarantee the human rights of women. Why, then, did
GHQ/SCAP introduce ‘radical’ policies regarding women’s rights in Japanese society? Pharr searched various points of view, but could not find any clear rationale, except for the existence of two women working at GHQ (Pharr, 1987). Their specific contributions are the subject of the following discussion.
Students in junior high schools in Japan (including myself in 1970s), were taught in
Japanese History classes that democracy was brought about, not by the Japanese government, but by the GHQ/SCAP who drafted the Constitution of Japan. Ms. Beate
Sirota Gordon, the Japanese-bred daughter of a Russian pianist, drafted the statement on the rights of women. Gordon worked in the Government Section (GS) of
GHQ/SCAP (Doi & Gordon, 1996). Pharr (1987) claims that, upon discovering the potential for the democratisation of Japanese society, GHQ chose Japan as the subject for a large-scale social experiment in democratisation, which could also bring gender policy reformation. This kind of experiment was impossible to conduct in the United
26 States (Koikari, 2002; Pharr, 1987). Pharr also asserts that Gordon’s strong interest in women’s issues was the key ingredient in bringing a democratic constitution, including the assurance of women’s rights, to Japan (Pharr, 1987). Although Gordon socialised mainly with European immigrants and Japanese elites during her ten-year stay in Tokyo, she observed Japanese culture and society and found that Japanese women were oppressed and victimised (Koikari, 2002; Pharr, 1987). Gordon, at that time, was a US citizen (Koikari, 2002) who had worked as a researcher and journalist in the United States. She was fluent in Japanese and had a rich knowledge of Japan.
Gordon was appointed to join the Civil Rights Committee to draft (with two men) a human rights section for the new Japanese constitution; the United States’
Constitution did not include equal rights for women and men at this point. Gordon, a young woman in her early twenties, had seen that Japanese women were marginalised and oppressed; she also knew that Japanese male policy makers and lawyers were not concerned with women’s rights or children’s rights, and that such issues would not be included in other laws such as the Civil Code unless they were written into the
Constitution (Doi & Gordon, 1996).
For many years, Gordon’s part in forming the Constitution of Japan was not known by the public. She had remained silent about her involvement for two reasons: first, because it was top secret for a period of time; and second, due to amendments made to the Constitution in Japan around 1952, Gordon was afraid that her involvement would cast a negative light on the amendments given her age and lack of expertise (Doi &
Gordon, 1996). This history of the Constitution of Japan’s gender equality has been
‘hidden’ for the sixty years since enactment.
27 The second woman involved in the dissemination of gender equality in Japan after
WWII was Lieutenant Ethel J. Weed. She became a core member of those groups supporting gender reformation, and gradually became involved with almost all
GHQ/SCAP projects regarding the issues of Japanese women (Pharr, 1987). Unlike
Gordon, Weed had only learned about Japan in her six months of training before her arrival and she did not speak Japanese. However, she had intelligent Japanese female staff who later became lawyers, teachers, journalists or bureaucrats (Pharr, 1987).
Weed actively contacted Japanese female leaders of women’s movements, including the baroness-turned-women’s activist, Shizue Kato, who was one of the first phase activists who was in jail for opposing the Japanese militarism of the time. Japanese female leaders and Weed played vital roles in organising women’s clubs, and networks. After the approval of women’s suffrage in 1945, in the first election that occurred in 1946, thirty-nine females including Kato were elected and formed the female members club of Congress (Doi & Gordon, 1996; Pharr, 1987). Pharr (1987) concludes that the election of such a large number of female members to Congress, just four months after the acquisition of women’s suffrage, was a sign of the solidarity between Japanese female activists and the women occupiers working in the substructure of GHQ/SCAP. Although Japanese female activists supported the legal embodiment of women’s rights as a background, it cannot be denied that democracy, as played out in equal rights for Japanese women, was brought by compassionate western women and the GHQ/SCAP (American) policy after WWII.
28 The chronology of Japanese gender equity movements from the post war, 1970s to 2000
The second phase of feminism in Japan was the movement to acquire suffrage
(Fujieda, 1995). After a three-year stay in the United States, Fusae Ichikawa opened a branch office of the International Labour Organisation and formed the alliance for
Obtaining Suffrage for Women in Tokyo in 1924 (Fujieda, 1995). She continued the women’s suffrage campaign for sixteen years but, by the outbreak of World War II, support for the movement was beginning to decline. After the war, Ichikawa went to the Prime Minister in an attempt to obtain the women’s right to vote before the commencement of GHQ/SCAP suffrage strategy. However, she was not successful at this time as the advent of women’s suffrage in 1945 came about instead, as a result of the Japanese government’s recognition of GHQ’s policy to give Japanese women the right to vote (Eto, 2008). Ichikawa herself needed to wait until the 1953 election to run for the House of Councillors or the Upper House of the Diet.
The early post-war women’s movement followed a pattern of socialist activity. A few elite female leaders mobilised a large number of ordinary housewives to organise the women’s movement (Eto, 2008). For example, in 1948, Mumeno Oku persuaded hundreds of housewives to organise a nation-wide consumer movement and built the
Housewives Union (Shufu Rengo Kai), and Yoko Matsuoka, Setsuko Hani, and Kikue
Yamakawa established the Democratic League for Childcare (Minshu Fujin Renmei) in 1946 and the Association for Democratic Women (Minshu Fujin Kyokai) in 1947.
Their activities were characterised by their gender roles as housewives and mothers.
29 After the suspension of hostilities in 1953 following the Korean War, Raicho
Hiratsuka established an umbrella organisation called the Federation of Japanese
Women’s Groups (Nihon Fujin Dantai Rengokai) whose purpose was uniting women’s power and realising the importance of peace (Eto, 2008). This women’s peace and anti-war movement was at its peak on the occasion of the revision of the
US–Japan Security Treaty in 1960 (Eto, 2008). Hiratsuka went on to organise Shin
Fujin Kyokai (the Association of New Women) in 1962. The Association was underpinned by the idea of protection of motherhood, with the objectives of improving women’s social status and women’s socio-political rights (Tomida, 2004).
The organisation developed to expand nation wide and became the biggest women’s social movement group, named Shin Nihon Fujin no Kai (New Japan’s Women’s
Association). In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Hiratsuka and Ichikawa united for the anti-war movement, specifically opposing the Vietnam War.
In the 1970s, many countries, including Japan, were experiencing complicated and rapid changes. At this time, a new women’s movement emerged: the western second-wave feminism seemed ideal for launch in Japan. Criticising the post-war socialist-oriented women’s movement, the new women’s movement pursued the raising of consciousness, and women’s rage against their suppression by male domination drove them to join various women’s groups. The women’s groups encouraged awareness of the division of labour, gender discrimination, women’s position as oppressed, and sexual liberation, including the removal of the ban on the sale of contraceptive drugs (the ‘Pill’) (Tanaka, 1995a). In Japan, many feminist groups, called uman ribu (women’s liberation) groups, were organised in the early
30 1970s. However, within this movement, women did not tackle the new ‘left’ agenda of the social labour movement, as they were conservative regarding women’s matters, and women were involved in that movement as assistants to the men (Eto, 2008;
Tanaka, 1995a). One highlight of the women’s movement in this period was a revision of the Eugenic Protection Law, which prohibited abortions for economic reasons. The different feminist groups united to protest against the law and consequently stopped the proposed bill in the Diet in 1974 (Tanaka, 1995a).
Another change within the women’s movement in the 1970s involved global perspectives. Since 1975, Ichikawa had represented the Liaison Committee for the
UN International Women’s Year, a group consisting of forty-eight NGOs. Ichikawa, along with Sumiko Tanaka, both members of the Diet, established an organisation called the International Women’s Year Action Group. The group worked on the areas of discrimination against women in working conditions, education, mass media, government and administration (Tanaka, 1995a). Tanaka’s organisation was one of the most active feminist groups at the time and worked hard to influence government, such as the action plans of the national government and the Tokyo metropolitan government in the 1970s (Tanaka, 1995a). Ichikawa, a leading activist before, during and after WWII, worked hard and dedicated herself to activities for the acquisition of women’s rights until the end of her life in 1981 (Fujieda, 1995). Also, in 1977, Yayori
Matsui, a journalist, established the Asian Woman’s Association (Ajia no Onna-tachi no Kai), aiming to contribute to social justice and human rights. It was later reorganised as the Asia-Japan Women’s Resource Centre (Ajia Josei Shiryo Senta) in
1995 (Eto, 2008).
31 From the 1970s, the feminist movement influenced the development of women’s studies. The establishment of the National Women’s Education Centre, Japan
(NWEC) in 1977 was the very first action by the national government in education after the first UN World Conference on Women in 1975. With the establishment of
NWEC, national policy required that every Japanese city with a population of more than 300,000 establish a women’s centre. Women’s studies lectures were held in these centres (Chan-Tiberghien, 2004). This was the period when the term fujin (married women) was changed to josei (women). For example, “fujin kyoiku (married women’s education) was changed to josei kyoiku (women’s education), and fujin mondai
(married women’s issues) to josei mondai (women’s issues)” (Chan-Tiberghien, 2004, p. 49). The content of fujin kyoiku (married women’s education), which focused on cooking or flower arrangement (Chan-Tiberghien, 2004, p. 49), had changed to include topics related to gender role labour divisions, sexism in education or in the mass media, and women’s oppression in society in joseigaku kyoiku (women’s studies education) (Tanaka, 1995a).
So, in response to the United Nation’s World Plan of Action of the International
Women’s Year and to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in 1985, the national government and its authorities, including NWEC, organised a number of workshops, conferences and lectures on women’s issues.3 In 1979, the Japanese Women’s Studies Association
3 I was chosen to participate in such a NWEC event in 2003; a once in a lifetime, financially fully-supported, ten-day workshop, the International Information Processing Training. Thirty-five women from around the Pacific coast, including myself and three other women from Japan, gathered to
32 (Nihon Josei Gakkai) was set up. Some research academics were pleased to be involved in the women’s movement, while some remained distant. Eto (2008) indicates that women’s liberation activists disliked feminist theory that positions women as ‘outsiders’, thus some activists did not consider it appropriate to tackle feminist scholars. At the same time, feminist scholars wanted to establish an academic discipline without joining the women’s liberation movement that was being criticised by the mass media (p. 124). These two attitudes resulted in ideological gaps between activists and academics at that time (Tanaka, 1995a).
In the 1980s, another issue important to the women’s movement was the enactment of the Equal Employment Opportunity Law (EEOL) in 1986. This occurred immediately after the ratification of CEDAW in 1985. The EEOL bill that the government proposed to the Diet included statements that ignored women’s dual burden caused by male-oriented working conditions in the workplace and women’s traditional domestic responsibility (Tanaka, 1995b). Because of stereotyped gender roles at home, a line graph of the Japanese female workforce as reported by the ILO showed an M-shaped curve (Gender Equality Bureau, 2009). Among leading industrialised countries, Japan is the only country whose rates of women’s workforce participation are based on age groups that still form an M curve, in which the centre of the letter M corresponds to the early thirties age group. The letter M shows the pattern of women leaving their jobs in their early thirties for childbirth and returning to work mainly as part-time
take part in ICT (Information Communication Technology) training, lectures, international conferences, and exchanging so-called women’s information.
33 workers, after a break of several years, when children are a little older (Akaoka et al.,
2000; Brannen & Wilen, 1993; Iwao, 2001).
There was a mixed reaction from women’s groups to the draft Equal Employment
Opportunity Law (EEOL). For example, removing regulations on working conditions, such as limitations on overwork, in Labour Standard Law may support women working in predominantly male domains. On the other hand, the EEOL’s statement could make women’s working condition worse as most women needed to take full responsibility for household matters as well as retaining their paid employment. The government hastily passed the bill in order to ensure domestic conditions met
CEDAW standards (Tanaka, 1995a). However, the EEOL passed in 1986 was ineffective, due to a lack of penalties for violations, and enforcement provisions
(Tanaka, 1995a; Tsutsui, 2000a; Yamaoka, 2000). Responding to the EEOL in 1986, companies produced an indirect discrimination employment system called
Employment System by Courses—Kosuetsu koyoshisutemu, which featured a dual career ladder system and also set women’s low position in workplaces (Asakura,
1999).
Women’s groups in Japan in the 1990s moved to focus on policy making, greatly influenced by the UN Fourth Women’s Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995.
The previous focus on issues of comprehensive cultural values changed to a focus on single, individual issues. This seemed to allow a greater chance that each demand would be met (Tanaka, 1995a). In practice, however, an employment issue was that, while women’s working conditions seemed to be improved, this change was
34 superficial. Tanaka (1995a) comments that the practical changes did not take the form of “transformation”, but rather of “assimilation” (p. 351). Tanaka (1995a) suggests that the seemingly improved conditions for women were a consequence of women assimilating their practices within a male dominant system or culture. In this way, the superficial improvement of the situation of women in society covered up the oppressed women’s situation and made them more invisible within the work place.
The discussion within the women’s movement moved from women’s status and socio-political rights, to socio-cultural and political aspects, and then to changing traditional gender roles and increasing women’s participation in society, where active women played key roles in developing the democracy (Eto, 2008).
The 1995 Beijing conference was particularly influential for the women’s movement in Japan. More than 5,000 people from Japan participated in the conference.
Immediately after the Beijing conference, various women’s groups were organised.
One of the best-known and active groups is the Japan Accountability Caucus for the
Beijing Conference: Pekin JAC. The organisation was established in November, 1995, in the same year as the conference, and aimed to lobby the national government, local governments, politicians, and political parties, and also to propose policies in various fields. The Pekin JAC regards lobbying as a pillar of their activities and their home webpage discusses the motivation for its foundation as follows:
Although many women from Japan participated in the Fourth World Conference for Women in Beijing, then, we were keenly aware of our failure to ask the relevant ministries for explanations about practical policies or to exchange information or undertake negotiations to reflect the opinions of NGOs,
35 compared with foreign countries (JAC for the Beijing Conference., 2006).
The Pekin JAC continues its activities to the present, and currently has an extensive network across Japan, with its head office located in Tokyo. The Pekin JAC, and various other women’s groups that followed the agenda of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action from the 1995 conference, actively intervened in government policy. The next section provides an example of the women’s movements in western countries that influenced government policy after the Beijing conference. These movements have a similar pattern to the gender equity movements in Japan.
The synchronicity of gender equity movements from the 1970s to 2000 between western countries and Japan
The three decades following the UN women’s conference held in 1975 were a time of struggle and resistance for the women’s movements that advanced gender equity policy in education in Australia, Canada and elsewhere. These movements showed some similarities to gender equity movements in Japan. Gaskell and Taylor (2003) highlight active responses and measures taken by women’s groups such as teachers’ unions, federations of women teachers associations, university women’s clubs, and so on, in reaction to the progress or setback of government policy in Australia and
Canada between 1970 to 2000. In Australia, the influence of ‘femocrats’, who were the products of the women’s movement strategy, pushed gender equity policy forward
(Gaskell & Taylor, 2003). In the case of Japan, female feminist bureaucrats, although they were not members of the women’s movement as in the cases of Australia and
Canada, emerged to drive gender equity policy forward from the late 1970s (Bando,
2004). Nonetheless, the definition of femocrats as “feminist bureaucrats who seek to
36 work on behalf of women whatever their position” (Franzway, Court, & Connell,
1989, pp. 133-134) could be applied to the Japanese situation. It appeared that the national government took an initiative to progress gender equity policy, but actual initiatives were led by the collaboration between Japanese femocrats and some feminist scholars in the Council for Gender Equality in drafting policy documents
(Bando, 2004; Osawa, 2002; Yamaguchi, 2006).
In 1975, the same year as the First UN Women’s Conference, both the Australian and
Japanese Ministers for Education coincidentally denied the necessity of gender equity policy in education, saying in Australia that “[they] recognised that there was no discrimination against women in education” (Gaskell & Taylor, 2003, p. 155) and in
Japan that “men and women are originally equal, but it is not necessary for them to do the same things” (Tachi & Kameguchi, 2001, p. 204). The Australian denial ignored the actual gendered school practice in Australia around that time (Porter, 1986). The
Japanese denial indicated the restriction of choices for students due to an essentialism that supported conventional gender categories in daily school activities in Japan, as illustrated by Kaya’s (2002) description of a number of cases that maintain stereotyped gender roles at school. Gaskell and Taylor (2003) further indicate another factor that set back gender equity policy in education in Australia. They point out that girls’ and women’s issues were diluted by paying attention to a more diverse perspective such as that presented by gender issues, which might also emphasise boy’s issues such as the ‘what about the boys?’ debates in 1990s in Australia, which resulted in taking the focus away from the education of girls. There is a similar argument by Japanese feminists that the focus on respect for the human rights of both
37 men and women makes the issue of women’s rights ambiguous (Funahashi, 2007).
The following section addresses the emergence of the gender equity movement.
The emergence of the gender equity movement
As shown in the previous section, the post-war promotion of women’s status was brought to Japan legislatively by a strategy of the American occupation forces assisted by Japanese women activists. Decades later, again under external influence
(of the UNWCW), the Japanese government was pressured to encompass gender equality. This section traces the process of developing the issues of gender equality in policy to the point where they were finally enacted as law in 1999.
Process of development of policies on ‘gender equality’
The 1970s saw a global shift in recognition given to gender equity, and Japan was no exception. Following the First UN World Conference on Women in 1975, the Office of the Prime Minister of Japan established the Office for the Planning and Promoting of Policies relating to Women—Fujinmondai Kikaku Suishin Honbu—in the same year. The Japanese Government did not take any notable action regarding gender equity policy over the following ten years, except for the establishment of the
National Women’s Education Centre (NWEC) in 1977. As briefly introduced previously, the establishment of NWEC, however, had significant impact in promoting women’s studies and integrating networks among female scholars and activists in the Japanese educational field by holding seminars, conferences, workshops, and by collecting and providing information, publishing documents and so on at the national level (NWEC, 2006). The Office for the Planning and Promoting
38 of Policies relating to Women did not have legislative or enforcement powers; this meant that its role was somewhat tenuous and its future insecure (Makihara, 2005).
However, external events prompted change. In 1985, the UN World Conference on
Women in Nairobi instructed each country to form policies for the promotion of women in society. In the same year, corresponding to the ratification of the UN
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women
(CEDAW), the Japanese Government moved rapidly to form and enact laws concerned with gender issues in employment such as the Equal Employment
Opportunity Law 1985, and later the Child Care Leave Law in 1992 (Inoue, 1999;
Yazawa, 1997). The global trend towards encouraging gender equity impelled the development and implementation of gender equality policies in Japan.
In international declarations in the 1990s—for example, the Vienna Declaration and
Platform for Action on Human Rights in 1993, the Cairo Declaration on Population and Development in 1994, the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against
Women in 1994, and the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action in 1995—the importance of incorporating world human rights standards into national educational efforts was strongly emphasised (Chan-Tiberghien, 2004, p. 94). Horiuchi (1999) and
Kameda (2001a) especially pay particular attention to the declaration from the Fourth
UN World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995. This is because gender equality in education was articulated in a provision of the Declaration and Platform for Action.
There had been no statement on gender equality in education before this.
39 Not only did the Declaration clearly introduce the idea of gender equality, it referred many times to the necessity of introducing the idea of gender equality in education
(Horiuchi, 1999; Kameda, 2001a). For example, paragraph 85 of the Beijing
Declaration (Fourth World Conference on Women, 1995) makes recommendations in sections ranging from teacher training programs to female scholars in education and gender studies.
The Beijing Declaration was delivered to governments, educational authorities and educational and academic institutions. It recommended the development of “curricula, textbooks and teaching aids free of gender-based stereotypes for all levels of education, including teacher training” and the development of “training programmes and materials for teachers” (Beijing Declaration, in Fourth UN World Conference on
Women, 1995, unpaged). Further, it encouraged the development of particular
“training programmes and materials for teachers and educators that raise awareness of their own role in the educational process”, and the taking of “actions to ensure that female teachers and professors have the same opportunities and equal status with male teachers and professors” (Beijing Declaration in Fourth UN World Conference on Women, 1995, unpaged). Final recommendations were to “support, [and] develop gender studies, and research at all levels of education” so that such studies will be applied in teacher education (Beijing Declaration in Fourth UN World Conference on
Women, 1995, unpaged). These statements on education influenced Japanese feminist scholars to pay more attentions to gender equity issues in education.
40 The 1995 Beijing conference had an influence on the government even before its opening: the Japanese government had taken significant steps toward evolving gender equity policies a year before the Beijing Conference. In 1994, they established the
Headquarters for the Promotion of Gender Equality—Danjo Kyodosankaku Suishin
Honbu, the Office for Gender Equality—Danjo Kyodosankaku Shitsu, and the
Council for Gender Equality—Danjo Kyodosankaku Shingikai—under the control of the Prime Minister’s Office. The Council for Gender Equality submitted a report to the Prime Minister in 1996. This report titled “Vision of Gender Equality” eventually provided the basis for forming the Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society
(Chan-Tiberghien, 2004; Osawa, 2000; Osawa et al., 2000). This policy document articulates equal rights for men and women as human rights, and sets the goal of achieving a gender equal society “where men and women can jointly participate in activities according to their individual characteristics, without being restricted by
‘gender’, a social and cultural constraint” (Council for Gender Equality, 1996, unpaged). The Council had close connections in forming gender equality policies such as the Action Plan, the Basic Law of Gender Equality, and the Domestic Violence
Prevention Law (National Women Education Center, 2003). In the formation of these policies, the Japanese government had actively formed and/or amended laws that affected what were traditionally thought of as women’s roles, such as child-rearing or caring for elderly people or patients in a family. However, political or legal action on school education issues was not taken.
Within the legislation, the necessity of introducing the idea of gender equality was located in some national policies, such as in the Plan for Gender Equality 2000 (1996),
41 the national Plan of Action for Human Rights Education (1997), and the Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society (1999). The “Plan for Gender Equality 2000” in 1996 featured an awareness of gender equity in higher education (Watanebe, Kanaya, &
Joseigaku Kyoiku Network, 2000). The Plan also promoted education and research regarding gender issues in higher education—and the national government strongly recommended developing and utilising gender studies in education (Plan for Gender
Equality 2000, Article 10). At this moment, gender issues in education seemed to have real policy-level attention.
The Law to Promote Human Rights Education (2000) was under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and
Technology, and required that human rights education be introduced at both national and local levels, but without a focus on gender. Another immediate legislative move was the Law for the Prevention of Spousal Violence and the Protection of Victims, in
2001. Sixteen years after the ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination against Women, Japanese women finally had legal means to counter domestic violence, not previously recognised as a legitimate right.
Kameda (2001a) traced the gender equity events in education and commented that the first stage provided equal access to education for male and female students after
WWII, as provided for by the Fundamental Law for Education, and the second stage recognised the gendered organisational structure in schools. In the third phase, as
Kameda (2001a) noted, gender equal perspectives were finally brought to bear and embodied in curricula: the same knowledge and skills were provided to both male and
42 female students by introducing home economics, a traditional girls’ subject. These mixed gender classes (in home economics, a formerly girls-only subject) became the place in which the idea of gender equality was introduced to teen-aged students
(Nakama & Nakayama, 2000).
Implementation of gender equity policy: The administrative structure for implementing the gender equity policy
The end of the millennium was the busiest period for the formation of a gender equal society in Japan. This section briefly traces the movement toward the establishment of the Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society and the national government administrative structure for its implementation. In November 1998, the Council for Gender Equality submitted a report (toshin) to the Prime Minister's Office indicating the fundamental ideas for forming the Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society. Cabinet approval of the law took less than four months, and was given in February 1999. In June 1999, the
Office for Gender Equality within the Prime Minister’s Office finally established and enacted the Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society.
In 1999, the Basic Plan for Gender Equality was endorsed by the Cabinet. In 2001, the Gender Equality Bureau—Danjo Kyodosankaku Kyoku was placed within the
Cabinet Office—and the founding director of the Office for Gender Equality, Mariko
Bando,4 who was once stationed in Brisbane as a consul general to Queensland, was selected as the first Director General of the Bureau (Ueno & Osawa, 2001). Further, the prescriptions of the former Council for Gender Equality—Danjo Kyodosankaku
4 Ms. Mariko Bando received an honorary doctorate from Queensland University of Technology in
2001.
43 Shingikai—continued to be used at the new Council for Gender Equality of Cabinet
Office (Naikakufu danjo kyodosankaku kaigi). At the top level of the hierarchy, the
Chief Cabinet Secretary acted as chairperson of the Council, which involved 12 ministers (from each ministry or agency) and 12 experts (Ueno & Osawa, 2001). In addition, five expert study groups were organised and they reported to the Council.
After the enactment of the Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society, each prefecture, city, and town began to establish ordinances regarding gender equality gradually and respectively (Ueno & Osawa, 2001). Along with the enactment of the Basic Law, the
Japanese government restructured the network of administrative hierarchies or national machinery,5 in order to implement the law fully across all fields of society.
This restructured machinery is shown in Figure 2.1.
5 The "national machinery" was defined as "a single body or a complex organised system of bodies, often under different authorities, but recognised by the Government as the institution dealing with the promotion of the status of women at the Seminar on National Machinery for Monitoring for Improving the Status of Women held by the Secretariat of the United Nations in 1987. In Japan, the Headquarters for the Promotion of Gender Equality (including the Meeting of Coordinators for Gender Equality), the Council for Gender Equality, and the secretariat assisting the preceding two bodies in their activities are considered the national machinery (Vision of Gender Equality, 1996).
44
Source: (Gender Equality Bureau, 2007)
Figure 2.1: National Machinery for the Promotion of the Formation of a Gender-equal Society
The Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society
Of the several Japanese gender equity policies enacted, some, which include the
Japanese words danjo kyodosankaku, were officially translated using the phrase
45 ‘gender equality’ in English. But in Japanese titles, the government did not use the word for equality, byodo. Instead, in the titles of those policies, the government applied the term danjo kyodosankaku, which literally means ‘joint participation of men and women’. This newly coined phrase danjo kyodosankaku became controversial, and resulted in some confusion for the public (Funahashi, 2007).
A member of the Council for Gender Equality in Japan who developed the draft of the
Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society disclosed the reason for the innovation of the phrase danjo kyodosankaku. The member, Professor Mari Osawa, admitted in a conversation with Professor Chizuko Ueno in 1998, after submitting the report
(toshin) from the Council on Legislation of the Basic Law, that senior officials, politicians and bureaucrats showed a strong resistance to use of the word byodo
(equality) (Ueno & Osawa, 2001):
Ueno: I suspect it [is] a conspiracy, because “Danyo kyodo sankaku” is translated ‘gender equality’ as an official English translation. Even if it was back translated, it ought not to be “Danjo kyodosankaku” at all. Why the title of the law can not be, for example, Danjo Byodo Suishin Ho (the Law for Promotion of Gender Equality) or Danjo Byodo Kihon Ho (the Basic Law for Gender Equality)?
Osawa: Danjo Byodo—“Gender Equality” was not an overwhelmingly catchy title for the people of the business and political world … In consideration of the strong allergy of male bosses to the phrase of gender equality, instead of
using the word of byodo (equality), we have been saying the words ‘gender equal participation in the process of decision making (Danjo Kyodosankaku)’ or ‘gender harmonious
46 coexistence (Danjo Kyosei)’. (Ueno & Osawa, 2001, pp. 16-17)
Osawa (2000) further adds that “conservative politicians are wary of the term danjo byodo because they associate it with equality of outcome, rather than equality of opportunity, and hence with the paraphernalia of ‘Western-style’ feminism, quotas, affirmative action, positive discrimination etc” (Osawa, 2000, p. 6). As shown in the excerpt above, the literal translation of gender equality in Japanese, danjo byodo, became taboo in the political field in Japan (Ueno & Osawa, 2001). However, the
Constitution of Japan, a higher law than the Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society, uses the word of byodo, equality. Ueno strongly questions whether the government really intended to realise a gender equal society in Japan (Ueno & Osawa, 2001).
Some say that it was because of this naming of the law, not using danjo byodo but danjo kyodosankaku, that the Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society (hereafter the
Basic Law) was passed unanimously in a Cabinet meeting (Funahashi, 2007).
In 2000, the effect of the Basic Law took the form of a “Report (toshin) regarding the most important issues in the 21st century related to policies for promotion of the achievement of a gender-equal society (Danjo Kyodosankaku Kihon Keikaku Sakutei ni attateno Kihonteki na Kangaekata—21 Seiki no Juyo Kadai—Toshin)” to the Prime
Minister Yoshiro Mori. At that time, the Council for Gender Equality, within the
Prime Minister’s Office, repeated that “gender equality is the most important issue in the 21st century” and added that “regarding women’s studies and gender related studies in higher education, it is more desirable to help further promotion” (Council of
Gender Equality, 2000, unpaged). This comment by the Council for Gender Equality
47 suggested that the academic field of gender would be developed further under the prodding of the government.
‘Femocrats’ in the Office of Gender Equality
The number of staff within the Office of Gender Equality indicates how much focus the national government gave to gender equity policies. From around the time of the foundation of the Headquarters for the Planning and Promoting of Policies Relating to
Women in 1975, to 1993 when the Council of Gender Equality was established, the number of staff was around five (Makihara, 2005). From 1993 to 1999, the number of staff increased to around 10 or so and remained the same during those seven years, until the establishment of the Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society (Makihara, 2005).
Then, after the establishment of the Gender Equality Bureau in 2001, most of the staff became full-time workers and the number of staff was increased to around thirty-five
(Makihara, 2005). As the number of staff shows, the scale of the organisation for promoting the gender equity policies has made rapid progress in the last decade.
The quality of the staff working for the office also improved. These staff are government employees and are not required to be feminists. However, having traced the careers of those women who rose to head the office, Makihara (2005) claimed that progress through successive positions in the office resulted in these women becoming
‘feminist bureaucrats’, or what in Australia is known as ‘femocrats’ (Makihara, 2005,
2008). Mari Osawa, who has had a close connection with the national government from the development of gender equal policy, mentions that female bureaucrats in their early forties are mostly feminists and that such Japanese feminist bureaucrats are
48 similar to the femocrats in Australia in key policy administration roles within the government (Ueno & Osawa, 2001). The emergence of such femocrats may be credited to women’s studies or to the feminism that prevailed after the 1980s (Osawa,
2001). In fact, the involvement of the female bureaucrats many actually have been influenced by their experiences of gender inequity while working, and this resulted in their devotion to the implementation of gender equity policies at the government level
(Bando, 2004).
Gender equity policy in education
Background to gender equality education in schools
In this section, I discuss gender equity policy in the field of education starting from historical aspects. Two years after the end of World War II, two pieces of legislation in addition to the Constitution of Japan—the Fundamental Law of Education, which is also called the education chapter, and the Law of School Education, which establishes the school education system—were enacted in Japan. The Fundamental
Law of Education detailed the requirement for a co-education system, and this law allowed women to study in higher education programs (Hounoki, 2003). The establishment of this system brought wide public recognition that equality for men and women in education programs was underway in Japan (Tachi & Kameguchi,
2001).
The initial policies legally positioned the co-education system as a realisation of the establishment of gender equality in education. However, although these policies established the idea of equal opportunity in education, they did not assure gender
49 equity in many ways (Tachi, 1999). For example, the gendered environment shaped
‘girls-onnanoko’ in particular ways in Japanese co-education schools (Sato, 1977), just as was the case in the west (Sadker & Sadker, 1994). Further, the curriculum was designed to maintain divided gender roles. For example, as noted above home economics was exclusively taught to girls, while engineering was taught only to boys.
This educational divide that reproduced stereotyped gender roles in the compulsory education curriculum was maintained until the Japanese government showed further recognition of gender equal opportunity in education in the mid 1980s.
As in western countries, the UN World Conferences on Women from 1975 onwards also were influential in Japan. The global moves towards gender equity in education policy exerted external pressure (gaiatsu) on Japanese educational establishments. In
1979, the UN General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). Article 10 of the Convention articulated the elimination of any stereotyped concept of the roles of men and women at all levels and in all forms of education (Hounoki, 1996). One year later, in 1980, the
“UN Women’s Semi-annual World Action Program” proposed to embody UN goals for women in school education, such as through teaching materials and also in teacher education (Hounoki, 1996). Hounoki (1996) pointed out that this UN proposal, which should have been one of the basic elements of educational reform, had not been recognised within the Japanese educational sphere. She indicates that Japanese academic society was not ready to accept the UN proposal at that time, even in terms of the word ‘gender’.
50 It was only in the late 1980s that the concept of gender was finally brought to Japanese education (Ueda, 2003). This acknowledgement of gender as a concept developed the movement of “non-sexism education” and promoted “gender-free education” in schools in Japan (Ueda, 2003, p. 171). As the concept of gender was brought from western countries, the definition of gender is known by a loan word, jenda.6 The introduction of the idea of ‘jenda’ was a landmark event for Japanese society.
Gender equity policy in higher education
This section considers the gender equity policy for higher education from various perspectives, such as the gender related movements in universities and involving gender related subjects and female teachers in universities. In terms of the administrative structure, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and
Technology has jurisdiction over universities and is also the overseer for the Japan
Association of National Universities (JANU—Kokuritsu Daigaku Kyokai). And the
Science Council of Japan was established under jurisdiction of the Prime Minister.
These organisations reflect the key points of the Basic Law for a Gender-equal
Society in their reports (toshin) and promote supportive working environments for female scholars, including the promotion of greater numbers of women to more senior positions. However, the reports contain no indication or statement on gender education itself (Tsujimura, 2005).
6 Loan words are non-Japanese words with no direct translation in Japanese; they are simply adopted into the language and rendered into Japanese syllabic characters.
51 In 2000, a working group on gender equality in JANU reported the circumstances regarding gender equality and provided twelve suggestions, including the distribution and enforcement of gender studies in national universities (Tsujimura, 2005). This report stimulated some national universities, including Tohoku University, Nagoya
University and Tokyo University, to organise in-house committees for gender equality and working groups to promote research, publication, and gender education and consultation (Tsujimura, 2005). In particular, Tohoku University was a front runner in this approach, and the university announced in the media and to the government that:
Tohoku University fully recognises that equal participation in education and research by both males and females is a significant issue in the twenty-first century. Therefore, the University will take positive steps to be a forerunner amongst Japanese universities in this issue. (Tsujimura, 2005, p. 105)
Tohoku University organised symposia in order to extend networks and exchange information (Osawa & Tsujimura, 2005).
At that time, the JANU movement had only just begun, and the Association of Private
Universities of Japan (APUJ) had not yet published any plan (Osawa & Tsujimura,
2005; Tsujimura, 2005). The establishment of such committees remained the individual, autonomous effort of each university. However, Professor Tsujimura
(2005), at Tohoku University, claimed that this approach should be a common project among all universities, public and private. Tsujimura (2005) also implied that, though the Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society and Basic Plan for Gender Equality 2000 encourage the movement towards gender equality, those provisions did not make any
52 concrete suggestions. Tsujimura (2005) highlighted the gender issues in universities, such as the gender discrimination problems that female scholars face but which are often referred to as individual problems. Tsujimura (2005) proposed that such problems should be handled and shared, and be thought of as public common problems. She further proposed that universities in Japan should organise a national network in relation to gender issues to support each other. Gender studies and the position of female scholars are considered in more detail in the following sections.
Gender studies in higher education
In this section, I first discuss how gender related studies have been handled in higher education in Japan. The comparison survey from 1997 to 2000 by the National
Women’s Education Center (2002) showed that the number of higher education institutions, including universities and junior colleges, offering classes related to women’s studies, was 344 institutions out of 1,192 (28.9%), teaching a total of 785 subjects in 1997. In 2000, the number of universities with gender related classes had increased to 609 out of 1223 (49.8%) and the total number of gender subjects rose to
2,456 (NWEC, 2002). This chronological comparison within four years indeed shows the rapid increase in numbers. However, Shibazaki (2000) claims that gender subjects seem to occupy an unstable position. NWEC (2002) also commented that the increased number of subjects might include the conventional subjects, which did not usually cover gender related subjects, but inserted part of a gender perspective. Thus, the NWEC’s analysis implies that the increased numbers did not show a big change and that each university reported something in their respective reports to the government body (NWEC) that highlights practical developments of reality.
53 One of the biggest difficulties in introducing gender related subjects, especially in the teacher education curriculum, is that the curriculum is strongly regulated by the
Teacher’s License Law and there is minimal opportunity to introduce a new theme into the congested curriculum of teacher education (Kameda et al., 1998b). According to the NWEC survey, Tokyo had the largest number of gender related classes when it came to national universities in Japan.
The Hokkaido prefecture recorded the second highest number of classes related to these subjects (Kameda, 2001). Sasatani (2001) also claims that the number of classes showed a rapid increase. She adds, however, that the figure is relatively small when considering the total number of classes that are related to teacher education (Sasatani,
2001). Kameda (2001b) pointed out the rarity of offering gender related subjects in the fields of pedagogy and psychology, showing that they are clustered instead within subjects such as home economics. Kameda (2001b) also found that gender related subjects were mostly optional or elective. As well, the results of Kameda’s survey
(2001b) showed that 40 gender related subjects (24%) were taught in the fields of pedagogy and psychology, 74 subjects (44%) were taught in home economics, and 55 subjects (32%) were taught in other disciplines. Gender related subjects, then, were clearly more likely to be offered within elective home economics courses, and least likely to be offered within mandatory teacher education units such as education and psychology.
54 Uchiumizaki’s (1999a) survey of examples of women’s studies classes in higher education found that the “necessity for women’s studies in university education is not yet established in Japan” (p. 19). She proffers several reasons for this finding:
Some recognise that women’s studies [is] an important subject, because it is a discipline that reviews the current social system. However, some do not recognize that women’s studies is an academic discipline. Thus, it is difficult to get ‘civil rights’ as a subject in a university. A university does not understand the idea of women’s studies. Women’s studies is regarded as being about women, for women, and by women. Women’s studies is viewed as non-academic, a subject for followers not leaders, transitory, and an escapist subject for women who cannot enter the mainstream. The significance and necessity of women’s studies are not recognised. (Uchiumizaki, 1999a, p. 33)
Uchiumizaki (1999a) also points out that there are some negative views on women’s studies among academics in universities. For example, many people—including male and female students and academics—display “allergic reactions” (p. 34) when they hear about women’s studies or feminism (Katayama, 2000; Uchiumizaki, 1999a).
Some warn that such subjects are dangerous because they may introduce ideology.
There are also many academics who are just not interested in, or are ignorant of, education in women’s studies (Uchiumizaki & Inoue, 1999). There is no university in
Japan that has established a women’s studies department or gender studies department
(Mori, 2000; NWEC, 2002; Tachi, 2000) as has been the case in universities in
Australia, Canada and the United States of America.
55 NWEC’s 2002 report supports Uchiumizaki’s analysis. In response to a question about establishing gender studies or women’s studies as a minor subject, 28.9 per cent of the teachers surveyed answered “Don’t know”, 14.8 per cent said “Necessary”,
10.4 per cent said “Not necessary” and 18.6 per cent had “No preference” (NWEC,
2002). In the category of “Necessary,” female teachers marked the highest percentage
(17.5%), while in the group “Not necessary” male teachers comprised the highest percentage (16.9%). NWEC (2002) indicates that more than one-fifth of teachers think that it is difficult to systematise, organise, and develop gender related subjects or women’s studies. In light of more than half the respondents answering “Don’t know” or having “No preference”, the present situation as well as the prospects for the future development of gender related subjects and woman’s studies remains poor and marginal (NWEC, 2002).
In summary, universities remain systems where there is gender discrimination operating in relation to both student enrolment and female scholars’ recruitment into university. This circumstance also results in specialists in women’s studies having difficulty gaining positions and classes in universities in Japan (Uchiumizaki, 1999a).
Teachers of gender studies
Where some gender inequalities or statistical gender imbalances in an organisation are apparent, the possibility of systematic resident discrimination exists. The number of females in higher education is one such issue. There has been a shift in the number of teachers and students in higher education, with the proportion of female students increasing from 23.5 per cent in 1985, to 32.3 per cent in 1995, and 37.0 per cent in
56 2000 (Tachi, 2004). However, the proportion of female teachers shows slower growth, as indicated in Figure 2.2 (Gender Equality Bureau, 2006), being 2.8 million in 1990,
3.7 million in 1995, 5.0 million in 2000 and 5.8 million in 2005. Figure 2.2 below implies a strong gender bias in the organisational environment of higher education, and this can cause impediments in doing academic research.
2005
2000
gender 1995 male
1990
0 5 10 15 20 25
Source: White Paper of Gender Equality 2006, Prime Minister’s Office, Japan
Figure 2.2: Change in the proportion of male and female teachers in higher education
It is beneficial for scholars to choose conventional academic disciplines (Ueno, 1999).
It is clearly not to their advantage, if they wish to be successful, to choose the area of women’s studies—which is not yet established as an ‘academic’ discipline and, therefore, is not included in the mainstream of academic society (Ueno, 1999). Where researchers choose women’s studies as a minor research theme, they will be regarded as a second-rate researcher (Ueno, 1999). This is because a university is a male-centred society (Tsujimura, 2004) and a female scholar is not valued in academic society unless she chooses the paths authorised by male scholars. Moreover, female scholars may be evaluated less than highly unless they display greater ability
57 than male scholars (Ueno, 1999). This is no more than reproducing the concept of women as ‘others’, and marginalising the women’s domain (Ueno, 1999). Such a long absence and invisibility of women in the academic field allowed the continuation of a system in which women were neither approved of as researchers nor as a subject of research for a long time (Tachi, 2004).
The situation of the part-time female academic shows how the staffing profile in the institutions is related to gender issues in teacher education. Teachers of women’s studies or gender studies are often female part-time teachers (Ishiguro, 2000). They occupy the lowest position in the hierarchy of the male dominated working environment in universities (Ishiguro, 2000). Their working conditions are quite inadequate (Uchiumizaki, 1999b). For example, their contracts with universities are just one year. Usually these contracts are renewed successively, so the female part-time teachers continue to work for the same universities for a long time, without promotion or pay rise, and without the other benefits of full-time, extended contracts or tenure. However, as the job contract is easily influenced by changes of social conditions, these teachers may lose their jobs very easily and suddenly (Ishiguro,
2000). They are casual workers who are entitled to no social security, bonus, insurance, or retirement allowance (Ishiguro, 2000). In addition, they are sometimes victims of sexual harassment, along with students (Ishiguro, 2000).
It cannot be denied that the weak positions of part-time teachers in charge of gender related subjects is a major factor in the subjects’ very limited influence on the organisational environment in universities (NWEC, 2002). Ishiguro (2000) claims
58 that the marginalisation of women’s studies or gender related subjects continues to occur because of these issues. Further, the position of women’s studies in university is still trivialised (Ishiguro, 2000; Uchiumizaki, 1999b, 1999c). The issue of gender relations is discussed in more detail from the perspective of sexual harassment in the next section.
Sexual harassment issues
Various kinds of harassment are evident within the university sector, and sexual harassment in higher education institutions has been paid scant attention until recently.
After the recognition of sexual harassment issues in the workplace in the late 1980s, however, several serious sexual harassment cases in universities were reported by the media, with many cases presented to the courts, and the sexual harassment measures made rapid progress in just over a decade (Takeda, 2008). In 1999, the Ministry of
Education, after being involved in a court case related to sexual harassment (Hata,
2007), issued provisions regarding the prevention of sexual harassment within its own organisation. This provision was made known to related organisations—including both national and private universities—on the occasion of the central government reformation in 2001 when the Ministry of Education was restructured as the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) (Hata, 2007;
Shimokobe, 2001), and in 2004, when national universities were restructured into national university corporations or hojinnka. In the same year, 2004, MEXT summarised the reports from universities and publicised the sexual harassment prevention measures taken in universities as outlined in Table 2.1.
59 As shown in Table 2.1, almost all the national universities adopted systems that included measures targeting the resolution of sexual harassment incidents, while the private universities were a little slower in setting them up. However, considering that more than 77 per cent of universities across Japan established some sort of measures for preventing sexual harassment, the specific legal statement issued by MEXT clearly had a profound effect on universities.
Table 2.1: Progress in the prevention of sexual harassment in universities7 (as of 2004)
The number and rate National (state) Public Private of universities universities (prefecture, universities city)
universities Measures taken Sexual harassment 87 69 483 consultation section (100%) (89.6%) (88.6%) A system for investigation and 86 64 422 taking measures (98.9%) (83.1%) (77.1%)
Source: MEXT (2004) in Hata (2007, p. 273).
It is evident from Table 2.1 that, although there were some differences between national and private universities, both a sexual harassment consultation section and a system for investigation and taking measures were established in most universities.
Unlike the slow establishment of the gender equality administrative structure, 99 per cent of national (state) universities and nearly 80 per cent of private universities established sexual harassment prevention committees. Both national and private universities have organisationally schematised measures in order to prevent and solve harassment issues.
7 Note. The total number of universities in 2004 was: national (state) universities (87); public (prefecture, city) universities (77); private universities (545); grand total (709) (statistics from MEXT, 2004 in Hata, 2007, p. 273).
60 Definition of sexual harassment
In the provision issued by the Ministry of Education in 1999 mentioned above, sexual harassment was defined as:
1. Sexual harassment: [the staff use of] sexual language and behaviour that make staff and/or students or the related parties uncomfortable, and /or [the student or related parties use of] sexual language and behaviour that make staff uncomfortable.
2. The problems derived from sexual harassment: harming working or studying environments because of sexual harassment, or otherwise creating disadvantages in working or studying environments because of being involved in sexual harassment. (Shimokobe, 2001, pp. 98-99)
Shimokobe (2001) comments that sexual language and behaviour includes sexual harassment and also gender harassment that is the result of gender discrimination or taking of stereotyped gender roles. In addition, a case of sexual harassment usually is categorised as being one of two types. The first type involves the utilisation of a position or role: sexual harassment between teachers and students in universities, usually involving the abuse of a position with supervising power (Seino, 2002). The second type is environmental: to touch, engage in sexual gossip, or make uncomfortable environments through use of sexual language and behaviours
(Shimokobe, 2001). When confronted with sexual harassment of these types in Japan, many victims have suffered in silence, ignoring the situation, or even given up changing the environment (Shimokobe, 2001). Moreover, women concerned with sexual harassment problems were thought of as ‘immature’ and were forced to be silent and to behave as “mature women” (Yamada, 2002b, pp. 160-161). When sexual
61 and gender harassment occurred among acquaintances in a closed situation such as a school or a workplace, women were forced to accept the situation to maintain a friendly atmosphere (Yamada, 2002b), resulting in unbalanced mental states, including losing their working motivation, confidence and emotional stability
(Munakata, 2001).
Problems of solving sexual harassment cases
There are numerous behind-the-scenes sexual harassment cases involving universities in addition to those picked up by the media (Seino, 2002). The cases are complicated and the responses present difficulties. One difficulty is the protection of privacy. The confidentiality of the faculty or harassment prevention meetings is absolute. But if a case moves beyond the campus and goes to trial, privacy is difficult to maintain. In the process of resolving these cases, the privacy of the victims and involved parties often has been sacrificed; thus the victims usually do not want to testify (Seino, 2002, pp.
170-211). On this point, Yamada (2002a) claims that sexual harassment issues should be resolved within the university in order to protect the privacy of victims. He also adds that it is even more important to provide care for the victim and to educate the perpetrator carefully.
Another problem concerns freedom of expression. Freedom of expression is one of the basic human rights; however, it is sometimes controversial whether sexual language and behaviour is considered as a right of freedom of expression or as sexual harassment (Okamoto, 2002). Introducing some court precedents in America,
Okamoto (2002, pp. 358-360) picked up a case involving a fraternity event called the
62 “Ugly woman contest” in a university in Virginia. The case concluded with the determination that the contest was within the range of freedom of expression. One claim of the court was that a university should not forbid free dialogue—even if it impinges on protection from discrimination or racism—because it is the fundamental principle for a university to assure the free exchange of ideas and debate. Okamoto
(2002) suggests that there is a sufficient possibility that similar cases have happened and/or would happen at some events in Japanese universities, such as school festivals or parties. There are a number of Miss University contests in Japan.
Seino (2002) reports that there are differences in the disciplinary actions taken by national and private universities. According to the Ministry of Education, Sports,
Science and Technology, there were fewer teachers dismissed in disgrace from national universities than from private universities (Seino, 2002, p. 174). Seeking a reason for these results, Seino (2002) analyses that it is because the teachers in national universities are protected by the National Civil Service Law (Kokka koumuin ho). In private universities, on the other hand, harassment cases may directly affect management, and thus the penalty to a teacher may have to be much more severe.
However, there have been instances where the imposition of such penalties by a university has resulted in the perpetrators protesting that they had been defamed by the university (Uemura, 2001). Uemura (2001) warns that some defamation lawsuits were taken as a countermeasure or reprisal against the faculty meeting or victims. It should not be forgotten that lawsuits contain “the second harassment—Niji Kagai”
(Hata, 2007, p. 51; Seino, 2002, p. 177) or “the second victim—Niji Higai” (Seino,
2002, p. 177) element; these are very delicate complicated issues.
63 Summary
As observed in this chapter, firstly, the Japanese women’s movements from pre-WWII to the present involved a wide range of struggles covering political, social and economic aspects. Considering the process towards the independence of Japanese women, I surmised that their activism was influenced by western education such as missionaries’ women’s schools, American female staff in SCAP, and the second wave of feminism in the 1970s. Due to the influence of meetings of the UN World
Conferences on Women held since 1975, the women’s movements in Japan and in the
West share several characteristics, such as the femocrats’ success in gender equity policy implementation. However, it can be concluded that the Japanese women’s movements emerged originally within Japan in the unique, complex Japanese context amid various influences including western pressures and cultures.
Despite various women’s activities toward women’s emancipation, the women’s movements did not attract great scholarly attention in Japan. Eto (2008) noted that little interest in Japanese women’s movements was shown by Japanese scholars, as she could find very little Japanese literature related to the post war women’s movements in Japan. Eto (2008) writes that she found just 13 research articles in
English in this field. Even less attention was paid to the field of education that is the focus of this study.
The second section of the chapter described the process of developing gender equity policies, including the Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society, which was the fundamental law to realise gender equal society, including education. The section also
64 explained the machinery of the national gender equality administrative structure, which was intended as the second pillar (with the Basic Law) for the realisation of a gender equal society in twenty-first century Japan.
Finally, I discussed gender equity policies in education in Japan. First, I claimed that the equal opportunity of education for boys and girls, which was assured by the
Fundamental Law of Education, seemed to cause delay in highlighting gender issues in education, both for students and teachers. This resulted in the reproduction of a gendered school culture and hidden curriculum. The situation also influenced and reproduced the marginalised situation of female academics and gender related subjects in higher education.
The second part of the last section discussed the sexual harassment prevention sections in universities. The cases publicly disclosed through lawsuits appear to be merely the tip of an iceberg and there seemed to be numerous struggles in resolving sexual and gender harassment issues. However, the conventional literature appears to have not yet picked up the voices of teachers who tackle harassment issues. The situation is complicated and difficult, and the impact of gender equity policy on teacher education in universities in Japan remains invisible (Tachi & Kameguchi,
2001).
This chapter chronologically followed feminist movements and the legislative trajectory of gender equity in Japan. The literature in this chapter indicated some problematic themes in implementing gender equity policy in higher education and suggested some veiled aspects to be uncovered for further understanding of the
65 situation and also for future change. Based on the literature review, I narrowed down concepts such as gender and power that are useful to analyse the data in this study; these are discussed in the following chapter.
66 Chapter Three: Gender and Power Relations— Conceptual Framework
This chapter draws upon key theoretical aspects of both critical feminist theory and critical discourse theory and traces how each has been drawn on to form the basis of the conceptual framework for the thesis. Each body of theory is significant in formulating a better understanding of gender relations as they have influenced the development and implementation of gender equity policy in Japanese higher education, particularly in the areas of gender, power and discourse. This chapter builds upon gender-related themes that emerged in the previous chapter, and introduces the theoretical framework which is an essential basis for the feminist critical policy analysis, which is discussed in more detail in the methodology chapter.
The chapter begins by focusing on the relationship between gender, social structure and social practice. This first section of the chapter culminates in a discussion of understandings of gender and gender equality in the general context of Japan (both contemporary and historical). In the second section, I discuss power relations in terms of gender and hegemony. The final section of the chapter discusses discourse and the importance of language as a representation of social practice, with particular emphasis on gender discourses.
Theorising gender
Many feminist researchers have indicated the mechanisms involved in women’s oppression in male dominated societies. Nonetheless, women’s place in the
67 reproductive and domestic sphere and men’s place in the productive and public sphere have been ‘naturally’ accepted historically (Taylor, 2004a). Connell defines gender as
“the structure of social relations that centres on the reproductive arena, and the set of practices (governed by this structure) that bring reproductive distinctions between bodies into social processes” (2002, p. 10).
Taylor (2004a) elaborates on Connell’s claim that understandings of the meaning of being male or female do not derive from biological differences. Taylor (2004a) claims that gender differences are underpinned by ideas about femininity and masculinity; they are understood to be the appropriate characteristics and behaviour for women and men, which have sustained gendered social structures. Taylor (2004a) argues that ideas about gender difference paradoxically act to mask natural similarities, and, as a result, gender difference is accepted in social practice as ‘natural’. These ideas—gender discourses—are discussed in more detail later in the chapter.
Gender in the context in Japan
The definition of gender in Japan is based on the dichotomy of men and women, and on differences based on both nature and culture. In public documentation, such as brochures for gender awareness issued by local governments, the definitions of seibetsu (sex) for biological characteristics, and jenda (gender) for social and cultural characteristic division are commonly used. As the idea of gender in the western context was completely new to Japan when it was introduced in the 1970s, the
Japanese language did not have an existing word for it, hence the adoption of jenda as
68 a loan word from English. The very notion of gender was something that needed to be translated to fit Japanese society.
The dominant Japanese understanding is that gender equality means the equality of men and women, and is based on biological differences between men and women.
Iwao (1995) articulates this general Japanese understanding of gender equality, noting that:
Japanese thinking, whether or not the scientists define [it], is based on the belief that even though men and women are different in disposition, behaviour, and biology, they can be equal as humans, and that equality consists of a balance of advantage, opportunity and responsibility achieved over time. (p. 3)
However, I argue that Iwao’s use of the phrases, “whether or not the scientists define
[it]” and “even though men and women are different in disposition, behaviour, and biology”, implies that her explanation of gender is based on essentialism, or the idea that people are biologically clearly divided, men from women. Her interpretation of the general Japanese understanding of equality between men and women can be related to article 14 of the Constitution of Japan (enacted in 1947), which does not, of course, indicate anything about the idea of gender as socially constructed. Rather, it states that: “All of the people are equal under the law and there shall be no discrimination in political, economic, or social relations because of race, creed, sex, social status, or family origin” (Constitution of Japan, unpaged). Nonetheless, the notion of gender as socially and culturally constructed is not easily accepted in Japan and images of gender are still dichotomous.
69 Gender relations
The meaning of gender needs to be further discussed in relation to social practices.
While this section does not examine the situation in western countries, gender relations in Japanese society are argued to also have been produced and reproduced socially, economically, historically, and culturally. After the Imperial Meiji
Constitution (1889 onwards), with its legally fixed social stratification of male chauvinism, Japanese women were finally legally admitted as having equal rights with men under the Constitution of Japan enacted in 1947, after World War II, as described in Chapter Two. However, even several decades after the enactment of the
Constitution of Japan, employment issues related to Japanese women’s reproductive roles arose, which were strongly and continuously treated as obstacles to addressing working conditions and working environments for women by employers where males were in dominant positions (Iwao, 1995; Kawashima, 1995; Kimoto, 1995; Kinjo,
1995; Tsutsui, 2000b, 2000c).
In the March, 2006 International Women’s Day edition of The Japan Times, one of the major newspapers issued in English, it was reported that Japan, “the world's second-largest economy ranked 43rd in the United Nations Development Program's
Gender Empowerment Measure in 2005, the lowest of all the developed nations and most second-tier countries, too” (Otake, 2006). The views that ‘a woman’s place’ is in the domestic sphere and men’s privilege is to be breadwinners are perpetually embedded in a deep part of the social structure, supported by the ideology of ‘natural’ difference (Connell, 2002, p. 68; Taylor, 2004a, p. 88). The relations between men and women largely reflect the power relations within the gendered division of labour
70 in Japan (Tanaka, 1995b). Connell’s (1987) practice-based theory argues that such patterns of gender relations are daily and historically constructed in our society, and such daily social practice constitutes our gendered social structure.
Gender order
Connell (1987) recognises the power of gender relations and explains how gender relations ‘work’ at each level of the social arena. First, at a structural level, Connell
(1987) indicates that the ‘gender order’ is an “historically constructed pattern of power relations between men and women” (p. 99), and we can observe that the social arrangements in various institutional settings are gender structured (Taylor, 2004a).
Being aware of the patterns from these social phenomena formed by the gender order, and perceiving that gender relations are relations of power (Taylor, 2004), it was important in this feminist critical policy analysis to reveal the discourses hiding behind gendered social practices.
Gender regime
The gender regime is related to the gender order. At an institutional level, we can observe gendered patterns in everyday social practices in gender structured settings such as schools, families, and workplaces (Taylor, 2004a). In elaborating ‘the state of play’ that such gender relations present—as a pattern in gender arrangements in various institutions—Connell uses the term “gender regime” (Connell, 1987, p. 99,
2002, p. 53). For example, in schools in Japan, cases of the ‘hidden curriculum’ shaping both girls and boys have been reported by some Japanese researchers such as
Hounoki (1996; 2003) and Sato (1977) and other and by western researchers (Sadker
71 & Sadker, 1996). At the same time, in decision-making positions in the political, judicial, economic and educational spheres in Japan, the rate of women’s participation is quite limited (Kinjo, 1995). The gender regime is a “regular set of arrangements about gender” (Connell, 2002, p. 53), that is represented, for example, in the education workforce from elementary school to higher education.
Connell (2002) concludes that gender is a social structure and a pattern in our everyday social arrangements, activities or practice; by the continuous reconstitution of such patterns, the gendered social structure is maintained. Further, to understand and examine a social structure, it is important to identify “its constraints, its internal pressures, tensions and disruptions and its potentials for change” (Connell, 1986, p.
353) in daily practices. The gendered social structure continuously reproduces and sustains gendered power relations between men and women, which I will examine in detail in the next section.
While the gender regime is established in the everyday life of organisations (Connell,
2002), the gender regime of an institution is changeable. Such change is determined by whether or not the gender regime of the institution can independently depart from the broader setting of gender order that shapes/influences it. Given that gender regime and gender order are interrelated, I argue that small changes within the gender regime of an institution, such as a university or a school, will be a starting point and ultimately may result in a wave of change in the gender order in a society.
72 Gender and power
Patriarchy
In order to map the structure of gender relations in society, it is important to know what produces the differences in power between a group of people who suppress and those who are being oppressed. Specifically, I apply critical feminist theory and critical discourse theory for this purpose, because both strongly focus on power relations (Lazar, 2005b), and each theory is useful to clarify how such gendered power relations are systematically produced and reproduced to maintain gendered social practice. Critical feminist theory concerns the relations of power that systematically produce a social group of privileged (men) and disadvantaged, excluded, and disempowered (women) (Lazar, 2005b). Lazar (2007) asserts that,
“power relations are a struggle over interests, which are exercised, reflected, maintained, and resisted through a variety of modalities, extents and degrees of explicitness” (p. 148).
As such, while gender relations have quite overt forms, the operation of power takes a quite subtle form in recent modern society (Lazar, 2007). Lazar (2007) claims that the form of power operating is embedded throughout networks of internalised gender relations as normalised daily social practices. Power, in feminist theories, can be defined as:
73 the relationships between dominant and subordinate groups such that the dominant group can define the situation, needs, wants, and desires of the subordinate group who accept and internalise the definition so that conflict is averted and the interests of the dominant group are met. (Wearing, 1996, p. 72)
As just described, the fundamental idea of gender and gender relations is the social constructedness of power relations, accumulated in social structures and social practices between men and women (Connell, 1987).
The core of the gendered power structure is generally the connection of authority with masculinity (Connell, 1987, p. 109). The term ‘patriarchy’, which is also referred to as
‘gender order’ at the structural level (Connell, 1987, p. 91), is used to define such male dominant power that operates over dependent female and male members in a family. This notion of gendered power relations was extended to apply in the public and production arenas of men and in the private and reproductive arenas of women
(Wearing, 1996). After all, the female reproductive arena—incorporating pregnancy, breastfeeding, and nurturing small children—ultimately limits women’s economic production in the public arena. Thus, the logical ‘justification’ that the private arena is
‘naturally’ appropriate for women has limited women’s ability and freedom within the public economic production arena in terms of capitalism, where “male [power] controls [the] female workforce” (Ueno, 1990, p. 57). Patriarchy is, thus, situated in the system of male power and such patriarchal power normally operates through “the routine functions of the institutions” (Connell, 2002, p. 145) where male domination is embedded.
74 In a modern capitalistic society, the connection between valuable economic activities and production activities privilege male domination. Moreover, capitalism provides conditions for patriarchal power to be institutionalised in various arenas such as the economy, culture and sexuality. For example, domestic work is considered as
“gift-exchange” (p. 61): labour in this sphere derives from love or obligation within a family (Connell, 2002). But, it is in fact simply a different social channel from the male production arena. Connell (2002) labels such a process, the result of the gendered division of labour, a “gendered accumulation process” (p. 61), and points out that the gendered accumulation process connects with various social arenas and interacts in diverse ways with the gender regime. For example, the gendered division of labour in the workplace—such as ‘male’ trades like engineering—may affect students’ (gendered) choice of future study (Connell, 2002, p. 62). As another example, in the case of Japan, the gender regime in higher education has been historically and culturally male dominated. This situation may be attributed to the fact that higher education was completely closed to women before the assurance of their equal rights in 1947 (Kinjo, 1995). Although female student numbers have grown steadily over the past half century, the number of female faculty members and women in managerial posts in tertiary education has shown extremely slow growth (Horiuchi,
1999a). Such gender gaps, bias, and disadvantage commonly are observed as the outcome of the operation of power (Halford & Leonard, 2001).
Wearing (1996) claims that the term patriarchy is “an umbrella to signify male dominance at all levels of society” (p. 23), but that we need to recognise that the form of patriarchy may vary and appear differently in different groups in society such as
75 those defined by class, race, time and culture. To summarise, although male dominance may take a common form, how such gender power relations are shaped or how they ‘work’ needs to be explored for each specific setting, and each specific society, and the forms of power relations will be transformative over time (Wearing,
1996).
Hegemony in gender relations
In a patriarchal social order, the gendered relationship of dominance by men over women is systematised and sustained, because such a gender ideology is accepted by community consensus (Lazar, 2005b). Fairclough (2001b) further comments that,
“Hegemonic struggle penetrates all domains of social life, cultural as well as economic and political, and hegemonies are sustained ideology, in the
‘commonsense’ assumptions of everyday life” (p. 232). Thus, hegemonic power becomes naturalised, or taken for granted, in the struggle for dominance.
Such struggles over power that depend on consent rather than coercion are known as hegemony (Fairclough, 2001b). Originally used in relation to class by Gramsci (1971), it has subsequently been used by various feminist scholars (Connell, 1987; Lazar,
2005b; Ludwig, 2009; Wearing, 1996; Winant, 2002) in order to analyse gendered power relations, and to understand how male dominant discourses become taken-for-granted in society. Lazar, a feminist critical discourse theorist, explains that hegemony refers to the situation where a dominant discourse is successfully perpetuated and “wins” in the ways ideological assumptions are constantly and repeatedly enacted and circulated through discourse as “commonsensical and natural”
76 (Lazar, 2005b, p. 7) and as “banal representations and interactions” (Lazar, 2005a, p.
140). Lazar (2005b) further asserts that manifestation of power is not always overt, rather in modern societies, it is “more pervasive and insidious …[as] the operation of a subtle and seemingly innocuous form of power” (p. 9). It is “a specific way of exercising power” (Ludwig, 2009, p. 94) that accomplishes the dissemination of a certain gender ideology as ‘natural’. Thus gender ideology is hegemonic but does not always appear as dominant; rather it is accepted as natural in society in general (Lazar,
2005b, 2007).
In considering power relations, Connell (1987) claims that hegemony is “an essential part of social power” (p. 107). Connell (1987) explains that because power relations function as a social structure, as a pattern of constraint on social practice and because social practice is stratified by a gender order, it is the ‘power’ that controls such an order (p. 107). Thus, awareness of hegemonic discourses can be key to change in society (Connell, 1987). Deploying a notion from Gramsci, Connell (1987) defines hegemony as meaning:
ascendancy achieved within a balance of forces, that is, a state of play. Other patterns and groups are subordinated rather than eliminated. If we do not recognize this it would be impossible to account for the everyday contestation that actually occurs in social life, let alone for historical changes in definition of gender patterns on the grand scale. (p. 184)
Such hegemonic discourse is largely accepted in society more generally. This implies that the subordinates also act in ways which sustain the power balance of the ascendancy of hegemonic masculinity. Applying Connell (1987), Lazar (2007) argues
77 that even though gender may not be the most important aspect in a particular instance, in the majority of cases, male dominance is pervasive in institutional cultures and discourses. This means that not only men but women also are complicit in its construction of social practices (Lazar, 2007).
Resistance in gender relations
Although hegemonic masculinity sustains the gendered power imbalance, this does not mean that female power is dysfunctional in gender relations. Connell (1987) claims that power relations constrain the daily practices not only of women, but also of men. Modern capitalistic societies have not yet achieved emancipation of both men and women from “a prison of gender” (Mumby & Stohl, 1998, p. 624). Thus both men and women continuously sustain gender relations by behaving and speaking in ways that are “doing gender” (Herrick, 1999; West & Zimmerman, 2002, p. 4). Although women are conceived of as a peripheral part of the organisational structure, Pringle
(1989b) suggests that male power is not only imposed on women, but that gender relations are “a process involving strategies and counter-strategies of power” (p. 168).
Connell (1987) indicates this interplay in gender relations in terms of different versions of femininity:
It is the global subordination of women to men that provides an essential basis for differentiation. One form is defined around compliance with this subordination and is oriented to accommodating the interests and desires of men. I will call this ‘emphasized femininity’. Others are defined centrally by strategies of resistance or forms of non-compliance. Others again are defined by complex strategic combinations of compliance, resistance and co-operation. The interplay among
78 them is a major part of the dynamics of change in the gender order as a whole. (pp. 183-184)
Connell’s claim indicates two directions in gender discourses: one is that the gender order is not only constructed by male hegemonic power, but also by women who are
“complicit” (Hatcher, 2000, p. 12) in reproducing the unequal power relations that constitute gender order; gender construction is “a daily accomplishment” (Hatcher,
2000, p. 2) by both men and women. The other is women’s ‘resistance’ to the dominant power, which is strategic (Wearing, 1996, p. 34). Thus gender relations are constructed through the interaction of both men and women, and imbalanced gender relations shaped by social practice are sustained by gender discourses. I elaborate further on this in the next section.
Discourse
Discourse, language and power
Feminist critical discourse theory considers discourse as one element of social practices (Lazar, 2005b). Discourse here means “language use in speech and writing”
(Fairclough & Wodak, 2004, p. 357) as a form of social practice. Therefore, it is essential to recognise that “discourse and symbolisation are themselves practices”
(Connell, 1987, p. 242), which are related to other forms of practices.
Discourse as a social practice is further explained as “a dialectical relationship between a particular discursive event and the situation(s), institution(s), and social structure(s) which frame it” (Fairclough & Wodak, 2004, p. 357). In other words, discourses are “socially constitutive as well as socially shaped” (Fairclough & Wodak,
2004, p. 357). Discourse events in this study include written language in policy texts
79 or spoken language in interviews, while social factors include the discourse around social, cultural, political, and educational issues in Japanese society.
In critical discourse theory, discourse as language use takes the central role in the representation of social phenomena (Locke, 2004). The basic conceptualisation of discourse is particularly concerned with the relationship between language and power in a social context. Thus in terms of gender relations, discourses are implicated in the unequal power relations between men and women (Fairclough & Wodak, 2004).
Further, it is important to recognise that language itself does not have power, but that people give power to the language (Wodak, 2001a). Therefore, it is important to pay attention to the use of language in the context of power relations. Critical discourse theory sees power as the central concept that is related to difference in social structures; language exemplifies difference in many ways, indexing power, expressing power, and challenging power (Wodak, 2001a).
To see language use from the standpoint of its expression, constitution, signal, and legitimacy, and especially its use in legitimising organisational power (Wodak,
2001a), when considering the case of state and universities, is particularly appropriate for this study. Such linguistic elements of power in discourse represent a ruling form of knowledge, domination, social force and the legitimacy of organised power
(Wodak, 2001a). Hence, it is important to highlight the power relations that are reflected in language focusing on: “what constitutes knowledge, how discourses are constructed in social institutions, how ideology functions in social institutions, [and] how people obtain and maintain power within a given community” (Wodak, 2001a,
80 pp. 11-12). As Fiske explains, discourses are central in maintaining such power relations through the ways in which they shape dominant understandings in society.
Discourse is a language or system of representation that has developed socially in order to make and circulate a coherent set of meanings about an important topic area. These meanings serve the interests of that section of society within which the discourse originates. (Fiske, 1987, p. 14)
Fairclough has also elaborated on the relationship between different discourses and
different world views, according to social positioning and social relationships:
I see discourses as ways of representing aspects of the world – the processes, relations and structures of the material world, the ‘mental world’ of thoughts, feelings, beliefs and so forth, and the social world. Particular aspects of the world may be represented differently, so we are generally in the position of having to consider the relationship between different discourses. Different discourses are different perspectives on the world, and they are associated with the different relations people have to the world, which in turn depends on their position in the world, their social and personal identities, and the social relationships in which they stand to other people. (Fairclough, 2003, p. 124)
Fairclough seeks to examine how the structural orders of discourse relate to each other, how they differ in both discourse type and in the way they are structured. In considering gender relations, there are networks of gender discourses connected with each other historically and synchronically (Fairclough & Wodak, 2004). I outline the major gender discourses relevant to the study in the following sub-sections.
81 Gender discourses
Feminist critical discourse theory is concerned with the critique of gendered discourses “which sustain patriarchal social order” (Lazar, 2005b, p. 5). Gender discourses represent and sustain social practices that constitute gender order and gender regime (Taylor, 2004a) that have been presented as asymmetric power relationship and male domination. Lazar (2005b) further claims that discourse within both spoken and written language acts as a meaning-maker that contributes to the reproduction, maintenance, resistance to and transforming of the social order.
Gender discourses are not monolithic. Rather, there are number of forms of discourse produced and shaped by different cultures and different social factors (Taylor, 2004a).
In addition, gender discourses represent the daily accumulated gendered social practices in each societal and historical setting (Taylor, 2004a). Therefore, gender discourses are not stable but changeable “over time and vary across cultures” (Taylor,
2004a, p. 89).
Femininity and masculinity are the gender discourses that inform people’s understandings about the appropriate characteristics and behaviour for women and men in society. Such gender distinctions produce “an identification of masculinity with the public realm and production, and femininity with domesticity and consumption” (Connell, 2005, p. 78). It is true in the Japanese context—especially in the spheres of education, workplace and family—that, wherever they are, women have experienced being enclosed in a category of femininity where they are expected to become ‘good wives’ and ‘good mothers’ (Hara, 1995; Isa, 2000; Tanaka, 1995b).
82 Similarly, in the office environment they are perceived by the middle aged men who occupy the senior positions in the hierarchy as being of the following three kinds:
“wives, the women who do supportive jobs and errands at office, and bar hostesses”
(Iwao, 1995, p. 206). For them, a woman is rarely ever an equal and respected colleague (Iwao, 1995). These general gendered social practices form gender discourses that indicate systemised power relationships between men and women, where masculinity is dominant (Connell, 1987), and result in marginalising women’s position in the workplace.
Feminist discourses and patriarchal discourses
Like gender discourses, feminist discourses also are non-monolithic and show theoretical diversities, because women’s experiences differ across class, racial, cultural, historical, and geographical settings (Perumal, 2006). As there are many feminist standpoints and feminist discourses, there are some tensions among their arguments (Forcey, 1996). For example, Lazar (2007) argues that the goal of feminist critical discourse theory is to open up “unrestricted possibilities for both women and men as human beings” (p. 153), while Lazar critically notes that there are some inherent flaws in contemporary feminists’ claims. Lazar illustrates that the meaning of
‘equality’ from the some contemporary feminist perspective implies sameness with men, where women need to be enclosed by the same standard set by (and for) men.
While Lazar also adds that some dominant feminist thought assumes the sameness of all women regardless of individual setting such as race, class, sexual orientation, geographical difference and so forth. Nonetheless, people are categorised into men as the privileged social group and women as ‘the other’. As a result, men gain what has
83 been called the “patriarchal dividend” (Connell, 2002, p. 142) that enables men privileged access to “symbolic, social, political and economic capital” (Lazar, 2007, p.
146) and that also maintains unequal social order.
Additionally, feminist theories commonly have made evident “the shared oppression of all women at the hands of patriarchal societies” (Perumal, 2006, p. 734) including within Japanese society (Fujimura-Fanselow & Kameda, 1995; Iwao, 1995; Miyake,
2001; Renshaw, 1999). Hence the overarching understanding of feminist discourses retain women’s position as oppressed and marginalised in the male dominant society; that is what makes feminists so challenging. Feminist theories have, therefore, tried to articulate their causes and consequences and have sought strategies towards women’s emancipation (Perumal, 2006).
Discourses that conflict with feminist discourses—anti-feminist discourses—claim that women’s place is private, and should be in the home, and the belief that women possess a natural propensity for child care is taken for granted (Wearing, 1996). More specifically, the anti-feminist discourses—the patriarchal discourses—state that women should return to the domestic sphere, to raising children and keeping house, and this notion has been promoted by men and women alike as the key to a better society (Occhipinti, 1996). Conversely, some say that women have gained enough
‘empowerment’ and that this has resulted in a power reversal with, female dominance over men (Lazar, 2007). These patriarchal discourses help gendered power relations continuously construct the ‘feminine sphere’ of women as subordinate, and as separate or excluded from male dominant society. And patriarchal discourses
84 underpinned by gendered power relations keep women out of ‘male stream’ society as
‘others’. In addition, feminist theory understands that a woman’s ‘subjectivity’ of being ‘a woman’ or being ‘feminine’ is culturally and discursively constructed through a process of repeated acts (Wearing, 1996). Thus, the “notion of identity, or subjectivity, is socially constructed” and maintained (Taylor, 2004a, p. 90).
If we see that patriarchal discourses that shape women are politically and socially constructed, as Wearing (1996) also postulates, it is possible to open a crack in culturally and historically constructed anti-feminist perspectives. Wearing (1996) claims that the notion of ‘women’ has shifted from that of female subjectivity as “a given based on natural biology” to something recognising “commonality and diversity” (p. 39). She further adds that the issue of women is now exposed to diversity and it is “the subject of feminist politics” for change (p. 39). Facing diversity and difference are clearly challenges for contemporary feminism in this complex society. It can be argued that this must be the direction feminists take as Forcey (1996) concludes that feminist discourse needs to take “differences and complexity among women” into consideration; at the same time every effort must be made to understand women “as women are oppressed, subordinated, and exploited” and to dismantle such situations (p. 79).
85
Figure 3.1: Conceptual framework
Summary
Drawing on critical feminist theory and feminist critical discourse theory, this chapter has developed a conceptual framework for understanding how gender inequalities are maintained in society and how change may occur. The chapter has introduced the concepts needed for the feminist critical policy analysis conducted in this study on gender equity policy in Japanese higher education, particularly in the areas of gender, power and discourse. The concepts that I featured in this chapter were as follows:
Gender: gender relations, gender order, gender regime.
Power: patriarchy, hegemony, resistance.
Discourse: gender discourses, femininity, masculinity.
Feminist discourses, patriarchal discourses, anti-feminist discourses. 86 As emphasised in this chapter, these concepts are interrelated. In the following sections, I will summarise the overview of the relations of these concepts explained in this chapter.
This conceptual framework chapter began by focusing on the meaning of gender in
Japan as being based on the (re)productive arenas of women and men. This notion of gender has constructed the gendered social structure and social practices. In this context, I discussed the Japanese understanding of gender in general from a legal and historical perspective. Then I explained gender relations, gender order and gender regime in terms of the theory of gender.
The following section discussed power in relation to patriarchy, hegemony and resistance. I argued that the patriarchal system functions to sustain male dominance in society—including in the family, education and the workplace. I argued that in the patriarchal social order, the gendered relationship of dominance by men over women is systemised and sustained as a matter of course and is taken for granted: in other words, it is hegemonic. And it can be said that such hegemonic masculinity is also sustained by women’s acceptance of the gendered power imbalance. However, resistance may also occur, providing possibilities for change.
The last section discussed discourse and the importance of language as a representation of social practice. Here the relationship to gender also is discussed in connection with notions of femininity and masculinity as gender discourses. Feminist discourses and anti-feminist discourses were also discussed. Neither gender discourses nor feminist discourses are monolithic. Feminists need to listen to
87 individual women’s voices as they are different culturally, geographically, and so forth. Given that feminists view women as oppressed, critical feminist theory aims to address women’s issues politically in order to dismantle such oppressive situations.
However, anti-feminist discourses have responded and claim that women should return to the home. This chapter concludes that critical feminist theory and feminist critical discourse theory need to be used to reveal how such gender discourses interact with social practices in the Japanese educational arena in this study. The next chapter describes the research design, methods and analytical approach.
88 Chapter Four: Analysing Gender and Power Relations— Methodology and Research Design
In Chapter Two, I outlined how the concept of gender was first introduced into the field of Japanese education and, in particular, to higher education. Importantly, the imbalance of power between males and females in these institutions was so great that women’s studies and gender related studies occupied a marginalised position. The imbalance and its effect on knowledge posed many challenges for the institutions in terms of the dissemination of gender equity policies and knowledge in teacher education in Japan. Informed by the conceptual framework of feminist theory and critical discourse theory explained in Chapter Three, the focus of this study is to explore the relationship between gender discourses and social practices, and how unequal gender relations are sustained in the implementation of gender equity policy in Japan. The research question and sub-questions are as follows:
Research question:
What happened to gender equity policy in higher education in Japan as it moved from the national to the university levels?
Questions:
o What were the objectives of the original gender equity policy?
o What were the feminist strategies regarding the development and implementation of gender equity policy?
This research traces policy from its formulation to implementation within higher education institutional settings, looking at the struggles and responses of the various actors involved in all stages of the policy process. Such research is called a ‘policy
89 trajectory study’ (Ball, 1994a; Taylor, Rizvi, Lingard, & Henry, 1997). It starts with investigation of policy production, and is followed by case studies in order to explore how implementation of the policy affects practice (Taylor et al., 1997). As discussed in the previous chapter, this policy trajectory research applies critical feminist theory and feminist critical discourse theory as the theoretical framework to investigate how gender discourses are framed in the policy texts and how they are spoken about in the interviews with key stakeholders in implementing gender equity policy.
The following section discusses the methodology that guides this feminist critical policy research. First, it discusses a feminist qualitative approach and feminist critical policy research. Next, the chapter outlines the research methods, which include policy document collection and interviews with key players. This is followed by an explanation of the data analysis method using feminist critical policy analysis, and feminist critical discourse analysis. The chapter ends by discussing validity and reliability, as well as the ethical considerations related to the research.
Feminist critical policy research
Feminist research
As discussed in the literature review in Chapter Two, education in Japan reflects
Japanese society in that gender dominance and oppression are clearly reproduced within educational sites. Because this research explores policy implementation from feminist perspectives, and also because its focus is on the education arena, this qualitative research project is slanted towards critique, for education is a place where issues of “unequal, cultural, economic, and political relations” (Carspecken & Apple,
90 1992, p.509) arise. It is for this reason that the critical qualitative approach taken in this research inquires into the imbalance of power constructed by cultural and social processes.
Because of the power imbalance between men and women in higher education in
Japan, and the fact that Japanese women’s studies and gender related studies have been so marginalised, this research has taken a feminist perspective, thus ensuring that issues of gender and power are focused upon and brought to the forefront of the analysis. Traditional social research typically did not involve issues of power and the oppressed; rather there was a silence about such matters (Marshall & Rossman, 1999).
However, for the past three decades, feminist sociologists have developed feminist methodologies in response to ‘male–stream’ intellectual traditions. In so doing, they have questioned existing knowledge and traditional norms (Abbott & Wallace, 1997;
Weiler, 1988). Furthermore, Wanca-Thibault and Tompkins (1998) emphasise feminist research’s significance and value in reframing a research field, such as an institution as a site of power and domination, thus making it possible to problematise privileged forms of knowledge. Hence, feminists inquire “who has the power to know what, and how power is implicated in the process of producing knowledge”
(Ramazanoglu & Holland, 2002, p. 13).
Weiler (1988) suggests three principles of critical feminist methodology. First, critical feminist research should start to investigate the social world from a grounded position where women are oppressed. Second, critical feminist research needs to explore every day experiences and lives; the assertion that the ‘personal is political’ encompasses
91 this approach. Third, the politics of feminist research must assert the need to change the position of women and gendered imbalance to in turn, change society (Weiler,
1988). This feminist qualitative inquiry makes explicit the political positioning of being a feminist researcher to explore the issues of knowledge and power within the context of the implementation of gender equity policies in education in Japan.
Combination with critical policy research
Doing feminist critical policy research draws both feminist and critical theory into policy research, and this approach enables the exploration of areas that conventional policy research has tended to neglect (Bensimon & Marshall, 1997; Marshall, 1997a).
What makes policy research feminist and critical is that such research enables the researcher: “1) to critique or deconstruct conventional theories and explanations and gender bias… [and] 2) to conduct analysis that is feminist both in its theoretical and methodological orientations…with a critical awareness of how androcentrism is embedded…” (Bensimon & Marshall, 1997, p. 6). Introducing a critical feminist theory perspective into policy research reframes conventional policy study by focusing on social structure and social practice in light of gender equity issues such as gender inequality, gender imbalance and gender roles, which have usually been neglected (Bensimon & Marshall, 1997).
Thus, first and foremost, feminist critical policy research situates gender as its fundamental category of analysis (Bensimon & Marshall, 1997; Marshall, 1997a).
Marshall (1997a) states that feminist critical policy research is value-based, focuses on gender and identifies the process of power and policy from a gender perspective.
92 She argues that while traditional policy analysis claims to be “value-free, neutral,
[and] objective” (Marshall, 1997a, p. 3), it does not uncover the neglected or silenced issues in policy research. Feminist critical policy research, however, succeeds in exposing such issues.
Second, feminist critical policy research turns issues that have been treated as personal and private into public and political matters. Marshall (1997a) claims that the issues that get public attention are decided by authority-based or interest groups, such as cooperative farmers, while the issue of women fighting against abuse at the office or at school is considered a private matter. Cultural values also generate the power that makes such authoritative decisions (Marshall, 1997a). In other words, there are some concerns that only cultural values that fit with male dominant values and power influence the political arena. For example, in Japan, the issue of female farmers who suffer from dual workload both in the fields and at home has been ignored by the political agenda setters (Kashima, 2003). Importantly, feminist critical policy research highlights such issues as both political and public.
Investigating power and politics from a feminist perspective is, then, the major concern of feminist critical policy research. Given that power and interests drive the process of policy development and its implementation, it is the task of feminist policy research to examine “the manner in which power is exercised in the making of political choices” (Taylor et al., 1997, p. 20). For example, Taylor ([Sandra], 2001), in her feminist critical policy research, listened to the voices of female teachers’ union activists and highlighted the strategies they adopted that eventually moved the
93 bureaucracy and influenced policy change. As Taylor’s ([Sandra], 2001) research demonstrated, to focus on neglected gender issues as well as the struggles within institutions is one of the tasks of critical feminist study. To elucidate marginalised areas in policy research by illuminating women’s voices was also one of the purposes of this research in the Japanese setting, as the significance of doing critical feminist research is to make clear that which conventional critical policy research cannot uncover.
A key feature of feminist critical policy research is its intent to influence social change, and “to transform the institutions” (Bensimon & Marshall, 1997, p. 10). In other words, by clarifying the causes of male dominance and to address male-centred aspects, it aims to transform the gendered social stratification. For this purpose,
“[f]eminist approaches are not only analytical but also strategic” (David, Weiner, &
Arnot, 1997, p. 92), providing “the necessary evidence to bring about improvements in women’s educational, [and] social… roles” (David et al., 1997, p. 92) and to bring about wider change in educational, institutional and social contexts (Bensimon &
Marshall, 1997).
The researcher’s feminist standpoint
In feminist qualitative research, feminist researchers are positioned to see and understand the world from the point of view of the research subjects, because feminist researchers are part of who are being researched (Abbott & Wallace, 1997, p. 288).
Smith (2004) argues that taking the standpoint of women in exploring the social world
94 means opening up inquiry from an ‘insider’s positioning’ (p. 225). Indeed, such involvement in research became a rationale to start this study as during the 1990s.
I became involved in a number of community activities, including being a member of local government gender equality promoting councils for the Hokkaido Prefecture and Chitose City. Following this, I was invited to participate in several projects, including a Gender Equality Leader Training Seminar run by the Hokkaido government that included a survey tour to Australia and New Zealand in 1998. In
2003, I was one of four invited Japanese participants in the International ICT
(Information Communication Technology) Processing Seminar run by Japan’s
National Women’s Education Centre. During the 10-day seminar that also included an international conference, I had the opportunity to exchange ideas with a number of female representatives from various foreign countries. Currently in 2009, as an activist, I serve as Vice-president of a group called the ‘Active Women’s Network’
(AWN). AWN has about 30 members and mainly undertakes awareness raising activities within the area of Hokkaido Prefecture. I am also currently a member of the
Gender Studies Group in Sapporo, the Chitose Women’s Conference and the Gender
Equality Promotion Committee in Chitose City.
In terms of gender studies, which I studied at Portland State University (USA) in 1996,
I realised for the first time that exploring a social practice around myself concerns not only revealing my own subjective practice but also having power to influence people, including those with whom I have shared similar experiences, and even those born in the next generation. I subsequently decided to further my study and enrolled in the
95 School of Communication, Faculty of Business at Queensland University of
Technology in 2001 where I completed a Master of Business by Research in 2003. My first research site was in the public sector (a local government workplace), where I experienced and observed various cases of gender discrimination.
Taylor (1997) indicates that, in doing policy analysis, “the position and institutional location of the analyst” (p. 36) are relevant. As a teacher working part-time in higher education, and as a researcher, I have had opportunities to present some parts of my research through the academic associations to which I belong, such as to conferences or meetings of the Sapporo Gender Studies Group, the Communication Association of
Japan, and the World Communication Association where I received feedback from participants. The suggestion that “[e]ducational researchers may be policy activists themselves, or work with policy activists as ‘critical friends’” (Taylor, 2004b, p. 447) encouraged me to embark upon this PhD project.
Research methods
Research sites
In this study, the main research sites were four universities offering teacher education courses: two national (or state-funded) universities and two private universities (the names of universities have been changed to maintain anonymity in order to protect informants’ privacy). One of each was located in Tokyo and Hokkaido. The first national university, the Japan Academic University (JAU), is located in Tokyo and was established in 1949 as a college of education. The University now has a Faculty of Education and Faculty of Arts. Obtaining a teacher’s license is a requirement for
96 graduation for the students of the Faculty of Education. The second national university site is Northern Cities University (NCU) in Hokkaido, Japan, which was also established in 1949. NCU is one of the most prestigious universities in Hokkaido
Prefecture. NCU focuses only on teacher education and is commonly regarded within the Japanese educational community as producing excellent teachers. Both national universities were chosen because they are universities for teacher education.
The two private universities were located in Tokyo and in Hokkaido. The first was
Tokyo Central University (TCU), which is one of the top private universities in Japan, and was established in 1902. TCU has had a Faculty of Education since 1903, which is important because not many private universities in Japan have Faculties of Education.
The second private university site was Sapporo Liberty University (SLU), in Sapporo,
Hokkaido. This university offers its teacher education course across various faculties, and about 100 SLU students acquire their teacher’s certificate every year.
These four prominent universities represent the different characteristics respectively of national universities and private universities. Although they belong to different sectors—national and private—these four universities of teacher education all draw from a common curriculum due to the fact that the curriculum of teacher education system is governed by the national Teacher’s License Law—Kyoshoku Menkyo Ho, which controls and governs teacher education curricula. Moreover, currently twelve national universities of education—Kyoinyosei Daigaku in Japan exchange information actively and show strong interest in each other’s activities on gender related projects.
97 In this policy research, the following methods of data collection have been used in order to investigate how gendered power relations influenced the implementation of gender equity policy. The following section describes the process by which written documents were collected.
Document collection
In order to trace the policy implementation through from the national to the institutional level, written text data such as policy documentation and minutes of the special investigation committees were collected. Key documents included:
Documents from the Group Thinking about Education from Gender Perspectives
(Jenda no shitenkara kyoiu wo kangaeru kai) in Japan (11 documents between
1996 and 1997).
Vision of Gender Equality 2000 (issued in 1996).
The Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society (Law No. 78 of 1999).
The Basic Plan for Gender Equality (issued in 2000 and 2005).
Danjo Kyodosankaku ni Kansuru Shogaikoku no Kihonohosei nado ni kannsuru
Chosa Kenkyu—Study of Legislation Relating to Basic Laws in Foreign
Countries Regarding Gender Equality (Osawa et al., 1998): Osawa Report.
Minutes of 5 meetings of the Educational Personnel Training Council—Kyoiku
Shokuin Yosei Shingikai in 1997.
Minutes of 24 meetings of the Council for Gender Equality within Cabinet
Office—Danjo kyodosankaku kaigi from 2001 to 2006.
Minutes of 17 meetings of the Special Investigation Committee regarding the 98 Basic Plan for Gender Equality—Danjo kyodosankaku kihonkeikaku ni kansuru
senmonchosakai from 2004 to 2005.
Minutes of 29 meetings of the Special Investigation Committee regarding Basic
Issues—Kihonmondai keikaku senmonchosakai from 2001 to 2006.
Report by the Working Group regarding Gender Equality in the Japan
Association of National Universities (JANU) in May, 2000: Suggestions: In
order to promote Gender Equality in national universities
Access to official original documents issued over a decade ago was sometimes difficult. Most were available in a local reference centre, but access to an internal government report—Osawa Report—was especially difficult as the foundation body that took charge for issuing the reports was dissolved a few years ago when the research was being undertaken, in 2007. Hence the government in 2007 did not possess the report, even in National Archives of Japan—Kokuritsu Kobunshokan.
However, with the cooperation of those originally involved in these reports, I was given access to the original documentation. These documents as data were used in four stages of this trajectory research as shown in the following table.
99 Table 4.1: Documents and interviews used in the trajectory study
Chapter Documents Interviews
Chapter 5: Documents from the Group Thinking Interviews explored/ Context for about Education from Gender investigated all stages of policy Perspectives (Jenda no shitenkara kyoiu the process; see Appendix formulation wo kangaeru kai) in Japan (11 C for more details. documents between 1996 and 1997) Minutes of 5 meetings of the Educational Personnel Training Council—Kyoiku Shokuin Yosei Shingikai in 1997
Chapter 6: Vision of Gender Equality 2000 (issued Formulation of in 1996) policy The Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society (Law No. 78 of 1999) The Basic Plan for Gender Equality (issued in 2000 and 2005) Danjo Kyodosankaku ni Kansuru Shogaikoku no Kihonohosei nado ni kannsuru Chosa Kenkyu—Study of Legislation Relating to Basic Laws in Foreign Countries Regarding Gender Equality (Osawa et al., 1998): Osawa Report Chapter 7: Minutes of 24 meetings of the Council for From policy to Gender Equality within the Cabinet bureaucracy Office—Danjo kyodosankaku kaigi from 2001 to 2006 Minutes of 17 meetings of the Special Investigation Committee regarding the Basic Plan for Gender Equality—Danjo kyodosankaku kihonkeikaku ni kansuru senmonchosakai from 2004 to 2005 Minutes of 29 meetings of the Special Investigation Committee regarding Basic Issues—Kihonmondai keikaku senmonchosakai from 2001 to 2006 Chapter 8: The Basic Plan for Gender Equality From (issued in 1999) bureaucracy to Report by the Working Group regarding higher Gender Equality in the Japan education Association of National Universities (JANU) in May, 2000: Suggestions: In order to promote Gender Equality in national universities
Interview data
As an aspect of the qualitative research, interviews were conducted with the ‘key players’ involved in the process of policy implementation. The interviews with the
100 policy makers offered opportunities for differentiating data as evidence from data as background:
Background, as general commentary upon policy making provides insight into the discourses and constraints which informed and affected policy makers. Evidence, as more specific description gives indication of the when, and who of the policy formation. Both are important. (Ball, 1994b, p. 117)
Although interviews can usually provide rich and deep data, it was not at all easy to involve busy people such as policy administrators (Marshall & Rossman, 1999), and hence access was one of the major challenges: I did not have entrée into the relevant human network to access people in Tokyo, especially bureaucrats. In order to meet the key stakeholders for this research, I first planned to use my social and professional network. I was, for example, a member of the Hokkaido Gender Equality
Council—Hokkaido danjo byodo sankaku shingikai—under the Hokkaido prefecture governor from 2004 to 2005. I thought this membership would enable me to contact a number of policy administrators, although this proved not to be the case. I asked one of the Hokkaido prefectural government employees, who had served on the Hokkaido
Gender Equality Council, to introduce me to someone in the Gender Equality Bureau, or someone in the national government who might be suitable for me to interview. She politely rejected my request. She said that she and employees in the relevant section of the Hokkaido government did not have an individual connection but that they “only exchanged paper work”. It was obvious that she was reluctant to become involved in this matter. After finding no possibility of help from the prefectural government, I consulted several people in order to seek a ‘way in’. The breakthrough I needed
101 presented itself through the networks within higher education in Hokkaido and
Tokyo.
As the interview data from the elite interviewees were crucial to the success of this research, I understood that I needed a coordinator in order to source the informants. I was fortunate to meet people who introduced me to a range of interviewees. Although
I was not able to access as many bureaucrats as I had hoped, I was, however, able to access some high ranking members who were in charge of each section who agreed to be interviewed. It was also useful for me to investigate various minutes of ad hoc committees within the Prime Minister’s Office that put complete conversations from the meetings in writing.
In this feminist critical policy research project, the interviewees—both women and men—were purposefully selected to be relevant to the research (Neuman, 1997). The
‘key players’, such as policy administrators and representatives of institutions who are
“considered to be influential, prominent, and well-informed people in [the] organisation” (p. 113), are ‘elite individuals’ (Marshall & Rossman, 1999).
Interviewing the ‘elite’ offers understanding of what happens to policies as they move between bureaucracies, and gathers a range of views in particular organisational circumstances (Marshall & Rossman, 1999). However, at the same time, as a researcher I was required to possess sufficient competence and strategic tact to work with such ‘elite individuals’ and achieve a satisfactory outcome (Marshall & Rossman,
1999).
102 Three events provided me initial access for my study. First, an external institution, a national university with which I had a Memorandum of Understanding to conduct research, cooperated with me and introduced a clerical staff member who had a contact within the national government. Second, I had the assistance of my external associate supervisor in Japan and other professors who agreed to be coordinators and showed their understandings of my research. Third, my friends’ network working in a private university in Tokyo opened a door to access informants in the university.
These people subsequently introduced me to more potential interviewees.
I accessed the key players in the universities and invited them to participate in interviews. The participants included Vice-presidents of universities studies, Deans of
Faculties, gender equity policy administrators within universities, teachers who provided gender related subjects, clerical workers, and/or curriculum committee members of teacher education. Approvals were formally given by most informants.
At university level, many professors whom I initially contacted cooperated and introduced me to other informants. However, the interview process did not always progress smoothly, as there were some professors who sent me refusals and one who completely ignored my request, in spite of my twice attempting to make contact.
Nonetheless, overall, most interviewees were cooperative and gave ready consent, and the interviews proceeded smoothly.
103 Interview participants
In order to enhance the quality of the interview data, the sampling method ultimately identified a total of twenty-nine informants, purposively selected from the following
13 levels:
(1) a former high ranking member of the Gender Equality Bureau at the Cabinet Office—Naikakufu Danjo kyodosankaku kyoku (fortunately, later during the research, I also had the opportunity to talk informally for a short time with a current high ranking member of the Gender Equality Bureau); (2) a policy administrator in the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT)—Monbukagakusho, Japan (the gender equality section); (3) an ex-member (as a policy maker) of the Council for Gender Equality—Danjo kyodosankaku shingikai at Prime Minister’s Office; (4) ex-members of a study group on education from a gender perspective—Jenda no shitenkara kyoiu wo kangaeru kai; (5) the President of a national university in Hokkaido, who is a policy implementer and academic within Japanese higher education; (6) a professor in charge of a teacher training course who also serves as the Chair of the Curriculum Committee of a national university in Hokkaido; (7) teachers of gender related subjects in teacher education programs at a national university in Hokkaido; (8) the Vice-President of a national university in Tokyo, who is a policy implementer and academic within Japanese higher education; (9) teachers of gender related subjects in teacher education programs at a national university in Tokyo; (10) the Vice-President of a private university in Hokkaido, who is a policy implementer and academic within Japanese higher education; (11) teachers of gender related subjects or teacher education programs at a private university in Hokkaido; (12) professors in charge of the Gender Equality Committee and involved in teacher education programs in a private university in Tokyo; and
104 (13) teachers of gender related subjects and/or teacher education programs at a private university in Tokyo, who are policy implementers and academics within Japanese higher education.
For more detail, please see the Appendix C.
Semi-structured interviews
Interviews are widely used as a method of collecting data in qualitative research
(Holstein & Gubrium, 2003, p. 3). Interviews aim to gather “descriptions of the life-world of the interviewee with respect to interpretation of the meaning of the described phenomena” (King, 1994, p. 174). Further, interviews are designed to give investigators a highly efficient, productive, ‘stream-lined’ instrument of inquiry
(McCracken, 1988). Therefore, in this qualitative study, open-ended, in-depth interviews were most appropriate to understand, in a relatively short period of approximately for an hour, the perspectives of the participants (Marshall & Rossman,
1999).
In order to obtain rich data, semi-structured open-ended interviews were conducted. A professor from each university undertook the role of “gatekeeper” (Neuman, 1997, p.
352) and coordinated the involvement of the participants at each university. The professors as coordinators in each of the four universities studied taught gender or gender-related studies in their respective university. I contacted the coordinators either face-to-face or by e-mail with an attachment of a letter that explained the research project, focusing on the purpose of the study and the ethical clearance matters. I explained to the coordinators the nature of the project, and that it would not harm, but rather benefit, the organisation.
105 First, the interviewees were selected purposefully in consultation with the professors.
But some participants introduced me to other participants in a similar fashion to the snowball sampling method, in which sampling “begins with one or a few people or cases and spreads out on the basis of links to the initial cases” (Neuman, 1997, p. 199).
Such cooperation helped me to collect rich data.
The in-depth interviews, each approximately 60 minutes in duration, were recorded by using an Integrated Circuit (IC) recorder and i-Pods (in order to avoid the risk of failed-recording). After finishing each interview, I wrote a note recording details about the time, place and the interview itself, which might be useful and relevant, because interviews may provide “opportunities to gather data through observation as well as through talk” (Schwalbe & Wolkomir, 2003, p. 69). The recorded interviews were transcribed by me as soon as possible so that I could add data related to the interviewees’ behaviours and emotional attitudes.
Interview questions
A feminist approach to interviewing has two aims. First, the feminist interview is intended to allow more visibility to the subjective experiences and voices of women
(Ramazanoglu & Holland, 2002). Second, the interview works from a position of encouraging the respondent’s involvement in the research process so that they can express themselves and tell their stories most comfortably: the focus is not researcher-oriented or questionnaire-oriented but rather respondent-oriented
(Newman, 1997).
106 In this study, keeping in mind the need for open-ended questions that are “flexible”
(Burns, 2000, p. 350) and that invite “a free flowing conversation” (Burns, 2000, p.
280), I prepared seven key questions relating to the overall research questions of the study. I avoided question forms that may have invited only a limited set of responses, such as closed questions, and instead developed questions that encouraged more extensive responses, beginning with such phrases as “to what extent …”, or,
“which….” (please see Appendix C for the full list of interview questions).
The relationship between researcher and the researched
One difficulty in interviewing ‘elite’ participants lies in the relationship between the researcher and the researched (King, 1994). In the process of conducting research, the researcher often needs to deal with hierarchical and gender power relationships. Even if there is a shared or common interest in the research topic, the relationship between the researcher and the researched is not always well balanced (Ramazanoglu &
Holland, 2002). Moreover, in this type of research in higher education, those interviewed in most instances were involved in the administration of gender equality in each university. Many interviewees were working within teacher education, while others were in management positions—such as the university President,
Vice-President or Dean. Such informants, working within academic institutions, were usually researchers as well. Building rapport between the researcher and the researched was one of the keys in accessing their gendered lives directly and in depth, a concern relevant to this research that investigates issues of power.
107 Heeding the lessons of Ramsey (1996) on managing emotions, I particularly tried not to identify myself as a feminist during the process of data collection—although given the theme of this research, this may have been obvious to the interviewees. Rather, I emphasised my interest in sociology and presented myself as a sociologist. Because the informants occupied powerful positions in higher education or in policymaking, it was possible that the tensions between their roles as institutional members would surface. It also was possible that their recognition of the issues of gender discrimination would be heightened during the interviews. Thus, controlling the tensions of the researched was one of the major challenges for achieving a successful research outcome for this study.
Sensitivity and awareness can be increased during an interview process, along with a faithful account, through close and sympathetic involvement with the informant rather than through distancing and objectifying (Acker, Barry and Esseveld, (1991).
The interview, as “a conversation with a purpose” (Kahn & Cannell, 1957, p. 149), seems to give greater depth of understanding of the participants’ perspectives compared to other research techniques. Some interviewees in this study told me that the interview was a good occasion for them to think or reflect about gender issues.
Silverman (1993) employs Reason and Rowan’s (1981, p. 205) argument to point out the relationship between an interviewer and an interviewee for successful interviews:
Humanistic approaches favour ‘depth interviews’ in which interviewee and interviewer become ‘peers’ or even ‘companions’. In this ‘humanistic’ version of the interview, both the type of knowledge gained and the validity of the analysis are based on ‘deep’ understanding. This is because ‘the humanistic framework’
108 supports … wholeness in human inquiry. [emphasis in the text] (Silverman, 1993, p. 95)
While interviewing, having an attitude such as respect, trust, sincerity, and warmth towards an interviewee assisted in building a good rapport with interviewees.
Establishing ‘rapport’ is the key to successful interviewing (Baker, 1997). It is important to convey the interviewer’s attitude that the informant’s views and opinions are valuable and useful (Marshall & Rossman, 1999). Unlike the conventional
Japanese assumption that women are usually silent, and that making a speech or public statement is a difficult task for them, elite women are accustomed to being interviewed (Reinharz & Chase, 2003). This was the case in relation to the academics in this research who, indeed, sometimes conduct interviews themselves. Moreover, elite interviewees, including elite men, are usually “savvy” (Marshall & Rossman,
1999, p. 114). Consequently, interviewers of such people can use provocative and open-ended questions that allow interviewees to response freely by using “their knowledge and imagination” (Marshall & Rossman, 1999, p. 114). The skilful use of listening and questioning by the interviewer aims to draw rich and deep data from respondents. In this study, it was especially true for me because many of the informants were people whom I had known through the media before I conducted the interviews. When I officially asked for interviews, most were cooperative, but such elites, women with power, had difficulty finding time to schedule an interview
(Reinharz & Chase, 2003). Thus, I had to fly to Tokyo several times to conduct the interviews. Nonetheless, most of the interviewees were supportive and it was possible to successfully schedule the interview. Reinharz and Chase (2003) point out that
“high-achieving women in traditionally … male dominated professions may feel that 109 participating in research is part of their responsibility to women who aspire to follow in their footsteps” (p. 78). Importantly some participants even asked me the points I would like to know beforehand, because they wanted to prepare some material for the interview. Many were out-spoken and offered freely their personal experiences.
Feminist critical policy analysis (FCPA)
The following section elaborates the analytical methods of this feminist critical policy study, which aimed to examine the development and implementation of gender equity policy in higher education in Japan. A feminist critical policy analysis (FCPA) investigates “policy slippage and symbolic policy compliance”, and recognises that policies “create arenas of struggle” (Marshall, 1997a, p. 7). That is, FCPA not only investigates dominant political power but explores the arena of political contestation
(discovering the disputing, disrupting oppressed people embedded behind the represented policy) (Marshall, 1997a). An FCPA aims to highlight women’s struggle and experiences of an oppressive social structure. Marshall (1997a) for example, concludes that feminist approaches to politics and policy analysis have created useful theoretical tools for “dismantling traditional and gendered assumptions” in policy analysis that includes women’s issues (p. 16).
I paid attention to the following agendas in analysing data as Marshall (1997) suggests:
background mapping, to identify the gaps and policy slippages; power as domination, but also resistance to power; research on borderlands, the areas of silence and counter-narratives;
110 intersection of talk and the structures of power—talk is power, management of knowledge and language is an important site of political struggle;
critiquing policy assumptions that embed private-public inconsistencies; recognising genderedness of organisations and careers and the power differentials and benefit/outcomes differences with attentions to… gender. (Marshall, 1997, pp. 23-24)
As mentioned, analysing power is one of the focal points. The relationship between language and power also is closely analysed, especially in policy texts in this study. In this context, I used feminist critical discourse analysis for selected policy texts as explained in the next section.
Feminist critical discourse analysis
Feminist critical policy analysis is a form of critical discourse analysis (CDA) which focuses on gendered power relations and discourse. As Marshall suggests, “if language is the power tool of politics, analysis can focus on words and ask whether policy speeches and documents match with real outcomes” (Marshall, 1997b, p. 7).
Within the field of social science, critical discourse analysis (CDA) is a social scientific research method (Fairclough, 2001a) that maintains a concern with social discrimination (Wodak, 2001c). CDA scholars have sought to elucidate the hidden power relationships within particular social practices (Taylor, 2004b; Wodak, 2001c).
This distinctive approach to social analysis is therefore appropriate for feminist critical policy analysis.
Recent feminist approaches using CDA are particularly useful in relation to this study
(see for example Lazer, 2005). CDA and feminist approaches both draw on critical theory to focus on power, ideology, and inequality in social practices, and both are
111 interested in social change (Ohara, 2002). In addition, the issues of power relations between men and women in discourse or in language use are often included in the field of CDA (Chouliaraki & Fairclough, 1999; Fairclough, 2001b). Thus, feminist
CDA makes it possible to “examine how power and dominance are discursively produced and/or resisted in a variety of ways through textual representations of gendered social practices, and through interactional strategies of talk” (Lazer, 2005, p.
10). Indeed, “the marriage of feminism with CDA … can produce a rich and powerful critique for action” (Lazer, 2005, p. 5).
The levels and foci of analysis in feminist critical discourse analysis are wide-ranging, including lexis, semiosis, grammar, utterances, structures of argument and interactions among discourses (Lazar, 2007). In her research on discourse in media and educational policy, Thomas (2005) indicates three elements of textual analysis: to identify the features of the text through which discourses may be traced; to identify the production and interpretation of the text in terms of participants’ production and interpretation of the texts; to analyse social practice politically within the relation of power and domination in terms of hegemonic struggle (p. 71). Thomas (2005) specifically examines the details of the features and the methods of text analysis selected. Her explanation of the semantic macro/micro structure (‘themes’ and topics that emerge from both global and local levels expressed by a text and the relationship between discourse and society) of text analysis is useful for this study because of the strong focus on the social context rather than on linguistic study. In terms of textual analysis, I did not undertake a fine grained linguistic analysis using feminist CDA, but, rather, I analysed the main themes that emerged.
112 To begin an analysis of the various research materials, working from a text to a discourse is the one essential ‘lens’ (Fairclough, 1995) to examine the data. Textual analysis plays a significant part in social scientific research, because texts bear the important form of social events and actions, but textual analysis is not yet widely recognised (Weiss & Wodak, 2002). Text analysis using critical discourse analysis
“allows a detailed investigation of the relationship of language to other social processes, and of how language works within power relations” (Taylor, 2004b, p.
436). It is important to remember that analysing text requires understanding that the notion of power described in the text is usually a representation of the struggle between discursive differences in power and in social structures more widely (Taylor,
2004a).
The process of analysis
This section elaborates upon the analytical procedures used to investigate the data that consisted of interviews with key stakeholders and a collection of policy documents.
My analytic approach is mainly based on the six phases of analytic procedure suggested by Marshall and Rossman (1999): organising the data; gathering categories; coding data; testing the emergent understandings; searching for alternative explanations; and writing the analysis. The process of analysis was guided by the agendas suggested by Marshall (1997), as mentioned in the previous section. I also focused on concepts such as gender discourses and feminist and patriarchal discourses in the data, in order to identify gendered power relations in the policy implementation.
113 Organising, categorising and coding the data
In terms of policy documents, the central policy document that was analysed was the
Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society, along with related documents such as the
Basic Plan for Gender Equality and the Vision of Gender Equality 2000. First, in organising policy documents, these documents, which were sourced in both Japanese and in English via national government web sites, were copied onto an electronic file.
Second, the contents of these three main documents were categorised by the five recommendations as indicated in the contents of the Basic Law. Third, by repeatedly closely revisiting the documents, concepts (based on the conceptual framework such as gender, femininity and masculinity, and discourses, and considering the analytic elements suggested by Marshall (1997) mentioned in an earlier section, such as identifying the gaps and policy slippages and so forth), were coded and highlighted using different colours.
Additional document data, such as minutes of the ad hoc meetings, were downloaded from the national government web site, converted into an MS Word document and subsequently categorised and coded in the same way. I firstly selected a meeting associated with the implementation of the policy, and then I looked at agenda of each meeting. When I found agendas related to an issue of interest, I read the minutes of the meeting carefully, and copied and pasted relevant parts from the minutes into an MS
Word document.
In relation to the interview data, audio-recorded interview data were transcribed, with notes recording the place of interviews. In addition my field notes captured my
114 observations of the settings and interactions occurring before and after interviews.
The transcription and field note making happened as soon as possible after each interview while the context was fresh and there was little chance of any slippage
(Schwalbe & Wolkomir, 2003).
As noted above, in the first stage of categorising the data I highlighted sections within the transcripts using various colours, depending on the initial themes that emerged during transcription. All transcribed original data in Japanese were entered in full into the relational database software program ‘File Maker Pro 6’ in order to categorise and sort data by themes, names and content. For example, I categorised data based on themes along with the level of policy implementation such as ‘struggle in Cabinet
Office’, ‘organisational culture in university’, or ‘sexual harassment’. These themes appeared as items under the menu bar of categories to sort the data. I also categorised each interview’s contents using concepts relevant to the conceptual framework, such as gender discrimination, power, struggle, tension and so on.
Next, in coding the data, I identified and highlighted with different coloured markers the sentences illuminating the particular concepts derived from the conceptual framework. For example, the concept of power within the contents was highlighted in red, and occupied a large part of the contents lists that appeared in the rows of various themes. As this study is a trajectory study, I was able to pay attention to each theme located within the specific context related to the level of policy implementation. I returned to the data a number of times, until the salient themes emerged. This iteration reinforced for me that analysis of language use requires paying attention to the
115 “contextual information” (p. 18) of speakers, as “language is constitutive” (Taylor,
[Stephanie], 2001, p. 6). I sometimes went over the original audio-recorded data to confirm informants’ ways of speaking and the nuances of their words in context. After linking the participants’ ideas and language in the data with the concepts, I copied and pasted the data into a new MS Word document, and undertook the second phase of coding by underlining, marking or colouring data again. Segments of data were extracted as appropriate and translated from Japanese into English when writing the thesis.
Analytic procedures for document data and interview data were conducted in the same way. I considered the specific data useful for illuminating the purpose of the study and how such data could be central to telling the story of emergent themes. Revisiting the conceptual framework and literature, I searched the data for the possibility of
“alternative explanations” (Marshall & Rossman, 1999, p. 157) in order to support and build on the emerging argument in writing the thesis. As the interviews were conducted in Japanese and some documents were only provided in Japanese, the analysis was carried out using Japanese materials. I followed Fairclough’s argument that a “discourse analysis paper should reproduce and analyse textual samples in the original language” (Fairclough, 1995, p. 191).
Validity and reliability
Since taking a feminist standpoint demands that the researcher “produce[s] the best understanding of how knowledge of gender is interpreted with women’s experiences and the realities of gender” (Ramazanoglu & Holland, 2002, p. 61), the issue of
116 objectivity is usually an important topic of discussion. However, unlike the traditional natural science model, feminist researchers reject the “subject-object dichotomy of traditional research strategies” (Ramsey, 1996, p. 143), because it is not relevant to feminist research (Abbott & Wallace, 1997; Neuman, 1997; Ramsey, 1996). Olsen
(2005), applying Dorothy Smith’s (1987) work, claims that women know that the everyday world is “continuously created, shaped” (p. 91) by themselves within it.
Thus, “this clearly demands a high degree of reflexivity from the feminist qualitative researcher and a recognition of how feminist sociologists ‘participate as subjects in the relations of ruling’” (Olesen, 2005, p. 244). This does not assume acceptance of the criticism that “feminist research can be accused of being ‘subjective’ and therefore of no value” (Abbott & Wallace, 1997, p. 290). I argue, using the work of Mishler
(1990), that validity criteria are achieved not only by claiming the capacity to report objective reality. Mishler, for example, states that:
this is not a weakness, but rather a hallmark of interpretive research in which the key problem is understanding how individuals interpret events and experiences, rather than assessing whether or not their interpretations correspond to or mirror the researchers’ interpretive construct of ‘objective’ reality. (p. 427)
Furthermore, Ramazanoglu (2002) questions whether there is a universal criterion for the truth, because “disagreement in feminist debates on science and objectivity make it clear that general knowledge of a real social world is not simply available”
(Ramazanoglu & Holland, 2002, p. 57). Ramazanoglu (2002, p. 58) claims that feminist researchers “resituate the validity by grounding feminist knowledge in women’s experience”. Critical feminist theory is not simply rejecting the question of 117 value-neutrality, objectivity and validation of knowledge, but rather it is another interpretation of social phenomena through women’s experiences that has been excluded from the mainstream of social science.
While in traditional research absolute trust was placed in the supposed objectivity of the researcher, the psychological distance of objectivity and subjectivity between the researcher and the researched is questioned in conducting feminist research. Mishler
(1990) asserts that validity criteria are achieved not by claiming the capacity to report objective reality, but rather by understanding how individuals interpret particular social phenomena. Although ‘subjectivity’ has been highlighted as a weakness of feminist research methodology (Ramazanoglu & Holland, 2002), it is now recognised widely in the mainstream that it is impossible to avoid the interpretative element of conducting any research (Mishler, 1990; Taylor, [Stephanie], 2001). By adhering to the criteria proposed by Mishler (1990) for achieving validity, this feminist research approach carried out effective investigation in collecting first-hand knowledge from informants.
In feminist qualitative research such as this study, the standard approach to validity assessment is largely irrelevant (Mishler, 1990, p. 419). This is because feminist research itself has proposed an alternative approach to the conventional male–stream research process. Mishler (1990) proposed alternative validity criteria as:
The process through which we make claims for and evaluate the ‘trustworthiness’ of reported observations, interpretations, and generalisations. The essential criterion for such judgements is the degree to which we can rely on the concepts, methods, and
118 inferences of a study, or tradition of inquiry, as the basis for our own theorising and empirical research. (p. 417)
Mishler further agues that validation, “as the social construction of knowledge”, depends on “whether the relevant community of scientists evaluates reported findings as sufficiently trustworthy to rely on them for their own work” (p. 417). This more recent approach to validation is compatible with some of the mainstream validity theories about centrality of interpretation in validation (Mishler, 1990).
Moreover, Mishler (1990, p. 419) queries the validation of ‘trustworthiness’ by asking
“how can an inquirer persuade his or her audiences (including self) that the findings of an inquiry are worth paying attention to, or worth taking account of”. In other words,
“a potential warrant for the validity of [an] interpretation is whether it makes sense to the respondent” (Mishler, 1990, p. 427). Mishler (1990, p. 420) points out that
“judgments of trustworthiness may change [over] time” as social norms and practices transform. Ramazanoglu (2002) asserts that it is problematic to question ‘telling the truth’ in any social research, instead, it is a task of feminist researchers “to make sense of [the] diversity [of] people’s experience” (p. 58).
Seeking ‘the truth’ and ‘validating knowledge’ in social research are problematic.
Ramazanoglu (2002) questions whether there is a universal criterion for the truth. She critically argues that “general knowledge of real debates on science is not simply available” (p. 57). Ramazanoglu claims that such knowledge can never include the one “enduring truth about the nature of social reality” (p. 57). Thus Ramazanoglu
(2002) asserts that feminist theories should move from a position that reacts against the critique of conventional social science. She claims that feminists should explore
119 the feminist stream to claim feminist knowledge that seeks real power relations and social change, which are themselves specific social productions.
Ramazanoglu further claims that “knowledge is contingent on its condition of production” (p. 58). In the case of knowledge on gender produced by feminist research, if such knowledge needs to make sense of the diversity of people’s experiences in the world, the validation of the real knowledge to prove the relation between socially produced knowledge and the reality of people’s lives could be really problematic (p. 58). Ramazanoglu (2002) concludes that “ it is questionable whether telling the truth is at issue at all” (p. 58).
Silverman (2001) argues that “qualitative research is to be judged by whether it produces valid knowledge” (p. 221), and argues that reliability in qualitative research should be tested with a scientific method called “low-inference descriptors” (p. 226).
In this study, high reliability of analysis was ensured by using inter-rater reliability, which “involves giving the same data to a number of analysts and asking them to analyse it according to an agreed set of categories” (Silverman, 2001, p. 229). In this study, I sequentially shared and discussed the results of data, findings and analysis with my three supervisors, and occasionally with an external supervisor. In addition, parts of the research findings were developed as a paper that was externally reviewed and published both in an academic journal (Appendix E) as well as in conference proceedings. Papers related to this study were also delivered as a presentation to an international conference and a domestic conference. Such discussions with supervisors and others function to satisfy inter-rater reliability.
120 To ensure the accuracy of translation from Japanese to English of the interviews and minutes of meetings, a three-stage process was used. Interview data were transcribed in Japanese from the recordings, and translated by me into English; similarly, I translated the Japanese minutes of meetings into English. My English translations then were checked by a native English speaking editor and finally, the accuracy was checked by a nationally certified bilingual translator who compared the Japanese and
English versions. The original transcription of interview data and policy documents in
Japanese were provided in Appendix D.
Ethics
The research design should minimise the risk to participants, and their privacy and confidentiality should be protected. Before conducting the interviews, I informed interviewees (via e-mail) of the research topic, focusing on the purpose of the study and the ethical clearance matters with a letter attached to the email. I obtained their consent in writing on the consent form (Appendix B) before starting any interview by presenting them with the form both in English and in Japanese. They signed the in-English form and I left blank copies of both forms for their reference. The consent included: information about the research, confirmation that subjects understand that information, that participation in the research is voluntary, and an explanation of the recording and their right of complaint to QUT’s Human Research Ethics Committee.
In so doing, I informed the participants as fully as possible of a researcher’s obligation
(Taylor, [Stephanie], 2001). Many academics commented with surprise that such a consent form procedure is not usually used in academic research in Japan. They displayed a strong sense of curiosity about the Australian university research system.
121 In writing up research, the research should minimise risks to participants and ensure that confidentiality and privacy are respected. Therefore, informants’ names were coded, and pseudonyms were used to protect informants’ identities. I numbered interviewees (such as ‘interviewee 1’), and their titles were coded such as ‘a high ranking member’; the names of universities are all pseudonyms.
Summary
This chapter has outlined the research design and methods, focusing on four aspects.
First, I presented the justification for using a qualitative, feminist approach to address the research questions. I then posited this research as feminist critical policy research, and argued for the combination of critical feminist theory and policy research to uncover neglected gendered areas that conventional policy research has not explored.
I then justified my researcher standpoint in undertaking this feminist critical policy research.
Next, I explained the research methods including the research sites, the data collection methods, namely policy document collection, and interviews with key players.
Interviews with elite stakeholders were explained in light of accessibility issues, interview participants, and a rapport with the interviewer. The form of interviews including semi-structured, in depth-interviews and some matters to be attended to in designing interview questions were discussed. For the data analysis, I used feminist critical policy analysis, which challenges mainstream policy analysis, and which highlights the gender arena and gendered power relations in policy analysis. This section also expanded on the logic and theoretical framework of feminist critical
122 discourse analysis that was used for selected data. I subsequently summarised the analytical procedures including the organisation of data from both policy documents and interviews using a software program, and then gathering categories and coding data, testing the emergent understandings, and then searching for alternative explanations and writing the analysis.
Methodological issues relating to the reliability and validity of a feminist critical policy study were discussed. I argued that feminist theory suggests that the criterion of real ‘truth’ is ultimately unavailable, but the reliability and validity of feminist research depends on the trustworthiness of provided data and reported findings. The degree to which we can rely on the concepts, methods, and inferences of a study, or tradition of inquiry, is whether it makes sense enough to persuade the readers (Mishler,
1990). The chapter concluded with a description of the ethical issues that I identified and how these impacted on the manner in which the interviews were conducted.
In the following chapters, the findings are presented and analysed, using feminist critical policy analysis and feminist critical discourse analysis. The next chapter, the first chapter of findings, discusses how the feminist teachers’ movement influenced national policy on education to bring about social change, and also explains the social background in the educational arena, before establishing the Basic Law for a
Gender-equal Society in 1999.
123 Chapter Five: Context for Policy Formulation: Gender and Teacher Education Policy in Japan—Feminist Teachers Organising for Change
This chapter, the first of four data analysis chapters, discusses the activities and strategies of the feminist movement in the field of education which provided the background and context for the establishment of gender equity policy in Japan. The following chapters (6, 7 and 8) document the policy processes as they were tracked from the development of the Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society, through to its implementation in the government bureaucracy and finally at the university level.
Chapter Six examines the text of the Basic Law, the fundamental law enacted in order to establish the gender equal society in Japan. Chapter Seven focuses on selected educational aspects of the Basic Law and how they were treated at the bureaucratic level. Chapter Eight investigates how the gender equity policy was embodied in higher education in Japan.
During the few years before Japan’s 1999 enactment of the Basic Law for a
Gender-equal Society—the most influential law in laying the foundations for achieving a gender-equal society in Japan (Osawa, 2000)—there was a radical, but short-lived feminist teachers’ movement in Japan. Using strategies learned from the
UN Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995, a Japanese feminist group was mobilised to generate actions that influenced national policy (Matsui,
1996). At a time before the common use of ICTs (to enhance rapid forms of networking), the movement (named the Group Thinking about Education from
124 Gender Perspectives—Jenda no shiten kara kyoiku o kangaeru kai) enlisted the involvement of teachers from all over Japan within only a few months, and pushed for their desired outcome successfully. Despite this movement’s impact, it has not yet been documented within Japanese educational history and hence the aim of this chapter is to highlight the feminists’ strategies and efforts through the movement that developed an atmosphere conducive to forwarding gender equity policy in education.
This feminist critical policy research used a qualitative approach based on data such as interviews with key players, minutes of meetings and letters. Feminist critical policy analysis was used to document their aspirations and strategies in educational history and indicate the group’s lasting influence on Japanese education. This first analysis chapter situates the feminist teachers’ movement to show the background to the development and implementation of the Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society that is the main policy analysed in the following chapters in this thesis. Importantly, this introductory chapter is significant to follow up how the feminists’ strategies impacted gender equity policy in the education arena, which is one of the tasks of the research questions throughout this trajectory study.
At a time when information exchange by facsimile (fax) was much more common than e-mail communication, the movement gathered more than 500 members from all over Japan within the space of only two months, and accomplished its central objective of influencing national educational policy within one year. While this energetic and effective movement has remained in the minds of those who participated, it appears not to have been documented in any detail or even mentioned
125 in the literature over the ensuing ten years. It is clear, however, that this movement represents one of the seeds of Japanese feminist activities within higher education in
Japan, with ex-members of the movement subsequently networking to produce significant study groups and other influential activities in Japanese higher education, especially within teacher education (kyoin yosei katei or kyoshoku katei).
As discussed in Chapter Two, in a similar vein to western forms of critique (Collins,
Batten, Ainley, & Getty, 1996), some features of gender discrimination in education in Japan have been documented by several researchers (Kimura, 1999; Mori, 2005;
Sato, 1977). However, despite this body of research, few Japanese institutions have provided curricula centring on gender-related issues within their teacher education courses (Kameda, 1995). Uchiumizaki (1999d) argues that the fact that gender studies is not a key component in teacher training courses remains a major dilemma.
Uchiumizaki (1999d) also suggests that it is increasingly important to nurture gender-sensitive lecturers who will be motivated to introduce gender-related subjects into teacher education, and to consider ways to include such subjects within the overall pre-service teacher education syllabus.
Nonetheless, some educators pointed out that it appeared to be difficult to modify such a situation until the schoolteacher’s licensing system (kyoin menkyo seido) was also changed. This was due to the fact that the prescribed curricula of teacher education was too congested to introduce a new core gender related subject (Kameda et al., 1998b). On the other hand, it seemed to be understood among educators in
126 schools that there was an urgent need for pre-service teacher education students to have opportunities to develop or enhance their gender awareness (Kameda, 1995).
This chapter reports on this group’s activities in terms of its impact on teacher education in Japanese higher education institutions. Data collected comprised first-hand documents and records of the group’s activities, including memoranda, brochures, articles, and speeches, and key player interviews in order to elucidate feminists teachers’ experiences in this feminist critical policy research. This analysis elucidated how group members put into practice strategies learned at the UN Fourth
World Conference on Women, Beijing, 1995, and how they have embodied such strategies to enable the accomplishment of their goals within several months. All the names of people and institutions that appear in this chapter have been changed to protect informants’ anonymity.
The beginning was like a ripple
In an interview I conducted with Takeda, a professor in the Japan Academic
University (JAU), she explained that the beginnings of the movement can be traced to a single telephone call from her university colleague Tomita, one day in September
1996. Tomita had called Takeda, after reading a journal article by Takeda, and said:
“if you think that gender studies should be included in the curricula of teacher education, we have to take action right away, because there is a real opportunity to do so now”. Tomita pointed out that it was a good time to take action, because, for the first time in ten years, the Minister of Education had instigated a consultation period with the Educational Personnel Training Council (EPTC)—Kyoiku Shokuin Yosei
127 8 Shingikai to discuss ‘reforming teacher education for the new age’ (Jojima, 1996).
The consultation included improvement of teacher education curricula in universities and, therefore, the report of the Council was expected to influence teacher education curricula, as well as education in universities as a whole (Jojima, 1996). As a result of the Minister’s offer, and with the partial amendment of the law for teacher licensing
(proposed for 2000) in mind, the EPTC actively began a series of meetings to gather submissions and prepare its report to the Minister. A high-ranking member of EPTC at that time was the President of Takeda and Tomita’s university, JAU. Takeda and
Tomita were, therefore, motivated to take action by the opportunities presented by the factors listed above.
One month after their initial discussion, the two professors organised the movement’s first meeting in a coffee shop in Tokyo. Six female teachers from local schools and universities gathered and confirmed their goal of preparing a submission to the EPTC.
Their strategy started with the naming of the group. Takeda recalled that they:
considered that the name of the group should not appear aggressive, because the male-dominated EPTC might refuse to listen to such a group; so the name needed to be something
8 The Educational Personnel Training Council (ETCP)—Kyoiku Shokuin Yosei Shingikai is an advisory council to the Minister of Education. The Council discussed the system and the content of teacher education in Japan. As part of the reformation of the central government, in January 2001 the Council was integrated in the Central Council for Education with seven other educational councils including the Curriculum Council.
128 ‘innocuous’ that the Ministry of Education—[termed Monbu sho 9 at that time] might like. (Interview No. 22)
Hence, those six female teachers named the fledgling group, Group Thinking about
Education from Gender Perspectives—Jenda no shiten kara kyoiku wo kangaeru kai.
Takeda’s comment also reveals another important dimension of the story: the national policy at that time appeared to be more geared towards a gender equal society than is the case at present, for the word ‘gender’ itself is now a target of the backlash movement (Kimura, 2006; Nihon Josei Gakkai Jenda Kenkyu Kai, 2006; Sofusha
Editing Section, 2006; Wakakuwa, Kato, Minagawa, & Akaishi, 2006). Takeda herself noted in the interview in 2007 that the name of the Group might be thought radical and would prompt a backlash. But, in 1996, the women involved had the ‘wind at their backs’. First, the national government had just issued its Vision for Gender
Equality in July and Plan for Gender Equality 2000 in December. Second, the Report of the Central Education Council (CEC)—Chuo Kyoiku Shingikai,10 which was issued in July 1996, had stressed the significance of gender equality (The Central
Education Council, 1996). And finally, the Group recognised some familiar names on
9 Ministry of Education—Monbu sho was an element of the former central government. It has since been reformed as the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT)— Monbu kagakusho or Monka sho, in 2001 as part of a broad central Japanese government reformation.
10 The Central Council for Education (CCE)—Chuo Kyoiku Shingikai is one of the advisory councils to the Minister of Education, along with the Educational Personnel Training Council and the Curriculum Council under the Ministry of Education. CCE was reorganised to integrate seven other educational councils in January, 2001 due to the central government reformation.
129 the Educational Personnel Training Council (EPTC). In this sense, several factors aligned and appeared to present what Tomita called “a heaven-sent opportunity”.
One founder of the Group, Nakaya at West Sunshine University (WSU), remarked that action was made possible because of the adoption of the Platform for Action at the UN Fourth World Conference on Women (UNWCW) in 1995. Some key themes featured in the Platform for Action, such as ‘empowerment’, ‘gender mainstreaming’, and ‘gender sensitive perspectives’,11 became the raison d’être of the group. More than 5,000 people from Japan participated in the UNWCW in Beijing (Furuhashi,
2004; Matsui, 1996; Sawai, 1995). A number of Japanese participants were influenced to the extent that they organised a group working for the implementation of resolutions from the conference, and feminist groups actively lobbied and pressured the Japanese government on gender equity policy implementation (Matsui, 1996).
As was the case in many countries at the time, feminists in Japan united under the banner of the UN Conferences on Women (UNWCW) and were empowered to take action to push the government toward realising a gender equal society. Nakaya added that it was obvious that the members of the Group shared the common feelings that they experienced in the UNWCW in Beijing and they were keen to create [a] gender sensitive-educational system as stated in the Platform of Action. Some academics, including Nakaya, believed that they had to do something in education to bring about social change and they answered Takeda and Tomita’s call to organise the Group.
11 These themes provided by UNWCW in Beijing will be discussed in detail in Japanese context in Chapter Six.
130 Nakaya insisted that teachers who were concerned with gender issues were ready for such a movement (Interview No. 25). It seemed that the experiences in the UNWCW in Beijing became a trigger to light these critical feminist academics’ fire to make a move as ‘academic activists’, and their territory of the ‘academic activism’ (Lazar,
2007, p. 146) was expanded to the real world outside the campus.
Strategies to expand the movement
The Group members adopted three approaches to influence the EPTC. First, they gathered information and they built support by enlisting supporters. Second, they submitted a position paper to the EPTC and let the Council know that they were watching how their paper was treated. Third, the Group directly lobbied members of the Council. These three actions happened simultaneously over a short period of approximately six months.
1. Building support
Using information sent by facsimile, the Group Thinking about Education from
Gender Perspectives attracted hundreds of supporters within a few months. On the 5th
November, 1996, the Group distributed forms for collecting supporters’ signatures.
The Group intended to include the list of names with their submission to the EPTC meeting on the 12th November. By the 7th November, they had 138 signatories from all over Japan. Nakaya said, “within an hour of sending the form, responses from all over Japan began to be sent to my home facsimile. I thought the fax machine would break” (Interview No. 25).
131 The Group wrote to people who were concerned about teacher education and indicated in the form that there were no items concerning gender in the list of inquiries from the Minister of Education to the EPTC (hence, the Group’s decision to submit a position paper to the EPTC). The Group asked the fax recipients to express their agreement with the proposed paper and to let others who were involved in women’s studies and/or gender studies know about the proposal and the Group (The Group
Thinking about Education from Gender Perspectives, 1996b).
Among the responses, an academic teaching the pedagogy of home economics in a university said: “In order to eliminate gender bias in school education, it is most important to nurture gender sensitivity among students during the process of teacher education”. With the encouragement of the Group, she sent the Group an article on gender she had written and information related to her discipline specialty. Another academic offered the Group the prospect of exchanging some academic activities or research and reported some cases of sexual harassment. These examples of the fax exchanges showed that the Group began to strengthen personal connections and the academic network through this activity.
The Group’s first submission to the Council, in November 1996, included the names of 154 people gathered from the first call for support. After a second call, the Group submitted 376 names (including the names already submitted) to the EPTC. The
Group had monitored the actions of the Council, however it was obvious that nothing from their submission had been mentioned in either the November or December meetings of the Council (The Group Thinking about Education from Gender
132 Perspectives, 1996a). Thus, in order to raise its profile, the Group organised a symposium for the 26th January, 1997. In an invitation, dated the 18th December, the
Group articulated their goals, including that of submitting the position paper, for the first time:
Hereafter, we will continue to go forward in this movement so that the Council will take up this issue, give the movement a hearing, and include the issue in the report that will be written next summer. We will also continue to take action so that the Ministry of Education will embody the content of the report in its policy: As one of these measures, we have organised the symposium mentioned in the attachment. (The Group Thinking about Education from Gender Perspectives, 1996a)
Calls for supporters were sent out three times. After the last call on the 19th January,
1997, the Group counted 511 supporters from various academic fields, teachers’ labour unions, women’s groups, and others from all over Japan. The list showed the members were mainly teachers (in universities, elementary schools, middle schools and high schools) or lawyers, activists, and the like. The Group was helped in this drive for supporters by a news organisation called JJ Net News. JJ Net News had a network of subscribers, and had launched Josei seisaku Joho Nettowaku (JJ Net)–
Women’s policies Information Network, in August 1996. The Network’s mission was to send information on policies regarding women by facsimile to its members, and JJ
Net published the news several times a month until June 2004 (Japan Association for
Women's Education, 2009). Help from JJ Net News enabled the speedy exchange of information, assisting the Group to help women empower themselves (Kameda,
1997). This network of JJ Net was one of the successful outcomes for Japanese
133 women of the Beijing Conference, where empowerment was one of the key themes.
Again, as it was seen in the history after WWII, or during 1960s and 1970s, Japanese women united or showed the ‘solidarity’ for ‘empowerment’ (see Literature Review
Chapter).
The Group also held two symposia. The first was held on the 26th January, 1997, and was attended by more than 150 people from all over Japan. Three panelists reported hands–on activities to bring about change within universities and an elementary school. It was striking that journals and newspapers from various regions (including
Tokyo, and the eastern and northern parts of Japan) picked up and ran the story for some months, reporting on the symposium and also on the activities of the Group.
Each wrote differently about the necessity for gender perspectives in education (Asahi
News Paper, 1997; Chugoku Shinbun, 1997; Irie, 1997; Kahoku Shinpo, 1997;
Mainichi Shinbun, 1997; Morio, 1997; Muramatsu, 1997b; Nihon Kyoiu Shinbun,
1997b; Nishimura, 1997; Yuasa, 1997).
The Group had invited many education reporters to the symposium, because they knew they should utilise this very significant occasion to publicise the issue (Kameda,
1997). On the occasion of the second symposium, held on the 30th November, 1997, they invited film crews from The Open University of Japan—Hoso Daigaku—and made a video lecture on gender and education. Nakaya added that the symposium also intended to confirm the current circumstances of school education at that time and to show the practices of the Platform for Action from the Fourth World Conference on
Women at school sites by reporting the cases of local schools (Interview No. 25).
134 Although the two symposia were held in Tokyo, some group members in other areas held other symposia as part of the synchronised series of Group actions (Nihon Kyoiu
Shinbun, 1997a). The measures taken by the Group expanded from what had begun as a ripple limited to collecting supporters, to also include holding symposia, which developed as a key driving force for the Group.
2. Developing a position paper
The Group finished writing its submission to the EPTC one month after their first meeting, on the 8th November, 1996. The Group preparing the position paper comprised sixteen people from all over Japan. The submission’s introduction reflected a key idea from the first report of the Central Education Council in Japan issued several months earlier, “Zest for Living—Ikiru Chikara” (The Central
Education Council, 1996, unpaged). This report insisted that education from a gender sensitive perspective was indispensable in nurturing children who had a ‘zest for living’.
In teacher education, the report repeatedly emphasised the necessity of reinforcing the reform of the modality of education in the vision for the twenty-first century—21 seiki o tenboushita wagakuni no kyoiku no arikata, which was the title of the report.
However, there were only two parts of the report’s content that were clearly concerned with gender equality. The sentences were found in the first chapter, titled
“The Way of Future Education—Kongo ni okeru kyoiku no arikata”: one sentence was in a section titled “The Present Condition of Family—Katei no Genjo”; the other was titled, “Vision of the Society to Come—Korekara no Shakai no Tenbo”. Those
135 sections dealt not with school education, but with social education including family or community (The Central Education Council, 1996). These inclusions reinforcing gender equity in the social education arena in the report were not strong enough to have any short-or long-term influence on teacher education, which belongs to the school education arena. The gender equality section within the Ministry of Education,
Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) was situated in a social education department, and not in a school education department (Ministry of Education Culture
Sports Science and Technology, 2009). The attention of the Ministry to gender equality has not been directed towards school education from that time (1996) to the present. I will return to the issue of gender equity policy in MEXT in Chapter Seven.
In addition, the Group’s submission claimed that the hidden curriculum (Sadker &
Sadker, 1994; Sato, 1977) in classrooms reproduced gender inequality (Muramatsu,
1997a). The paper therefore indicated that teachers’ roles in schools were significant for educating children who would establish a gender equal society in the twenty-first century. The submission’s three main requests were:
1) To clarify the perspective of education aiming at a gender-equal society.
2) For this purpose, to improve the curriculum as follows:
a) to place course elements, which introduce gender perspectives, into mandatory subjects in courses of basic Teacher Education.
b) to include gender studies and/or women’s studies as an elective subject in Teacher Education.
136 c) to include gender studies and/or women’s studies as a subject in liberal arts education in relation to Teacher Education.
3) To convene a hearing with experts in the field of gender studies about the relationship between education and gender, or education and a gender-equal society. Such concepts regarding the way teachers are trained had rarely been discussed during the EPTC meetings. (From submitted position paper, dated the 8th November, 1996)
As well as these three requests, the paper particularly emphasised that gender related subjects should be established systematically within the subjects related to teacher education.
3. Lobbying key policy makers and committees
In organising the Group, Takeda claimed that she was influenced by the agenda of the
Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing 1995:
It was after the World Women’s Conference in Beijing and the announcement of the Vision for Gender Equality 2000 in Japan, that Japanese women, including us, began to become aware of the idea that we needed to empower ourselves and take practical and comprehensive actions like lobbying to move the power. [Tomita] and I thought that we had to do something in the field of education, too…. (Interview No. 22)
In a similar manner to Takeda, after the World Conference on Women, many
Japanese women were influenced by the agenda of the Beijing Declaration and
Platform for Action, including that of women’s empowerment. They shared know-how by exchanging their practices and empowering each other. For example,
Takeda contributed an article regarding the group activities to a newsletter of one
137 prominent organisation: Japan Accountability Caucus for the Beijing Conference
(Pekin JAC), which was organised after the UNWCW in Beijing (see Chapter Two).
Another effect of the conference was the dissemination of the word gender. Following the Beijing conference in 1995, the loan word for gender, jenda, began to be used widely in the public sphere in Japan (Mori, 2000; Osawa, 2000; Tachi, 1998).
The first target for lobbying by the Group Thinking about Education from Gender
Perspectives was the high-ranking member of the Educational Personnel Training
Council (EPTC), who had formerly been the President of the university where Takeda worked. Next, the Group found two familiar names among the members of the EPTC, and approached a female member. The female member of EPTC promised her full cooperation. At first, she told the Group that:
She was not a specialist on gender matters, so she did not know what to say in the meetings … and she said that she also did not need the minutes or data documents that she got in the meetings. She would give them all to us. (Interview No. 22)
Takeda recalled that the EPTC member was an outdoor sports instructor, but she stated her job as housewife on official forms. Given that one Group member was able to convince the EPTC member to identify herself publicly as an outdoor sports instructor, it is clear that the EPTC members too were learning little by little about gender perspectives.
At the time, the Ministry of Education did not publish the minutes of their meetings on their web site, as currently is the practice. With the EPTC member’s full cooperation, however, the Group was able to get information immediately after the meetings, as the
138 Group received all the material and documents from the meetings from the EPTC member mentioned above. The Group members examined the content carefully and they also advised the EPTC member, and asked her to express the Group’s views.
At one point, the Group obtained a document that was a tentative draft of the EPTC report as a basis for discussion. The Group members thoroughly examined each line of the draft, and found that the words gender equality, which had been included in the report of the Central Education Council (CEC) to the Minister of Education, had been dropped. Takeda recalled her own careful reading of the documents, and commented:
From this point in time, I also began to examine the governmental documents thoroughly or closely for the first time, … Again, I think this was because of the great influence of the Beijing Conference. (Interview No. 22)
She added that she made up her mind again that the words gender equality—danjo kyodosankaku should be included in the report of the EPTC, and that this—at least—would be one of the goals of the Group.
Takeda sent a letter, dated the 9th April, 1997, to nine members of the Group Thinking about Education from Gender Perspectives, to share her deep concern about teacher education courses. The letter was sent to solicit comments regarding the tentative draft as a basis for discussion used in the ad hoc EPTC committee meetings. As she noted in her letter, the Council had held a meeting on the 8th April, and would hold another on the 15th, to discuss the tentative draft. In her letter, Takeda pointed out that the words gender equality—danjo no kyodosankaku appeared just once in the draft, in line 12 on page 18, and that the draft did not fully articulate that a gender perspective
139 was necessary in the process of teacher education in higher education. Takeda encouraged those members to send their comments on the tentative draft to the Group, so that the Group could ask the EPTC member to reflect their ideas in the ad hoc committee meeting.
The table of contents of the tentative draft was divided into six sections: 1) the process of discussion of the ad hoc committee; 2) the qualities needed to be teachers; 3) roles of teacher education in universities; 4) improvement of the curricula in teacher education; 5) flexibility of the teacher’s license system (except curricula); and 6) other points to consider. The expression gender equality—danjo kyodosankaku appeared in section 4, in the discussion of what was needed to improve qualities at present:
In order to give an opportunity to teacher candidates to think about how we are of the Earth or human beings, firstly it is necessary to let them understand deeply by discussing current themes like the environment of the Earth, cross cultural understandings, regional conflicts and refugees, population and food, aging of society and social welfare, and gender equality in society. Then, by discussing those themes, it is necessary to develop classes that require university students to think about the way to themselves teach content regarding those themes to school children depending on the level of their growth. (Ministry of Education, 1997)
As Takeda indicated in her letter to the members of the group, it was true that the theme of gender equality in society might have become a subject of discussion on organising future classes when thinking about current themes for school children.
However, it was also clear that studying gender perspectives was not mentioned as being necessary in teacher education.
140 In addition to the submission of the paper to EPTC, on the 30th January, 1997, the
Group visited the Ministry of Education to submit its paper for the attention of the
Curriculum Council (CC)—Kyoiku Katei Shingikai.12 Based on their ability to gather more than 500 supporters and host a successful symposium, and the statements that emphasised the importance of gender equality in the first report of the Central
Education Council issued in July in 1996, the Group expressed the following four opinions to the Curriculum Council—Kyoiku Katei Shingikai in January 1997:
1. the need for well-developed teaching in order to improve gender equality through education, learning, and/or school education as a whole;
2. the assurance of opportunities for learning about gender equality in Teacher Education;
3. the need for well-developed career guidance or counselling on choice of college; and
4. the need for well-developed learning and counselling regarding gender, including reproductive health rights. (The Group Thinking about Education from Gender Perspectives, 1997a)
Regarding this paper, it is particularly noteworthy that the Group suggested the establishment of a system to implement educational policy smoothly and in cooperation with national government, educational administrative machinery, women’s administrative machinery, educational institutions and schools. Applying
12 The Curriculum Council (CC)—Kyoiku Katei Shingikai is an advisory council to Minister of Education. The council discussed the system of the content of education in Japan. Like the EPTC, the Council was integrated with other seven educational councils within the Central Council for Education in January, 2001 as part of the central government reformation.
141 the case of the UK and other countries (from an opinion paper to the Curriculum
Council dated the 30th January, 1997), the Group also recommended the proactive implementation of educational policies based on the Plan for Gender Equality 2000 issued in 1996 in Japan.
On the 5th March, 1997, some members of the Group visited a project general manager in the Ministry, who also served as a member of the ad hoc Committee of
Curriculum—Karikyuramu nado Tokubetsu Iinkai in ETPC, and they exchanged opinions. Then, on the 7th March, 1997, the Group made a concrete and detailed plan of suggested curricula regarding gender related subjects. The resulting paper, titled
“Measures to Introduce Gender Perspectives in Teacher Training
Courses—Kyoinyoseikatei ni Jenda no Shiten wo Donyu Surutameno Kaizensaku”, and a list of the Group’s supporters were sent directly to each of the members of the
Education Personnel Training Committee. The Group took this action after their discussion with the Ministry project general manager two days before, because they understood that major change was unlikely and that a concrete proposal for the content of the current teacher’s license law was needed (The Group Thinking about
Education from Gender Perspectives, 1997c). It was a critical moment for the Group and their interests; they had to convince the authority in policy making, so that their voices would be heard and their values would be reflected in policies (Taylor et al.,
1997).
On the 14th April, 1997, the Group visited a member of the ad hoc Committee of
Curriculum—Karikyuramu nado Tokubetsu Iinkai in ETPC in order to relay to this
142 person the Group’s opinion on the tentative draft of the report (The Group Thinking about Education from Gender Perspectives, 1997c). Although the Group seemed to be successful in lobbying members, no opportunity arose for them to explain the content of their paper. Kameda (1997) indicated that the Ministry of Education, at that time, was a somewhat closed organisation. The Ministry did not collect information from the general public, but only from specialists. This closed culture, in turn, made schools rigid (Kameda, 1997) .
Further developments
Meanwhile, on the 6th March, 1997, the Group held a meeting to arrange a workshop at the National Women’s Education Centre on the occasion of the Women’s Studies,
Gender Studies Forum held from the 1st–3rd August. Their aim for the workshop was to develop a human network.
During the movement’s active period, the Group initiated some sub-groups based on individual interests. First, on the 14th March, 1997, 14 members established a sub-group called the All Japan Educational Network Implementing Gender
Equality—Danjo Byodo o Susumeru Kyoiku Zenkoku Nettowaku. This NGO group produced the by-laws of the group and collected 57 members from their first call to organise the network. Then, in the same month, some members of the Group also held several meetings to organise a second sub-group named Make Schools Gender Free,
All Japan Network—Gakko o Jenda Furi ni, Zenkoku Netto. Their goal was to take steps to improve gender equal education by changing the traditional Japanese attendance roll, in which boys' names are listed first, to a new roll on which names are
143 listed alphabetically, regardless of gender. In this way, the Group continued to give rise to other interrelated sub-groups.
On the other hand, for the purpose of strengthening the movement, the Group organised a workshop at the conference of the Women’s Studies Association of Japan, held on the 7th and the 8th June, 1997. The Group intended to explore ways to further improve the movement by exchanging information or ideas in this workshop (The
Group Thinking about Education from Gender Perspectives, 1997e).
Within the ETPC, on the 30th January, 1997, in the 7th ad hoc Committee of
Curriculum—Karikyuramu nado Tokubetsu Iinkai in ETPC, the previously mentioned ETPC member stated that:
Gender equality is argued about; this shows that this society is one in which women can not participate… I think that there are circumstances where schools inherit male-dominant social attitudes. For this reason, subjects regarding gender equality should be included in education programs, especially in Teacher Education Programs. (Committee of Curriculum in ETPC, 1997)
In addition to the ad hoc Committee of Curriculum—Karikyuramu nado Tokubetsu
Iinkai, there was a section of the minutes of the General Assembly of Educational
Personnel Training Council that might reflect this informant’s opinions, given in the ad hoc committee meetings. Closely examining the executive summary of the minutes of meetings, it was possible to find a section that mentioned gender for the first time in the minutes of the ninth meeting (dated the 28th March, 1997). In discussion of the content of the curriculum, the minutes reported that one member said: “Although I do
144 not think that gender studies are established academically, I think it is important to have knowledge about a gender equal society” (Educational Personnel Training
Council, 1997c). There was no other mention of men, women, or gender at all, except this description, although ‘hot’ topics such as Earth, environment, aging society and social welfare, internationalisation, computerisation, which had appeared in the July
1996 report of the Central Council for Education (CCE), occurred repeatedly. Further, only one sentence mentioning human rights education was located in the summary minutes of the thirteenth meeting on the 20th June, 1997. This section stated that: “it is necessary to fulfill the content regarding comprehensive issues such as human rights education” (Educational Personnel Training Council, 1997d). It is worth noting here, however, that in Japan the issue of human rights tends to focus on people in specific communities that experience discrimination—Dowa mondai,13 and on people with a disability.
According to the executive summary of the minutes of the eighth General Assembly of Educational Personnel Training Council, the Group’s position paper was finally submitted to the Council on the 26th February, 1997, along with five other submissions (Educational Personnel Training Council, 1997b). This was despite the fact that in the end the Group had never been invited to an ETPC meeting for a hearing.
13 Dowa issues (Dowa mondai) refers to Japanese citizens who are discriminated against on the basis of their (or their ancestor’s) occupations.
145 In the minutes of the sixteenth general meeting, dated the 11th July, 1997, the discussion focused on the topic of multidisciplinary practices—sogoenshu, a newly established curriculum in teacher education. Many members spoke about how teacher education could contribute to the improvement of the quality of teachers. Despite this, it was not possible to find any mention of gender within this discussion. In the seventeenth general meeting, dated the 28th July, 1997, the EPTC minuted the submission of their first report to Takashi Kosugi, the Minister of Education. In this meeting, members of the Group found that there was a positive outcome, as the report mentioned gender equality in two places. The statements were included in a section discussing improvements to the content of education in teacher education courses: 1) spirit of gender equality—danjo byodo no seishin—as a requirement in teachers; and
2) gender equal participation in society—shakai eno danjo no kyodosankaku
(Educational Personnel Training Council, 1997a). Nakaya claimed that, with such a statement contained within the report, educators should easily be able to provide gender (related) subjects within their courses (Interview No. 25).
Although the presence of the word gender in the report seemed to be a successful result, the Group still was not satisfied. The Group called for its members to watch the process of revision of the curriculum so that the content of the report would be realised (The Group Thinking Education from Gender Perspectives, 1997). As part of this process, the Group organised its second symposium on the 30th November, 1997.
In an invitation letter, the Group mentioned that:
… at the present stage, it is not enough, but recognisable changes were included in the words of the report. However, the
146 movement should not be stopped here … We will hold a symposium again at this point; by thinking together and exchanging information of practical activities, our movement is expected to develop further for the promotion of gender equal educational practices … (The Group Thinking about Education from Gender Perspectives, 1997d)
The Group did not highly value the result, but at least noted that the report had enabled curriculum designers to introduce women’s studies or gender studies as one of the officially designated subjects in a unit of multidisciplinary practice in teacher education; however, actual implementation was dependent on each university and lecturers within the universities (Kaya, 1998).
At the beginning of 1998, the Group expressed its goal for the year as proceeding with reformation in education with the cooperation of a group named the Make Schools
Gender Free, All Japan Network (Kaya, 1998). This network was established by some members of the Group in an attempt to broaden the usage of the alphabetical class attendance roll, as discussed earlier. Some members joined the activities of another sub-group named All Japan Educational Network Implementing Gender Equality.
Gradually, Group members began to spread their efforts across a number of groups, which had been newly organised by members of the Group Thinking about Education from Gender Perspectives (The Group Thinking about Education from Gender
Perspectives, 1997b). In this way, the ripples caused by the Group spread wider. It is important to note, however, that the Group was no longer the central agent of change, for it is not possible to locate any subsequent chronological evidence of the existence of the Group after a document dated early 1998.
147 The decline of the Group
There are some reasons the Group Thinking about Education from Gender
Perspectives did not maintain its initial high levels of activity over time. First, like many feminist groups, the Group lacked a formal structure. From the time of its formation, the Group had no official representative, no office, and no by-laws with approximately ten people within the Group sharing the administrative tasks as required (Kaya, 1998). When asked why the Group stopped its activities, Takeda stated that:
Our goal was to lobby the EPTC. I don’t think we had the idea that the group would continue permanent activities … [It was our way to do it] without having a by-law, or a leader … Feminist scholars do not place a leader [in a group]. (Interview No. 22)
Supported by feminist thought directed against hierarchal systems called “hiraba no kannkei”,14 or the flat relationships principle (Eto, 2008), Takeda, in the interview, justified the group not having a structure by highlighting equal and horizontal relationships among members. However, unlike electronic networks where a website itself can serve as a place to exchange information and opinions, it is clear that any network using merely a facsimile machine requires someone at the centre to integrate and facilitate the communication exchanges. Thus, it is reasonable to suggest that the
14 “[T]he Japanese liberation movement adopted a non-hierarchical organizational structure. [They] tried to establish a perfectly equal relationship among its members. [The] members could undertake their action without the committee’s decision as long as they reported it to the committee after the fact. Such a decision-making style was called the “flat relation (hiraba no kankei)” principle”. (Eto, 2008, p. 126)
148 group was extremely vulnerable to fragmentation as a result of the lack of a clear division of responsibilities or formal structure.
Nevertheless, Takeda added that they used their human network effectively. Although they did not get together and did not take any action as a group after their breakup, they did subsequently publish both articles and books. She continued, “not to waste this network, we did some research”, and she also added an unexpected outcome that:
Later, I found the high-ranking member of EPTC became a member of a certain gender related academic research group. He said to me, with a broad grin, ‘I have finally understood what you meant at that time’. (Interview No. 22)
Another factor that contributed to the group’s demise was the declining energy levels of the movement as a collective force. Takeda stressed in the interview that she thought that the EPTC’s report to the Minister of Education was a successful outcome of the group activities. Nonetheless, to aim to exert an influence on the EPTC report was not the only motivation behind organising the Group. Hence, having accomplished the primary goal of introducing gender perspectives into education, the
Group began to seek new goals. As mentioned earlier in this chapter, the Group aligned their priorities with the concrete activities of the Make Schools Gender Free,
All Japan Network—Gakko o Jenda Furi ni, Zenkoku Netto. This merger was representative of both the evolution and subsequent demise of the group.
Third, although the Group insisted they would monitor the Ministry’s activities until the content of the report was reflected in some kind of policy format, they did not take concrete actions for this purpose. Given that the effectiveness of a policy can be
149 measured by both its “process and product” (Taylor et al., 1997, p. 24) It appeared that the Group’s ambition was crushed midway towards achieving its goals. In addition, their strategies were not sophisticated enough to involve those feminist government officials who were actually in a position to influence policy directly (as observed in the teachers’ feminist movements in Canada or Australia) (Gaskell & Taylor, 2003;
Tanaka, 1998).
Nonetheless, the network developed by the Group produced several useful outcomes with the principal effect being that the Group’s activities resulted in the sharing of knowledge concerning the relationship between gender and education. Importantly, the Group published several papers related to research on gender and education
(Kameda et al., 1998b; Kameda & Tachi, 2001), and also were fundamental in the formation of the All Japan Educational Network Implementing Gender
Equality—Danjo Byodo o Susumeru Kyoiku Zenkoku Nettowaku. Ten years after its establishment, this NGO still continues its activities with approximately 300 members, and it is clear that the Group Thinking about Education from Gender Perspectives’ legacy is retained among members of this NGO as it was referred to in their newsletter
(Danjo Byodo o Susumeru Kyoiku Zenkoku Nettowaku, 2005).
In 1999, the Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society was enacted. In the Basic Law for
Gender Equality, as an action plan of the Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society (the
Basic Plan for Gender Equality), approved in the same year, it was claimed that human rights education such as gender equality should be promoted in teacher education. In addition, the Group’s influences extend to a number of other activities.
150 For example, approximately ten years after the launch of this movement, and led by national universities, both private and national universities across Japan have now begun to establish the institutional administrative structures for implementing policies of gender equality. It is also easy to find familiar names from the Group within those who currently promote gender equality policies in higher education. The network of feminist teachers united through the activities still exists and continues to promote education for a gender equal society in Japan.
Summary
This chapter has provided a window into the workings of one of the Japanese women’s movements that influenced government education policy making and became a ‘maternal’ group, giving birth to several feminist groups working on education. The analysis in this chapter provides the starting point of the trajectory study and a tangible backdrop for the thesis for, as Eto (2008) pointed out, work on women’s movements by Japanese researchers is limited; this chapter has attempted to address this issue by examining a women’s movement that was influenced by the
UNWCW in Beijing. The analysis has found that, like other feminist groups at that time, several practical elements of the UNWCW Beijing agenda were used by the
Group’s members as their strategy to reflect gender perspectives in teacher education policy. Their main realisation of the Beijing agenda was to influence policy through lobbying. The Group pressured some policy makers in the government or persuaded committee members to reflect ideas emerging from the Group. Another positive outcome of their activities was solidarity and cooperation amongst broader feminist groups. For example, with the assistance of another feminist body, the group was able
151 to disseminate information throughout Japan and to unite to take political actions, using the JJ net facsimile network. It is also worth mentioning the experience of a member who recognised herself as having been empowered by the activities of the movement. As a result, the movement saw the word ‘gender’ written into education policy.
However, like the short and brilliant life of an ignited firework, this burst of energy eventually declined and the Group finally broke up. Besides bringing a gender perspective to the text of the policy, as a group of educators and academics, they made academic contributions through educational film, research, and books on gender and education. However, it is undeniable that their movement ended without fulfilling their ambition. One of the reasons can be seen in the fact that the Group splintered into a number of sub-groups—like successive cell division—as several members followed different specific goals. The women’s movement outlined in this chapter appeared just a few years before the establishment of the Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society.
The movement was certainly one of the drivers for bringing about the epoch-making law in Japan, and the objectives of the law are examined in more detail the following chapter of the thesis.
The next chapter discusses the development of the Basic Law for a Gender-equal
Society, which was certainly their long waited first step heading for the gender equal society. The chapter investigated some related policy documents and interview data related to the formation of the law in order to examine the objectives of the law, which
152 is one of the research questions, focusing on how the gender issues are articulated in the law.
153 Chapter Six: Formulation of Policy: Gender and Power in the Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society, Japan
This chapter investigates how gender issues have been put into statutory form in the
Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society. I first focus attention on the three main government policy documents as they were issued chronologically. The first document, the report titled Vision of Gender Equality 2000 (hereafter the Vision), submitted to Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto in 1996, is the text in which the word for gender—“jenda” (a ‘loan’ word)—first appeared in a Japanese policy document
(Osawa et al., 2000).
In its quest to implement gender equity policy, the Japanese government then developed legislation based on the Vision: the Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society
(hereafter the Basic Law), enacted in 1999. This is the main policy document investigated in this study. As is the nature of a basic law in general, the Basic Law is also not an individual law covering a specific area, but rather constitutes a set of guidelines for making policies across all fields (Onodera, 1999)—including the educational sphere—in Japanese society. As is the usual nature of a basic law in Japan, the Basic Law itself has limited legal status in that it is intended to only provide guidelines, and breaking it—unlike ordinary individual laws—does not carry any penalty. Furthermore, along with the enactment of the Basic Law, the Japanese
154 government restructured the network of administrative structures or national machinery15 in order to implement the Basic Law fully across all fields of society.
In the following year, 2000, the Basic Plan for Gender Equality (hereafter “the Basic
Plan”) was issued as an action plan for the Basic Law. This is the third main policy document considered in this study. While there are no concrete instructions written into the Basic Law, the Basic Plan indicates practical measures across twelve arenas.
In the Basic Plan, there are some statements on education including higher education and teacher education.
In addition to these three main documents (the Vision, the Basic Law and the Basic
Plan), an internal report of the national government is relevant to consider regarding the development of the Basic Law. I tentatively label it the Osawa Report (1998). This report was compiled by a research group commissioned by the Japanese government to carry out surveys of the gender related basic laws in other countries, prior to the formation of the Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society. While the research group comprised nine people, their final report was written by six scholars in the group, with
Osawa serving as project general manager.
This chapter aims to examine research question 1: “What were the original objectives of the gender equity policy?”. For this purpose, this trajectory study investigates the issues of gender and power represented in the Basic Law in Japan. As stated above, I
15 The "national machinery" was defined as "a single body or a complex organized system of bodies, often under different authorities, but recognized by the Government as the institution dealing with the promotion of the status of women" by the Secretariat of the United Nations in 1987 (Vision of Gender Equality, 1996).
155 examined the policy documents relevant to the development of the Basic Law: the
Vision, the Osawa Report and the Basic Law, and the Basic Plan. Focusing on the analysis of these political documents, this chapter also investigates interview data collected from key players involved in forming the Basic Law.
This chapter first elucidates how gender and gender related issues were handled in the
Basic Law. The women-focused expressions in the Vision were changed into expressions using both men and women in all provisions of the Basic Law, which appears to weaken the possibility of achieving the gender equality because it weakened the focus on women’s discrimination. Nonetheless, the fundamental women-focused perspectives were revived in the prescriptive specific measures in the
Basic Law, which specifically includes the international guideline of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and
Women 2000 (Beijing+5). Then what was the government’s intention to change the focus from women to both men and women? The study in this section paid attention to the statement that the Japanese Government addressed gender inequality by questioning stereotyped gender roles, and especially women’s position in Japanese society and the government showed its obvious consciousness of international attention in the first Basic Plan.
Background to the development of the Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society
The United Nations Women’s Conferences held every ten years, commencing in 1975, provided impetus for change in gender equality in Japan and elsewhere. The
Conferences continuously informed the Japanese government about the importance of 156 gender equality and realising a gender equal society, with the government making steady progress towards meeting these goals. For example, at the second UN World
Conference on Women (UNWCW), held in Nairobi, Kenya in 1985, Japan ratified the
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women
(CEDAW). In the same year, the Japanese government enacted the first law concerning gender equality after UNWCW: the Equal Employment Opportunity Law
(EEOL). As well as applying the concept to the work place, this move also brought the concept of gender to Japanese compulsory education. This started with the inclusion, in the teaching guidelines (gakushu shidou youryo) for junior high schools, of the requirement that the subject of home economics be taught to both boys and girls.
From 1993, home economics was taught to both boys and girls in junior high schools, and the policy was extended to high schools from 1994. Male and female students from junior high schools began to be taught about gender equality through home economics textbooks (see Chapter Two).
In the same year, the Japanese government changed the name of the “Headquarters for the Planning and Promoting of Policies Relating to Women” to the “Headquarters for the Promotion of Gender Equality”. This change of name signalled a shift in the government’s focus from a women-centric perspective, focusing on the promotion of women’s position in society, to a review of the social systems and practices influenced by the gender roles of men and women. What then was the government’s intention in changing the focus from women to both men and women?
157 In 1995, more than 5,000 people participated in the UN World Conference on Women in Beijing (Furuhashi, 2004, p. 105). As discussed in Chapter Five, a number of
Japanese participants in the conference were influenced to the extent that they organised a group working for the implementation of resolutions from the conference, and feminist groups actively lobbied and pressured the government on gender equity policy implementation. One example was the direct appeal to Prime Minister
Hashimoto, which took place at his official residence, made in 1996 by ten representatives of the Liaison Group for the Implementation of Resolutions adopted by the United Nations International Women's Year Japanese Convention (The
International Women's Year Liaison Group [IWYLG]), which is an affiliation of 51 nationwide women's organisations in Japan (Office for Gender Equality, 1997).
According to the National Government Official Website titled the Women in Japan
Today (Office for Gender Equality, 1997), they appealed for:
the expansion and strengthening of the national mechanism to enable the Government to promote women's policy measures in a united manner, as well as for permanent status for the Council for Gender Equality. (Office for Gender Equality, 1997)
As was the case in many countries at the time, the request of IWYLG in the example above shows that feminists in Japan united under the name of the UN Women’s
Conferences and were empowered to take action to push the government toward realising a gender equal society. That is, their request to “promote women's policy measures in a united manner” supported the idea of forming the Basic Law and they also proposed “permanent status for the Council for Gender Equality”. There were
158 strong public comments that underlined their desire for thorough implementation of the gender equity policies and for the establishment of a supporting administrative structure.
The representations made by the IWYLG demonstrate—and the comments made by a former high ranking member of the Office for Gender Equality support—a close relationship between “the government office [for gender equality] [and] NGOs”
(Interview No. 26). This member added that:
At the start, the office used to be very small. Then, the NGOs eagerly requested the establishment of an organisation that conformed with a law or to situate a Minister in charge there … our government has proceeded [the gender equality policies] by being pushed by the UN and led by many women … I think that is a characteristic [factor] of our government. (Interview No. 26)
A former high ranking member of the Office for Gender Equality showed clear recognition of the strong influence both from outside (the UN) and inside (women’s movement) the country. Her statement implies that the Japanese government at that time had not yet taken the initiative in implementing gender equality policy. She further added that initially the Office of Gender Equality (OGE) seemed to get rather a small budget allocation considering the size of its office. Also it was noteworthy that some NGOs already had proposed the establishment of the OGE with a Minister at the top. It seems that the government responded to external pressures from the UN and internal pressures from feminists’ groups which provided significant impetus to the
159 implementation of gender equality policies. Thus, there were good reasons for the government to develop gender equality policies even further.
In 1996, two years after the re-naming of the Headquarters for the Promotion of
Gender Equality—Danjo kyodosankaku Suishin Honbu, the Council for Gender
Equality—Danjo kyodosankaku Shingikai—submitted a report titled Vision of
Gender Equality—Creating New Values for the 21st Century to Prime Minister
Ryutaro Hashimoto. As Osawa (2000) points out, considering the fact that the Vision was the first political document to mention ‘gender’, the Vision was a political landmark in the promotion of gender concepts from women’s perspectives. The
Vision also clarified the intention of the national government to form the Basic Law.
Part 3 of the Vision (Improving/Reinforcing Systems to Promote Comprehensive,
Practical Measures) strongly recommended “the enactment of basic laws to promote the realisation of a gender-equal society” (Council for Gender Equality, 1996). The
Hashimoto Cabinet agreed with the thrust of the report—which was also congruent with a 1996 election promise made by their Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)—with the Prime Minister stating in a speech to the Diet in 1998 that the Cabinet would submit the bill for forming the Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society to the next parliament (Bando, 2004).
In 1997, the government commissioned a research group to investigate the basic gender-related laws in foreign countries. This investigation was designed to provide basic principles and obligations of national government regarding the development of legislation for gender equality, regardless of the specific arena. The report was then
160 completed by the legally incorporated foundation, the Financial and Economical
Association (Zaidan hojin, Zaisei keizai kyoukai) and titled “Danjo kyodosankaku ni
Kansuru Shogaikoku no Kihonhosei nado ni kannsuru Chosa Kenkyu—Study of
Legislation Relating to Basic Laws in Foreign Countries Regarding Gender Equality”
(Osawa et al., 1998) (hereafter, the Osawa Report). The Osawa Report was intended only for internal use in the General Administrative Agency of the Cabinet of that time, although some parts were included in a book published in 2000 (Osawa et al., 2000).
In the year following the enactment of the Basic Law, on December 12, 2000, the
Basic Plan for Gender Equality (the first plan)—Danjo kyodosankaku
Kihonkeikakku—was issued as an action plan for the Basic Law. When formulating the Basic Plan, the reports compiled by the former Council for Gender Equality entitled "Basic Philosophy behind Formulation of the Basic Plan for Gender
Equality"16 and "Basic Measures pertaining to Violence against Women" and the results of "Women 2000" (Beijing+5)17 were taken into account. These documents enabled the Basic Plan to emphasise points of the basic philosophy of gender equality, the issue of violence against women, and the international agenda from the UNWCWs.
The following diagram (Figure 6. 1) shows the relationships between the main documents used for analysis.
16 This report entitled “Danjo Kyodo Sankaku Kihonkeikaku Sakutei Ni Attateno Kihontekina Kagaekata—21 Seiki No Saijyuyoukadai—Toshin” in Japanese was submitted by the Council for Gender Equality to Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, on September 26, 2000.
17 The Japanese government submitted a report, “Response to the Questionnaire to Government on Implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action”, to the General Assembly of the UN entitled "Women: 2000: Gender Equality, Development and Peace for the Twenty-First Century" in 2000.
161 The Vision of Gender Equality, 1996
The Osawa Report, 1998
The Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society, 1999
The Basic Plan for Gender Equality (first version), 2000
The Basic Plan for Gender Equality (second version), 2005
Figure 6.1: Documents involved in the development of the Basic Law
Gender and power in the Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society
The following section examines key words and discourses on ‘gender’ written in three policy documents: 1) the Vision of Gender Equality 2000; 2) the Osawa Report
(Danjo Kyodosankaku ni Kansuru Shogaikoku no Kihonhosei nado ni kannsuru
Chosa Kenkyu—Study of legislation relating to basic laws in foreign countries regarding gender equality) (Osawa et al., 1998) that were foundational to the formation of the Basic Law; and 3) the Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society. As the
Vision and the Osawa Report are both internal, national government documents, their
162 presentation is plain and clerical (black ink on white paper). The Osawa Report is bound with a cream–yellow paper cover; however, it may be a stretch to try to find some meaning in the choice of the cover colour. It is possible that in view of the difficulties of access to the Osawa Report and the special cooperation given to me, a feminist researcher, by the person who was originally involved in compiling the document (see Methodology chapter), such a mild cream–yellow colour, which is not conspicuous in any way, may have been chosen by the binder in the hope of signalling the establishment of a new gender equal future society.
On the other hand, the various presentations of the Basic Law for a Gender-equal
Society printed in government documents, in general, have been marginalised. For example, a pamphlet titled “Gender Equality 2000”, which was widely distributed both in print and via a website and developed as a popular edition for the public, was also plainly presented, with black inked lines of letters on standard white paper, and positioned material about the Basic Law in the latter part of the pamphlet as an appendix. The presentation of the Law as an unobtrusive and modest document and as an appendix is suggestive of the marginalisation of the Basic Law itself. However, it is possible that this was done for strategic reasons. Historically and culturally, Japan has been a patriarchal society where an awareness of gender issues requires time and effort to be developed. In addition, because the text of a law normally is considered difficult to understand, it may not be a good strategy to present such a text in the front part of a publication. Given that, the written discussion of the Law may have been located strategically where it would not receive too much attention.
163 First, in undertaking an examination of the Vision (Part 2: Towards a Gender-equal
Society), the Basic Law and the Basic Plan, the provisions in each document under the five recommendations of the Basic Law were listed, as shown in the following table (Table 6. 1).
In the recommendations listed in Table 6.1, in order to review and change social systems and practices for example, ‘gender-related prejudice’, ‘awareness’, and
‘gender equality’ are highlighted. Troyna (1994) labels such conceptualisation of policy discourses as ‘symbolic political language’ and ‘condensation symbols’ (p. 73), saying that:
‘condensation symbols’ are designed to create symbolic stereotypes and metaphors which reassure supporters that their interests have been considered. But they are framed in ways that the proposed solutions may also be contradictory or ambiguously related to the way supporters originally viewed the issue. (Troyna, 1994, p. 73)
Troyna’s arguments are a warning to feminists considering and analysing policy documents. Hence, attention is given to ‘condensation symbols’ in the analysis of policy documents in the following sections. Considering that the language in the policy texts has political power, the condensation symbols imply the government’s intent regarding the direction in which to navigate Japanese society.
164 Table 6.1: Provisions and recommendations in source documents
Vision (issued in 1996) Basic Law (issued in 1999) Basic Plan (issued in 2000) Recommendation 1. Reviewing social systems and practices 1. Forming a society with no Article 4. Consideration to social 2. Reviewing social gender-related prejudice systems or practices systems and practices and reforming awareness from the perspective of gender equality Recommendation 2. Promoting Compatibility of Activities in Family Life and Other Activities 2. Establishing gender Article 6. Compatibility of 3. Assuring equal equality in the workplace, activities in family life and other opportunity and equal family, and community activities treatment in employment 4. Building partnerships in agriculture, forestry, and fishing villages 5. Supporting women and men to harmonise work with family and community life Recommendation 3. Promoting Joint Participation in Planning and Deciding Policies 3. Promotion of joint Article 5. Joint participation in 1. Increasing participation participation by men and planning and deciding policies, by women in policy women in policy etc. decision-making decision-making processes Recommendation 4. Respecting Human Rights 4. Reinforcing efforts to Article 3. Respect for the human 6. Developing conditions promote/protect the right to rights of women and men to enable elderly people live without discrimination and others to live in peace on the basis of gender of mind 7. Elimination of all forms of violence against women 8. Respect for human rights of women in the media 9. Supporting life-long health for women 10. Promoting gender equality to open the way for a diversity of choices through enrichment of education and learning Recommendation 5. Contributing to International Cooperation 5. Contributing to the Article 7. (International 11. Contributing to the "equality, development and cooperation) "equality, development peace" of the global and peace" of the global community community
165 Focusing on the gender roles of women
The preamble of Part 2, titled Toward a Gender-equal Society, in the Vision begins with the following sentence: “In order to realize a gender-equal society, we must solve women's problems first.” This led me to firstly try to identify how “women” are presented in the Vision and the Basic Law. As shown in Table 6.1, the five recommendations are common in three documents and share common themes.
However, unlike the Vision that specially refers to ‘women’ or ‘men and women’, every expression in the Basic Law refers to both 'women and men’—Danjo—in
Japanese version. This change clearly deviates from the direction mentioned in the
Vision: that the first priority for realising a gender-equal society is to “solve women’s problems first”.
It is also worth noting that while the documents of English language version order this statement as ‘women and men’, the government retained the order as ‘men and women’ in Japanese language documents and publications. The word order in the
English language documents was clearly intentional; examples can be found in current official documents and government publications such as an annual pamphlet titled “Women and Men in Japan” and sentences include ‘women and men’ in pamphlets titled “Gender Equality in Japan 2007” and “Steps towards Gender
Equality in Japan, 2006”. The expression ‘women and men’ is unusual not only in
English. In Japanese, the genders are similarly ‘normally’ ordered, as in ‘gentlemen and ladies—shinshi shukujo’. There is almost no Japanese expression in which
‘ladies’ is first. However, the Japanese government intentionally uses the reversed and feminist English expression ‘women and men’ in material targeted at English
166 readers and countries outside Japan. I propose two possible reasons for this: one is to challenge the masculine characteristics of the English language; the other is to display to foreign countries—and especially to the international organisations to which Japan must report—the government’s prioritisation of women’s issues by expressing the feminist’s standpoint in this word order.
The statements of the Vision and the Basic Plan share common issues of gender roles, recommending compatibility. The extracts indicate the female work force in the field of primary industries is not visible because of gendered social practices.
Extract 1:
From the Vision:
Part II. 2.（2） Promotion of Gender Equality in Agriculture, Forestry, Fisheries, and Self-Employed Businesses
women play a big role in production activities as a manager or family employee, thus contributing to the maintenance of the family and the development of the community. On the other hand, … their achievement is not evaluated fairly, and women's participation in the decision-making process has not increased yet. This is because production and daily life are so closely connected that they are inseparable, and also because stereotyped gender roles and customs still exist.
From the Basic Plan
4. Building Partnerships in Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing Villages
[Basic Direction of Measures]
Clarify the management position of women who occupy 60% of the agricultural workforce, and who play important
167 roles in sustaining agriculture, forestry and fisheries. Create surroundings that promote women’s participation in the management of agriculture, forestry and fisheries businesses including new entries, as well as promoting related entrepreneurial activities.
(4) Create an environment conducive to the lives and activities of women
Promote the creation of an environment conducive to the lives and activities of women. In particular, promoting measures designed to ease the burden on women who undertake labour, domestic work, childcare, elderly care and other work is indispensable.
It is quite significant that there is specific mention that, in spite of the position of a business partner “play[ing] a big role”, women’s “achievement is not evaluated fairly”. And the Vision and Basic Plan both note that the fundamental cause of such ignorance of women’s achievements depends on ‘stereotyped gender roles and customs’ such as ‘the burden on women who undertake labour, domestic work, childcare, elderly care’. Women’s contributions to the family business or in self-employment such as agriculture or fishing are considered “shadow work” (Fujita
& Doi, 2001) that does not lead directly to financial production (other examples of shadow work are child rearing, elderly caring, or house work, which is underpinned by the notion of “gift-exchange”—work done in the name of love or obligation within a family (Connell, 2002, p. 61). In so doing, women’s scope has been restricted by patriarchal discourses. Concretely, this traditional shadow work has been incorporated into the family system. That is because the total income of the family business is ascribed to the head of the household (setainushi in an official family
168 registration, usually a man), and this makes women’s work invisible. The recognition given in the two documents was represented as an idea in the Practical Measures (2) of
Part II of the Vision—that:
a family business agreement as clear rules must be established within the family running a family business, in order to distribute the profit proportional to the amount of work done, to improve the economic status of women through the formation of assets, to establish a favourable employment environment, and to clarify the working conditions.
The “family business agreement”, or Kazoku keiei kyotei, is quite an innovative idea.
It clarifies the female contribution to a family business where private and public life are inseparable, since women’s achievements are usually invisible under the usual male-centred family household system. This is one of the concrete measures of the recommendation to “promote compatibility in family life and other activities” in the
Vision. Initially, the family business agreement, which actually originated in an idea described in a report by the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry in 1993, aims to be a means to save women from exploitation, discrimination and the abuse of human rights to which they have been accustomed for a long time. Under the principal of capitalism, as work without financial profit has not been included in monetary calculations of value, women who engaged in such work—in both the political and everyday spheres—were thus powerless and not given opportunities for decision making. However, while the wording “a family business agreement” does not appear in either the Basic Law or the Basic Plan, there is reference to the notion of it. In the
Basic Plan, at section 4, (3) titled, “Improving the economic status of women and improving work conditions/environment”, some concrete descriptions mirror the 169 content of a family business agreement without naming it. On this matter, Kashima
(2003, p. 155) is critical, stating that:
as there were some who did not like this word [family business agreement—Kazoku keiei kyotei], the secretariat refrained from using it after taking into consideration. After all this plan would be a stillborn plan if even one Cabinet member disagrees, as this plan should be approved in a Cabinet meeting.
Nonetheless, the secretariat, the Gender Equality Bureau at that time, seemed to manage to leave the outline in the concrete plan of the Basic Law. The revival of the idea of a family business agreement should not to be entrusted only to the relevant ministry, the Ministry of Agriculture, and interested parties, women involved in agriculture;18 the problem is shared in women’s position at home in Japanese society due to ‘stereotyped gender roles and customs’.
The issue of ‘promoting compatibility in family life’ is also controversial. It is not a problem only for female farmers but for all women wishing to work. Many men and women have thought that women should work outside only insofar as such work does not disturb family life (and, therefore, work). Hence, women must satisfy their domestic work obligations before having the right to work outside. This patriarchal idea is supported by an ideology called ‘good wife and wise mother—ryosaikenbo’, which has been an ideal image of woman since WWII, and which forced women to act as ‘second-rate labour’ (Kawahigashi, 2001). To promote this ‘compatibility’ notion
18 A women’s group involved in agriculture established a network named ‘Kitahito Net – A Network of People in North’ in January, 2009, and one of their agenda in a forum held was about the family business agreement.
170 only to women and propose solutions to the obstacles of compatibility only focusing on women accelerates the gendering of women’s situations. The means to create genuinely equal partnerships, via the discourse of human rights and gender discrimination, which is a fundamental issue of realising a gender equal society, is discussed in the next section.
Gender discrimination and human rights
The issue of human rights is fundamental to the idea of gender equality, as stated in the first sentence of the Vision: “"Gender equality" aims to achieve genuine equality between men and women by planting the idea of respecting human rights deeply into society's soil” [emphasis in original] (Council for Gender Equality, 1996). The first recommendation in the Basic Law is to “respect the human rights of women and men”, stated in article 3. A variety of concrete descriptions of human rights and prohibition of gender discrimination are expressed in the Vision, the Osawa Report and the Basic
Law. They are to respect the individual, to be free from discrimination and violence, to be independent in any field of society, to be proud of themselves, to be respected as individual beings and to respect their dignity as individuals, to avoid gender-based discriminatory treatment and, lastly, to secure opportunities to exercise their abilities as individuals. Across these three documentations there is a shift in expression from
“women” in the Vision to “gender” in the Osawa Report, and then to “women and men” in the Basic Law. This change indicates that the policy on the emancipation of human rights was broadened from a focus on women to encompass both men and women.
171 Extract 2:
From the Vision:
1. (1), a. The establishment of human rights: A gender-equal society is a graceful society that respects the individual, and is based on the idea of establishing human rights. Without the establishment of human rights, it would be impossible to create a society where women are free from discrimination and violence, where women can have independence in any field of society, and where women can be proud of themselves and are respected as individual beings.
From the Osawa Report:
Prohibition of gender discrimination, harassment:
It goes without saying that the prohibition of gender discrimination is one of the most important themes in discussing the basic law. (p. 14)
From the Basic Law:
Chapter 1, General Provisions Article 3,
(Respect for the Human Rights of Women and Men):
Formation of a Gender-equal Society shall be promoted based on respect for the human rights of women and men, including: respect for the dignity of men and women as individuals; no gender-based discriminatory treatment of women or men; and the securing of opportunities for men and women to exercise their abilities as individuals.
The extracts above indicate the subtle discursive shift within the discourse of human rights. The statement in the Vision reflects feminist discourses and is strongly critical of the fact that human rights have not been established in Japan and that this is the fundamental issue in discrimination against women. Further, the Vision claims that
172 the establishment of human rights is the foundation for the realisation of a gender equal society. Gender equal society, in the Vision, means a society where women are assured of their individual dignity and independence, are free from discrimination and violence, and are proud of themselves. The repeated use of “a society where women…” in the Vision gives the impression that a gender equal society depends on women’s emancipation. Considering the common conception of the aim for establishing gender equal society, there is an assumption of feminist discourses that those discriminated against are mainly women. As feminist researchers (Abbott &
Wallace, 1997; Connell, 1987; Tong, 1989; Ueno, 1990) have revealed, the inequalities of gender discrimination and existing gender role divisions reflect the power structure of male dominated society and maintain this social structure.
While human dignity for women is the focus of the Vision, in the Osawa Report, the focus on women’s discrimination is replaced by ‘gender’ discrimination, and in the
Basic Law the words ‘women and men’ are stressed. There was a shift from a women-focused perspective in the Vision to a gender-focus in the Basic Law, signalling that a gender equal society can be established by the positive approach of men and women as equal partners. As stated in the Supplementary Provisions of the
Basic Law, “to realize a Gender-equal Society” requires that both “men and women respect the other's human rights and share their responsibilities, and every citizen is able to fully exercise their individuality and abilities regardless of gender”. However, this shift from a focus on women to a focus on men and women as equal partners appears to be a political strategy to ‘neutralise’ the policy. In the early stage of policy
173 implementation, the focus would need to be more targeted to strengthen the policy originally designed to redress discrimination experienced by women.
This shift in the Basic Law claims another important agenda that women’s situation cannot be changed unless men’s changes (Ito, 2003; Ito, Kimura, & Kuninobu, 2002;
Kashima, 1999, 2003). In Japan, men’s studies intend to reflect men’s problems critically so that men can also enjoy their lives free from the pressures and frustration
(Ito et al., 2002) caused by male dominated society (Ito, 2003; Ito et al., 2002).
However, we should not also forget the warning from the western experience: that a broad focus can lead to dilution of the problems experienced by a specific equity target group like women.
The Basic Law stipulates that respecting human rights means respecting ‘the dignity of individuals’ and their right to exercise ‘their abilities as individuals’. These strong appeals to men and women as individuals reflect the power relationship between men and women characterised by women’s subordinate position in Japanese society in both public and private spheres. In Japanese families, women have traditionally followed, and continue to follow, three regimes of obedience, influenced by
Confucian philosophy. These stipulate that prior to marriage a woman must obey her father; after marriage, her husband; and after that, her first-born son in case of her husband’s death (Irwin, 1996).
Further, in the workplace, women have rarely been perceived as equal business partners. Iwao (1995, p. 206) reports that Japanese middle-aged and older men, who usually occupy the top ranks of the hierarchy of an organisation, perceive women as
174 being only of three kinds: “their wives, the women who do supportive jobs and errands at office, and bar hostesses… For them, a woman who is an equal and respected colleague is rare”. Considering indirect discrimination, such as the dual career ladder system and female labour embedded in an M-curve phenomenon (cf.
Chapter Two), the human rights of women as individuals and equal partners need to be specifically emphasised. The expressions of ‘human rights of men and women’ or
‘men and women as individuals’ are problematic as they make the women’s issues invisible again.
In the provisions categorised under the recommendation for the respect of human rights, the discourses of human rights in the Vision and the Basic Plan elucidated social problems such as “violence against women”, “human rights in the expressions in media”, “issues on reproductive rights”, and “recognition of women at work”. In the following extracts, I use the issue of violence against women as an example.
Extract 3:
From the Vision:
4. (1) Elimination of Violence against Women
Violence against women infringes upon their human rights and fundamental freedoms. It is not a problem for women as individuals alone: it constitutes a critical social and structural problem that drives them down to more subordinate positions than men.
From the Basic Plan:
III. 7. Elimination of All Forms of Violence Against Women
175 [V]iolence against women gives them fear and anxiety, infringes upon their basic rights and restricts their freedom, make them to loose confidence, and drives them to more subordinate positions than men.
As both documents clearly state, violence is ‘an abuse of human rights’ and ‘a social and structural problem’. It seems that the Vision refers to the fundamental issues of human rights and social structure clearly, and the Basic Plan directs attention to the feelings of victimised women more concretely. These expression are necessary because, in Japan, violence against women had not been considered to be a problem
(Kashima, 2003) until the idea of domestic violence received attention.
There were big differences between the common view on gender equality in Japan and that of the international standard proposed by the UN. One official who did recognise that political and judicial efforts for the emancipation of women in Japan had been very slow and were far behind the international standard was Bando, the ex-General Director of the Office for Gender Equality, who attended the 29th
Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in New
York in 2003 (Bando, 2004, p. 1). Bando (2004, p. 1), indicating anti-feminist discourses confronting the ways in which a gender equal society is realised, writes in her book, “I became keenly aware that there is a large slippage of political measures in terms of an international standard in Japan”. Bando (2004, p. 2) added that the opinions of the members of the CEDAW Committee were “ideal”, but such opinions could “only provoke a backlash” in Japan, and that “they were a view which everyone hesitated to mention in Japan”.
176 Violence and sexual harassment, as forms of gender discrimination against women, were finally recognised in law, but there were gaps between theory and practice. The
Anti-Stalking Law enacted in 2000, and the Anti-Domestic Violence Law enacted in the following year at least acknowledged the fact of discrimination and clarified that most domestic violence against women had not been treated as a crime. Considering these judicial measures, a schematic overview that women are usually victimised and suppressed becomes apparent. Although the word ‘gender’ encompasses a wider context than women-centric ideas, it is the fact that, as is written in the Basic Law, the idea of gender helped people consider the problems as social structural problems.
As for considering solutions for human rights issues, the Vision and the Basic Plan appear to suggest educating and empowering women, as shown in the following extracts.
Extract 4:
From the Vision:
4.(4) Promotion of Gender Equality to Open the Way for a Diversity of Choices through Enrichment of Education and Learning
Education at home, school, in the community, and at the workplace plays an extremely important role in helping to make gender-equality and respect for human rights take root in the minds of people, and to empower women in every field of society so they can fulfil their responsibilities. … Also, one is required to ever improve his/her knowledge and skills, regardless of gender, … Therefore, it has become even more important to be able to provide a variety of learning
177 opportunities that can meet the needs for people of all age groups.
From the Basic Law:
(Responsibility of Citizens)
Article 10
Citizens shall make efforts to contribute to formation of a Gender-equal Society in all areas of society, including workplaces, schools, the local community and the home, pursuant to the basic principles.
From the Basic Plan:
10. Enrich education and learning that promote gender equality and facilitate diversity of choice
Education to promote gender equality at home, school, in the community and every area of society should be enhanced in helping to correct the public understanding of stereotyped gender roles and make gender equality take root in the minds of people. … The promotion of lifelong learning holds extremely important significance, and it must be encouraged to enable women to participate in activities in all areas of society in an equal manner as men.
In the extract from the Vision, the discourse of human rights is expressed along with that of gender equality. The Vision claims that the correction of gendered understanding and realisation of gender equality are more suitable to people’s state of mind. Thus, educating people is said to be a step towards the realisation of a gender equal society and to the emancipation of women in society. The Basic Plan further asserts that education for women of all ages helps promote their participation in society ‘in the equal manner as men’. As for the expression of ‘in the equal manner as
178 men’, this simply means gender equality. Referring to the original Basic Plan in
Japanese, the meaning of ‘in the equal manner as men’ is described as ‘to demonstrate his or her individuality and ability’ and does not imply acting in the same manner (or capacity) as men. The Basic Plan seems to reject the suggestion that women are incorporated into men’s games and desexualise themselves in order to be empowered as actors, becoming “honorary men” (Pringle, 1989, p. 176) as nothing other than following the social gendered practice.
The extract from the Basic Plan also shows the ‘step-up’ approach—that education can be a powerful measure that goes to the core of gender issues. The Vision first makes clear the importance of areas for education such as home, school, community and the workplace, and then states that education is the basis from which to empower women in every field of society. The effectiveness of education for women’s empowerment is, then, shifted to the recognition of gendered roles of men and women in the plan for the Basic Law. The Basic Plan states that “the public understanding of stereotyped gender roles” is rooted “in every area of society”, and that education should be enhanced for helping to correct such understandings. The suggestion indicates a long-term but sound solution: that a comprehensive approach could help to raise awareness. The sentiment indicated in these statements is the first step and such goals are to be achieved by educating people in various ways: from childhood people are nurtured in the “family, school, and community [which] … as living environments are gendered” (Mochizuki, 2005, p. 1).
179 As for the issue of gender and education, which is a key focus of this thesis, in the
Basic Law, section 4.(4) excerpted above is the only article making mention of education, and the word ‘schools’ is the only word related to the field of education.
According to the view of a participant in the formulation of the Basic Law, this is a technical promise or statement not intended to describe a specific arena in the provision of a basic law, since if the basic law dealt specifically with a particular area such as education, employment or health, it would become an individual law
(Interview No. 29). It would appear that the use of “schools” is deliberate, as a member of the former Council for Gender Equality in the Office of the Prime Minister
Office noted:
if the word ‘education’ had been used, it would then have become specific to the educational field; instead, the word ‘schools’ was used to deal with the issue of the actual place of schools. … it was
the way to form the basic law—osahou—not to specify particular fields like that. … In this sense, the Basic Law did not influence any specific fields—[including the educational field]—directly.
Furthermore, it marks time for a while at each section in each ministry before they take practical measures along with the Basic Law. (Interview No. 29)
Given that implementation was totally dependent on the attitude of each ministry, the question arose as to the position of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) which had control over educational matters. This ambiguity is one of the weak points of the Basic Law, enabling policy implementers to avoid certain individual issues, and resulted in slow policy implementation.
180 Another issue stated in the documents is the need to provide opportunities for lifelong learning. Statements such as: “to provide a variety of learning opportunities that can meet the needs of people of all age groups” in the Vision and “the promotion of lifelong learning” indicate empowering women “in all areas of society in an equal manner as men”. In this sense, the life-long learning program—Shogai
Gakushu—should not be a program such as a hobby class in a culture centre. The program should intend to ‘empower’ people for social change by recognising problems and taking action for solving problems (Kanai, 1999; Kubota, 2005).
Importantly, the program needs to be organised in light of a gender perspective (Kanai,
1999; Muramatsu, 2002a). Kanai (1999, p.3) claims that the lifelong learning without a gender perspective involves the risk of (re)production of gendered social structure such as the promotion of women’s voluntary activities for care for elderly people.
Lifelong learning seems also to open up the diversity of choices of career or lifestyle for both men and women, although some discriminatory issues such as age discrimination or a seniority system should also be considered for such purposes. In addition, in proposing the empowerment of individuals (male and female) through lifelong learning, the Basic Plan clears the way for individual independence and may help to set women free from subordinate positions. In other words, independent individuals can truly support each other as equal partners, quite a lofty aim.
Gender equality (men and women)
The phrase ‘women and men’, to which I referred regarding the issue of word order in an earlier section) occurs throughout the statements in the Basic Law, and Kashima
181 (2003) notes that the phrase (it is actually described as ‘Danjo—men and women’ in
Japanese) is used in the Basic Law 84 times. The change of the focus on “both women and men ” in the Basic Law (in English translation) seems to be putting more emphasis on women than the simple phrase 'women and men'. Though just focussing on women is strongest of all. Therefore, it would be effective to target redressing women’s issues as an initial step before including men. However, as for the definition of gender equality, it is completely copied from the Vision to the Basic Law. The following extracts indicate the ideal relationships between men and women and the direction to realise a gender-equal society.
Extract 5:
From the Vision:
The Basic Idea of the Gender-Equal Society
(1) What is a "Gender-Equal Society"? A "gender-equal society" is a society in which both men and women shall be given equal opportunities to participate voluntarily in activities at all levels as equal partners and shall be able to enjoy political, economic, social and cultural benefits as well as to take responsibilities equally. [emphasis added in underlined section]
From the Basic Law:
Article 2
(1) Formation of a Gender-equal Society: Formation of a society where both women and men shall be given equal opportunities to participate voluntarily in activities in all fields as equal partners in the society, and shall be able to enjoy political, economic, social and cultural benefits equally as well as to share responsibilities. [emphasis added in underlined section] 182 The key aim of a gender equal society stated in the Vision and the Basic Law is for both women and men to be ‘equal partners’. However, the Vision and the Basic Law claim that “both men and women shall be given equal opportunities”, and request women and men “to participate voluntarily in activities in all fields as equal partners”.
Therefore, in a society where both men and women enjoy life as ‘equal partners’, the power relationships between men and women should be balanced. The universal idea that people as individuals are respected for their human dignity and have unconditional human rights is highlighted. However, once again, the phrases ‘both women and men’ and ‘equal partners’ as ‘condensation symbols’ raise concerns about the watering down of the issue of women’s rights and women’s dignity. It would be more effective in the first stage of the policy implementation for the focus to be more targeted.
The following extracts from the three documents show the specific words that embody the idea of gender equality between men and women in the practical world.
The key recommendations are to avoid social systems and customs based on stereotyped gender roles and to apply individual-oriented understanding for men and women from which to establish new social frameworks.
Extract 6:
From the Vision:
Part I.
1. (1) Revision of Systems and Customs which might lead to Gender-related Prejudice
183 Many social systems and customs are based on the premises of stereotyped gender roles, … we must prepare to adjust the conditions of society which will enable men and women to participate as equal members in not just the family and workplace, but in every field of society. … Furthermore, it is necessary to change the family-oriented views underlying those systems and customs into individual-oriented views, and to establish frameworks of society which will neutrally apply to every citizen, whatever life style each individual may choose.
From the Basic Law:
(Consideration to Social Systems or Practices)
Article 4
In consideration that social systems or practices can become factors impeding formation of a Gender-equal Society by reflecting the stereotyped division of roles on the basis of gender, etc., thus having a non-neutral effect on the selection of social activities by women and men, care should be taken so that social systems and practices have as neutral an impact as possible on this selection of social activities.
From the Basic Plan:
2. Forming a Society with No Gender-Related Prejudice
Revision of Systems and Customs which might lead to Gender-Related Prejudice
[I]t is necessary to review those systems and customs based on stereotyped gender roles, from the viewpoint of gender equality. Furthermore, it is necessary to change the family-oriented views underlying those systems and customs into the individual-oriented views, and to establish frameworks of society which will neutrally apply to every citizen, whatever life style each individual may choose.
184 These extracts claim that a gender equal society can be achieved by rejecting Japanese patriarchy, which concerns the family system more than the individual. On the occasion of the enactment of the Constitution of Japan after World War II, the family system that was enshrined in the Meiji Civil Law was abolished, but “the paradigm of patriarchy that denies women’s independence and human rights” (Ueno, 2001, p. 104) has continued to exist as daily practice in Japanese society. In addition, the culture of
“ie—or the family system”, which is the Japanese patriarchal social norm and remained as a household system in a sense, reflects the social daily practices ruled by conventional stereotyped gender roles such as women carrying out the caring duties for the elderly and small children (Banzai, 1999). Thus a line in the Basic Law claims that individuals should be free from the family-oriented views that represent stereotyped gender roles fostered in patriarchy, and that individuals should share responsibilities as ‘equal partners’. In addition, every individual is free from conventional social norms and a preordained stereotyped track, to choose his or her preferred life style.
Another expression to be noted here is ‘neutral’. The social systems and practices as frameworks of society are either gendered or biased, and if they neutrally apply to every citizen, such social frameworks enable people far more freedom of choice of social activities and life styles. The concept of ‘neutral’ stated here refers to the gendered ideas that limit the choices of men and women. But this word drew criticism from anti-feminist groups. Some backlash groups have made a critical attack on the idea of gender (this issue will be further discussed in the next chapter).
185 Gender equality and the discourse of economic need
The discourse of ‘socio-economic need’ for realising a gender equal society is evident in three of the documents. The statement in the Vision: “It is necessary to forecast the changes which might occur in Japan's socio economic environment” is rephrased in the Osawa Report as “in light of the emergent need for the realisation of a gender equal society socio-economically”. Such expressions culminated in the Basic Law responding “to the rapid changes occurring in Japan's socio-economic situation”.
In the following extracts, discourses of gender equality are linked to discourses of socio-economic need, and it is argued that a gender equal society—presumably where women can enter the workforce on an equal basis with men—is urgently needed in the economic climate of that time.
Extract 7:
From the Vision:
Part 1: Prospects for a Gender-equal Society:
It is necessary to forecast the changes which might occur in Japan's socio economic environment so as to take concrete steps on the basis of these ideals and objectives.
1 (1): This Report aims to achieve a society where men and women can jointly participate in activities according to their individual characteristics, without being restricted by "gender", a social and cultural constraint.
From the Osawa Report:
Structure of a basic law: …in light of the emergent need for the realization of a gender equal society socio-economically, it is
186 necessary to establish the basic law as soon as possible. (p. 13-14)
From the Basic Law:
The Preamble:
Paragraph 2: to respond to the rapid changes occurring in Japan's socio-economic situation … it has become a matter of urgent importance to realize a Gender-equal Society … and every citizen is able to fully exercise their individuality and abilities regardless of gender.
The Vision clearly articulates that the necessity of changes was attributed to the economic need. It also adds that the equal participation of men and women being free from ‘social and cultural constraint’ was practically demanded in the changing economic situations. On the other hand, the Osawa Report shows the purpose and significance of establishing a law setting down guidelines—the Basic Law. The
Report emphasises the necessity of a basic law that applies across all fields of society, especially from a socio-economic point of view, highlighting “the emergent need for the realisation of a gender equal society socio-economically” (p. 14). So what was the pressure exerted by socio-economic change at that time? Within the context of a rapidly aging population resulting from the decline in the birth rate, recession-beleaguered industries, and insecure employment situations, Japanese society could no longer support “the large-scale companies with male wage-earner oriented Japanese social policy system” (Osawa, 2002, p. 31), that had characterised the high-growth period of the Japanese economy, which also contributed to increase full-time Japanese housewives—sengyoshufu—that supported the male corporate worriers—kigyosenshi (Kawahigashi, 2001).
187 As suggested in the segments from the page 14 of the Osawa Report, labour issues were the subject of the first cross-sectional approach to addressing the issues relating to a gender equal society. Especially after the implementation of the Equal
Employment Opportunity Law (EEOL) in 1986, which was the first individual law related to gender equity that the Japanese government enacted after UNWCW 1975, gender issues were argued in light of economical effects and significance (Akaoka et al., 2000). The EEOL prohibited all discrimination against women in every stage of employment—from recruitment to retirement—and yet, even ten years after the enactment of EEOL, solutions to problems regarding gender at workplaces had not been significantly progressed. Thus, adopting a socio-economic approach to gender issues seemed to be a reasonable means to address practical social needs such as increasing the workforce or establishing a cooperative identity. And the approach seems to be achieved by employing women’s ideas (that have—ironically—been cultivated by women’s experiences in conventional Japanese society), and a mind-set of “gender equality as tools or means” (Osawa et al., 2004, p. 18).
The Osawa Report in 1998 implies establishing gender equality law for all fields of society, covering social economical issues multi-dimensionally. Osawa (2002) argues that, in changing a social policy system to a compatibility support system by realising gender equality, Japanese society can solve the problems of recession, an aging society and low birth rate. However, the speed of gender equity policy implementation seems not to match the change in social conditions. Considering the
‘socio-economic need’ and ‘the sense of urgency’, the circumstances at present have not changed for the better over the past ten years. Rather, social instability and the
188 recession spiral have become more serious, influenced by the global financial crisis—especially the Japanese recession because of the US subprime loan issues in
2008/2009—and are seemingly stuck in a stalemate.
The following extracts enable identification and comparison of the key expressions of
‘socio-economic need’ and ‘a sense of urgency’ in the context of each document. The claim of ‘urgent need’ drove the agenda for reformation. The repetition of “emergent need”, “as soon as possible”, “rapid changes occurring”, and “a matter of urgent importance” served to set up Gramsci’s so called hegemonic (‘common sense’) understanding among the drafters of the Basic Law and policy makers who might read these documents closely. But the expression “forecast the changes which might occur” in the Vision in 1996 does not reflect a tone of ‘emergent need or urgent importance’, although the title of the report, “the Vision of Gender
Equality—Creating New Values for the 21st Century”, indicates strong awareness of creating a new society to face a coming change (with gender equality as a new value).
The goal of the gender equality policy expressed in the title of the Vision—“Creating
New Values”—is represented by the repetition of ‘change’, ‘realize’, ‘achieve’ or
‘implement measures for’ as the task of the Basic Law. At the same time, the expression “to forecast the changes which might occur” displays the rather optimistic views of the national government that eventually could not forecast future changes and instead remained in the deadlock of the collapse of the socio-economic and social welfare systems such as the national pension system that Japan faced, and is continuing to experience in 2009. Osawa (2002) argues that, by changing a social policy system to the compatibility support system based on realising gender equal
189 society, Japanese society can solve the problems of recession, aging society and low birth rate. And the problem remains the practical application directed to the actual social situations; that is, whether those social issues are discussed from gender perspective or not. The Basic Law’s purpose to introduce gender perspectives on issues in every field of society is discussed in the next section.
Gender sensitive perspectives
Finally, discussion of the idea of ‘gender sensitive perspectives’ is necessary. This key notion also was strongly featured and repeatedly used in the Platform for Action of the UN Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995. This idea, in the
Vision, was delivered in terms of the necessity of “awareness”, and “to analyse how they (the social systems) would affect men and women” and “raising people's awareness and their sensitivity”. In the Osawa Report, it is articulated as a need ‘‘[to] review the social system or social practices from gender perspectives”. In the Basic
Law, the gender-sensitive perspective is interpreted as having “as neutral an impact as possible”.
Extract 8:
From the Vision:
Part 1. 1. (2):
Greater and deeper awareness of gender-sensitive perspective: When constructing and operating social systems, it is always necessary to analyze how they would affect men and women in practice. … … We must endeavor to achieve equality in reality by raising people's awareness and their sensitivity to the issue.
From the Osawa Report:
190 Related organisations:
If we are to establish a basic law that can review the social system or social practices from gender perspectives, it is vital that the national machinery retain the right to review them also (p. 16).
From the Basic Law:
Chapter 1 General Provisions
Article 4 (Consideration to Social Systems or Practices):
In consideration that social systems or practices can become factors impeding formation of a Gender-equal Society by reflecting the stereotyped division of roles on the basis of gender, etc., thus having a non-neutral effect on the selection of social activities by women and men, care should be taken so that social systems and practices have as neutral an impact as possible on this selection of social activities.
The expressions of “raising people's awareness and their sensitivity” to gender perspectives, and having an impact that is “as neutral as possible” to express attitudes of gender sensitive perspectives, are indeed the basis on which to support and disseminate gender equity policies. The concept of ‘gender sensitivity’ has impacted significantly on Japanese feminists through workshops or experiences at the
UNWCW in Beijing (Fukazawa, 2004). Japan has been strongly patriarchal in many fields of society (Fujieda-Fanselow & Kameda, 1995; Iwao, 1995; Ogasawara, 1998;
Ueno, 1990) and therefore, conversely, reconsidering men’s position is indispensable to bringing any change in the situation for women. Japanese society continues to have a poor reputation in this regard due to the fact that women’s marginalised situation has not sufficiently improved despite the criticism often made in UN Human
191 Development Reports. Distinct from Japan’s rank on the Human Development Index
(HDI) at eighth, their rank on the Gender Empowerment Measures (GEM) is 54th out of 93 countries, showing that the Japanese government has not redressed the poor gender balance in society and maintains inequality of opportunity in various areas
(Human Development Reports, 2007/2008). The GEM figure shows the gender inequalities at decision-making levels of the political and economical spheres in
Japanese society.
Gender equity policies may aim to disseminate gender equality perspectives vertically through each ministry from the top down in each sphere. However, in order to raise gender awareness more broadly, as Fukazawa (2004) claims, it is crucial to introduce a ‘gender sensitive perspective’ into policy measures in all fields of society such as social policy systems and practices or citizens’ daily lives, creating the potential for a positive chain reaction towards realisation of a gender equal society.
Summary
Aiming at understanding the objectives of the Basic Law, this chapter examined the four policy documents related to the Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society, including the Basic Law itself. While the three policy documents (additional to the Basic Law) are internal national government documents, the Basic Law is publicised in various documents such as pamphlets, but it is usually very much in the background.
Focusing on references to gender issues, the themes in the relevant documents were examined, firstly in terms of how women’s issues were portrayed in terms of gender roles in the Basic Law. The Basic Law picked up the issue of stereotyped gender roles
192 and customs that hindered women’s participation in decision making in the public sphere, as well as the fair evaluation of women’s labour both in a family and business.
Thus, the first purpose of the Basic Law can be seen to be to redress stereotyped gendered social norms.
The second purpose identified from the Basic Law is the assurance of human rights.
The Vision articulates the feminist discourses that the lack of established human rights for women violates their human dignity and results in gender discrimination and violence to women. However, unlike the Vision, the Basic Law seems to intend to influence policy on human rights for both men and women. The shift from women focus to gender focus (men and women) has the potential to sidetrack the issue of women’s rights. The policy phrases ‘human rights’, ‘individual dignity’, and ‘for women and men’ as ‘condensation symbols’ demonstrate the uncertainty of the focus on women’s issues. Troyna’s (1994) indication that symbolic political language possesses contradictory or ambiguous aspects that betray supporters is a salient warning to feminists when considering and analysing how the Basic Law is implemented in practical policy. Lastly, the obstacles the Basic Law intends to redress are the social systems and practices underpinned by Japanese patriarchy.
As for breaking through barriers to the promotion of gender equality, the Basic Law encourages education in various fields including ‘schools’. Education is expected to promote respect for human rights, empowering women, correcting gendered understandings and gender roles, and so forth. However, all the expectations on education of men and women merely indicate raising consciousness and awareness,
193 which takes considerable time and effort. Again, I employ the previously mentioned warning by Troyna (1994), and I argue that careful attention should be paid to how the words in the policy documents are interpreted when they are implemented.
The Basic Law states that gender equality ultimately lies in the relationship of men and women as ‘equal partners’. The Basic Law addresses its last task of the realisation of gender equal society to meet socio-economic need. Further, the dissemination of the idea of gender equality needs gender sensitive perspectives in every field of society. The repeated urgent calls for the realisation of a gender equal society in the
Basic Law implies a desperate situation wrought by the deadlock in Japanese social systems.
194 Chapter Seven: From Policy to Bureaucracy: Gender Equity on Education in Bureaucracy
Although the word ‘education’ does not appear within the Basic Law, there are a number of sections related to education. In the Law, there are five basic principles which are articulated before articles from 3 to 7 respectively: “Respect for the Human
Rights of Women and Men”; “consideration to social systems or practices”; “joint participation in planning and deciding policies”; “compatibility of activities in family life and other activities”; and “international cooperation”. In articles 8, 9 and 10, the
Basic Law states that “the National and Local Governments, and citizens are responsible pursuant to the basic principles of the formation of a Gender-equal
Society prescribed in Articles 3 to 7, in all field of the society, for contributing to the realisation of a gender equal society”. As mentioned in the previous chapter, there is no statement to describe a specific arena in the provision of the Basic Law. However, within these five principles, only one word related directly to education appears.
Instead of the word ‘education’, the word ‘schools’ appears in Article 10 as shown below:
Article 10 (Responsibility of Citizens)
Citizens shall make efforts to contribute to the formation of a Gender-equal Society in all areas of society, including workplaces, schools, the local community and the home, pursuant to the basic principles. [emphasis added]
The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) is assigned to control how the Basic Law is implemented and embodied in the arena of
195 ‘schools’. In order to explore this issue, I interviewed one of the staff members assigned at the time to deal with gender issues within MEXT; the findings from this investigation are discussed in the next section.
The Senior Coordinator of Women’s Policies in Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT)
Organisationally, the Coordinators for gender equality are situated under each Cabinet
Minister (see Figure 2.1: National Machinery for the Promotion of Gender Equality, in Chapter Two). In the case of MEXT, the Senior Coordinator of Women’s Policies
(Josei seisaku choseikan) is situated in the Gender Equality Section, which does not belong to the Department of School Education but to that of Social Education. The
Coordinator’s role is to act as “a contact person to coordinate between [the ministry] and the Cabinet Office and as the liaison between and coordination of each department in the ministry” (Interview No. 28).
In terms of planning in relation to gender equal policies, each department deals with issues related to that department’s purpose. A staff member of the Gender Equality section within the MEXT stressed in the interview that “the ministry has a
‘vertically-segmented administrative set up—tatewari gyosei” (Interview No. 28).
This results in the “matters of universities … [being] dealt with by the Higher
Education Bureau, and those of teacher education … [being] handled by the
Secondary Education Bureau…” (Interview No. 28). Importantly in terms of my research project, it is the case that the two bureaus do not usually work closely together, resulting in a dislocated structure that presented a key barrier to my research.
196 The staff in MEXT stated that there was no section that was able to provide comprehensive answers to my questions. Later, when I explored other means to approach MEXT, a former member of the Cabinet Office noted that the Senior
Coordinator does not have a strong influence (Interview No. 26) and, instead, has been working simply on coordination. However, as well as pointing out this structural barrier, the staff in MEXT showed strong resistance when I asked about the possibility of interviewing members of the Higher Education Bureau (HEB). The staff member in MEXT told me that the HEB does not accept interviews from ‘ordinary people’, and in addition it was an extremely busy season at that time.
Later, I had an opportunity to speak informally with a staff member at the Cabinet
Office who had worked in MEXT’s Higher Education Bureau (HEB). I commented on my intention to interview staff located within HEB. In response, she noted that “the
Bureau does not think about such things seriously; staff in the Bureau think to do this and that (the staff are intensely busy occupied with routine work)” (Informal communication). She implied that I would receive only obvious answers if I was able to interview HEB staff. Thus, I understood that her refusal to be interviewed implied a lack of interest or willingness to handle gender related issues and share time with
‘ordinary people’ such as myself. Thus, in my investigation of MEXT, I had no choice but to collect data from published documents, such as the minutes of meetings available on the web site and reference materials from MEXT.
197 Policies in MEXT
In 2004, having policy control over higher education and thus teacher education, as a result of their involvement with the policy of the Cabinet Office, MEXT initiated two projects regarding universities. The first project was the Women’s Career Shaping
Support Project—Josei no kyaria keisei shien jigyo. In this project, participating universities, both public and private, established an executive committee to implement a system to support students in shaping their careers by providing information, and mentoring educational supporters.
A second project—Josei no rikoukei shinnro senntaku shien jigyo—intended to support women in choosing science and technological careers. This second scheme supported both women who wanted to choose such careers, and female scholars in science and technological fields (in Japan, there is a prejudice that women are less able at studying mathematics, science and technology compared with men19).
Both projects are operated by the Gender Equality Bureau (GEB) in the Cabinet
Office, under the gender equality policy titled “Women’s Challenge Support Policy
(WCSP)—Josei no kyaria shien shisaku” which was implemented in 2004 and is one of the main undertakings of the second Basic Plan of Gender Equality. The policy was
19 According to the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) in 2003, there was no significant difference in mathematical and scientific literacy between 15 year-old boy and girl students in Japan. But the OECD found that there was a quite remarkable difference in choosing future careers, and 74.2% of the students in science and technology departments in universities were male. The OECD suggested that this situation in Japan reflected the expectation of teachers and parents, which influenced the decision-making of students significantly (The OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), 2003).
198 sub-titled “The challenges by women provide energy for men as well as society—Josei no charenji wa dansei no genki, shakai no genki”. This catch phrase illustrated the notion that a process that supported women also contributed to men as well as to society more broadly.
The Minister for MEXT specifically requested that the GEB include a project regarding improvement of the status of female scholars into WCSP when WCSP was beginning to be discussed in 2003. The minutes of the seventeenth meeting of the
Special Investigative Committee regarding Basic Issues of Council for Gender
Equality—Danjo kyodosankaku kaigi kihonmondai senmon iinkai
(SICBICGE)—held on the 23rd October, 2002, showed that this project was supported by the Second Basic Plan of Science and Technology, which was approved by
Cabinet in March 2001, and by the report to the Minister for MEXT by the Science
Council of Japan (SCJ) in 2000.
In this seventeenth meeting of SICBICGE, the Cabinet Office noted some important issues that influenced gender equality policies in universities. The government argued that universities should organise a committee or place a person in charge of gender equality promotion, and commence comprehensive discussions with supportive organisations such as the Science Council of Japan (SCJ). The government also referred to the small number of senior females in the academic hierarchy in universities and noted that the situation in actual working environments reflected the gender role norm in society. The government proposed to “establish a clear and equitable system” (Gender Equality Bureau, 2002, p. 3) to appoint female scholars in
199 higher positions. This series of support policies for female scholars, especially in the field of science and technology, with the obvious support of SCJ, is influencing some universities to implement gender equality policies. This issue is discussed in more depth in Chapter Eight.
In May 2006, two years after the commencement of the Women’s Career Shaping
Support Project (WCSP)—Josei no kyaria keisei shien puroguramu, MEXT reported to the ninth meeting of the Surveillance and Effect Investigation Committee—Kanshi eikyo chousakai—that although there was an increasing number and success of female students in universities, the proportion of female students in science and technology was extremely small. Despite a similar discussion held four years earlier,
MEXT put forward an explanation along the lines that, although university graduates from science and technology departments have a high employment rate, this is not necessarily the case for female graduates. It was also proposed that female employees in such areas experience inferior working environments, promotion and training. This was argued to be a result of companies not being prepared to employ women, and for women not continuing to work long term. MEXT might have concluded that from the point of view of presumed efficiencies, it was acceptable for employers to discriminate in this way, though many organisations have found that it is not efficient to lose women workers who are trained and experienced (Nihon Keizai Shinbun
Seikatsu Johobu, 2003).
As shown in the previous section, the arena of teacher education and higher education is inscribed in Article 10 of the Basic Plan. In response to my investigation of the
200 projects related to teacher education implemented by MEXT under the Basic Plan, the staff of Gender Equality Section within MEXT said that “the Basic Plan does not state that something should be done in each arena, but that there are previously conducted projects that were sorted out and written up. That is the most appropriate way of understanding the Basic Plan” (Interview No. 28). Importantly she also added:
MEXT is not in a position to tell a university or teacher educator to do this or that … We sent the Basic Plan to each university, and as a matter of fact, measures corresponding to the relevant and related parts of the Basic Plan should be considered by each university respectively. (Interview No. 28)
While this response may indicate the autonomy of each university, it also shows that
MEXT is not proactive regarding teacher education. This fact was confirmed in the interviews with teacher educators at universities, discussed in the following chapter.
Nevertheless, MEXT is the leading ministry responsible for higher education; the ministry’s treatment of the Basic Law is the subject of the next section.
The organisational culture of MEXT
In April 2001, MEXT took an exemplary step to support improved compatibility of work and child rearing. Approximately one year after the enactment of the Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society, news that a children’s nursery had opened for the first time in Tokyo’s Kasumigaseki ward (where most of Japan’s government ministries are located) was reported in the Japanese press. The nursery, named Kasumigaseki
Hoikushitsu, was established within the office of MEXT by the ministry’s own mutual aid association—MEXT kyosai kumiai. Despite being an unauthorised baby-care facility, the aim of supporting those ministry staff who were in a period of
201 child rearing was an epoch-making event. The range of ages catered for at
Kasumigaseki Hoikushitsu covered the preschool period, from birth to six or seven, and the centre operated from 8:30 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. It had a capacity for 20 regular users and 10 casual bookings. Although priority was given to the children of staff working for MEXT, some children of staff in other ministries and private companies have used the nursery (Ministry of Education Culture Sports Science and Technology,
2001). The establishment of this nursery suggested that MEXT provided a model of a family-friendly workplace, and that the ministry might have a favourable organisational culture for gender equity. However, in the process of this study, several significant barriers within the ministry that hindered the acceptance of the notion of gender equality became apparent.
Having had my request for direct access to interview staff regarding teacher education rejected, I tried to track relevant MEXT activities and reports through the minutes of the official meetings of its internal committees. One such body is the Severance and
Influence Special Investigation Committee (SISIC)—Kanshi Eikyo Senmon
Chousakai, where each ministry’s basic plan is debated and discussed, and both its implementation and its influence in realising gender equal society (from the perspective of gender mainstreaming) are monitored. All minutes from the first SISIC committee meeting dated October 2004 to the minutes from the most recent meeting in February 2008 were examined.
Before discussing the data gathered from these minutes, it is useful to reiterate the concept of ‘gender mainstreaming’ adopted by the Japanese government:
202 Mainstreaming a gender perspective is the process of assessing the implications for women and men of any planned action, including legislation, policies or programmes, in all areas and at all levels. It is a strategy for making women's as well as men's concerns and experiences an integral dimension of the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programmes in all political, economic and societal spheres so that women and men benefit equally and inequality is not perpetuated. The ultimate goal is to achieve gender equality. (UN Economic and Social Council, 2008)
As stated in Chapter Five’s examination of the impact of the women’s movement on teacher education, the idea of “the mainstreaming of gender perspectives” (The UN
Fourth World Conference on Women, 1995), derived from the Platform for Action
(The UN Fourth World Conference on Women, 1995), was effected not only through the attitudes of feminist teachers in Japan but also through legislative and administrative structures in Japan. The concept of mainstreaming gender perspectives is the main agenda of SISIC, in its critique and monitoring of each ministry. At the sixth meeting of the SISIC, on the 13th November, 2006, the General Director of the
Gender Equality Bureau, Haniwa Natori, noted that:
This ‘gender mainstreaming’ meaning to reflect gender perspectives on all political arena, is an important agenda in an Action Plan adopted in UNWCW in 1995. It is our important duty to ensure that it is established in practice. (the Severance and Influence Special Investigation Committee (SISIC)—Kanshi Eikyou Senmon Chousakai, 2006)
The General Director articulated that gender mainstreaming is the most important agenda item to achieve across all policies, due to the fact that it is one of the key principles of the Basic Law. Considering the reaction against the idea of gender, it
203 provides confirmation—by the person in charge of the Gender Equality Bureau—of the relevance of gender mainstreaming. However, once again, the focus goes on gender (men and women) and waters down the focus on the need to improve the position of women.
It was necessary to confirm the importance of the principles of the Basic Law whenever the opportunity arose, as it takes time for the policy to pierce the many barriers. This is evident in the comment of a former high-ranking staff member of the
Cabinet Office who also formerly worked at MEXT:
The Gender Equality Bureau takes the initiative of the gender equality policy as its most important agenda. However, for each ministry which receives the instruction (from the Gender Equality
Bureau), it is just one of the various matters it must handle. They (the staff of MEXT) are extremely busy with their routine work. They are asked to do many things from different places, so they say,
“Oh, that’s too much. We can’t handle anymore!” It is a fact that they were being ‘driven up the wall’ with overwork. (Interview No. 26)
In addition, the staff member articulated that the Japanese government’s organisational culture is male-dominated, noting: “the government offices are generally male dominated. So there are quite a few people who have not thought fully about gender equality” (Interview No. 26). Such comments from ex-staff members of
MEXT were supported by the issues raised in the meetings of SISIC (described in the minutes). This is particularly evident in the third meeting of SISIC held on the 24th of
May, 2005, where the Coordinator of Women’s Policies in MEXT while reporting on an internal study noted:
204 In this investigation, we are examining the reasons for [students] dropping out of schools, however, the main purpose of this survey is to grasp the number of dropping out students. Therefore, we did not investigate the details such as the difference of gender. (The Severance and Influence Special Investigation Committee, 2005, unpaged)
In response, the chairperson at that time, Furuhashi, critically commented that MEXT should recognise the meaning of ‘gender mainstreaming’ as follows:
Because of the establishment of the Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society, even if something looks as if it has nothing to do with gender equality, it is required to consider the things from gender perspectives … Therefore, I hope that you would understand that your theory, that “understanding the situation by gender is not necessary, because the main purpose is to understand the number of the students who dropped out high school”, is not acceptable now. So I strongly suggest that you need to tell this to the section in charge again, this is my request to MEXT. (The Severance and Influence Special Investigation Committee, 2005, unpaged)
Despite the fact that the coordinator was required to take this issue back to the gender equality section within MEXT, almost exactly the same argument was repeated a year and a half later in the same Committee. On that occasion, at the fifteenth meeting of
SISIC, held on the 23rd October, 2006, the MEXT Coordinator of gender equality (the same person reported above), commented that there were many issues not analysed from gender perspectives, because there were many policies in MEXT which did not divide subjects by gender when the policies were enacted. Then, the chairperson at that time, Kashima, expressed concern about MEXT’s reluctance to undertake an analysis of data from a gender perspective, to which the Coordinator answered, “to
205 increase the items of investigation, that may be a very difficult factor, I think.” (the
15th meeting of the SISIC, the 23rd October, 2006) Then Kashima strongly showed his resentment of the neglect of the mainstreaming of gender perspectives by MEXT and insisted:
At all costs, please divide it into men and women. Our special investigation committee [SICBICGE] asked the same thing [of MEXT] last year, so I think this should absolutely be fully understood. Please do it thoroughly in MEXT. (The Severance and Influence Special Investigation Committee, 2006, unpaged)
It is evident that the discussion was an almost exact repetition of the earlier exchange and demonstrated both that the situation was unresolved and that MEXT retained a pervasive reluctance in regard to gender equality. Importantly, this exchange also shows that MEXT did not take the repeated requests from its advisory committees seriously.
Further, the answer from the Coordinator—that it was difficult to increase the items under investigation—indicates two critical points. First, the Coordinator was not confident enough to reject the opinion of the chairperson for she did not answer as a representative of MEXT, but rather appeared to maintain some distance between the other staff of MEXT and herself. Also, it might be possible to avoid answering anything related to items affecting the budget. Second, her choice of words implies that she was giving her personal opinion in saying “that may be the very difficult factor, I think”. In one of the interviews with a former MEXT staff member, the comment was made to me that the Coordinator was not in a position of power within the organisation (Interview No. 26). From the minutes and other public
206 documentation of MEXT, I found that the Manager of the Gender Equality Section and the Coordinator are both female. Although it is relatively common to locate women within government in ‘women’s issues sections’ in Japan (Bando, 2004, p. 3), it is possible to draw a connection between the reluctant attitude of the women’s issues Coordinator, the apparent lack of power of gender equality sections, and the male dominated office environment.
The other noteworthy element is that gender issues have continued to be marginalised.
As the ex-staff member said, adding another item to an investigation is troublesome or difficult for the staff of MEXT (Interview No. 26), as they are often overworked. This ex-staff member continued, adding that gender equality issues—although said to be the most important issues in the twenty-first century as repeatedly written in Cabinet documents—may be overshadowed by other issues of public interest (Interview No.
26). This is a clear example of typical Japanese diplomatic logic, which has been argued by Kawana (2003) to expose the gap between public positions (souron or soto) and private interests (kakuron or uchi) (Doi, 1972; Renshaw, 1999). This dual structure is also expressed as superficial mind (tatemae) and true mind (honne)
(Yoshikawa, 1986). In short, what this means is that although everyone may agree with the gender equity policies, when it actually comes to individual policies, some—especially men—may not pay adequate attention to gender issues or may simply prefer to maintain the status quo. In the first place, MEXT’s claim that hectic working conditions prevent the implementation of the policy is logically defensible.
However, as Lazar suggests, “the imbrication of power and ideology in discourse”
(Lazar, 2005b, p. 6) makes it possible for gender power relations to hide under the
207 apparent causal issue of working environment or other superficial reasons (this is particularly evident in the Coordinator’s comments on the survey). In a sense, the section in charge of gender equality in MEXT—including the Coordinator—accepts the situation as something inevitable, thus both the gender equality section and other resistant staff of MEXT are complicit in hampering gender equality policy implementation in MEXT. Such attitudes or perspectives, encompassing contradictory dual structures of thinking between external and internal interests, result in the disregard of gender perspectives and hinder the introduction of positive change.
Thus, it is important to investigate what aspects of, and how much, the gender equity policy was implemented in the field of education by following the first issue of the
Basic Plans for a Gender Equality to its revision five years later. This is discussed in the next section.
The backlash against the revised Basic Plans for Gender Equality
The responses from MEXT, which should be central in the matrix of implementation of gender equality policy in education, were weak and unclear. Along with MEXT’s reluctant stance, the fundamental law of gender equality itself faces a serious dilemma.
As described above, in the Basic Law it is in Article 10 (Responsibility of Citizens) that the word “schools” appears. Similarly, Article 10 in the Basic Plan for Gender
Equality states the Plan’s provision on education. The first Basic Plan was issued in
2000, and six years later, in December, 2005, the revised, second Basic Plan for
Gender Equality was released. I will now compare the two versions of the Basic Plan
(2000 and 2005), discussing the revisions and changes.
208 The cover of both the first and the second Basic Plans is plain white paper and the texts are printed with black ink on white paper in the same style and using the same materials as for other government documents such as the reports of various ad hoc committees. The documents are simple, plain and clerical in appearance. The Basic
Plan consists of three parts: Part 1. Basic Philosophy; Part 2. Basic Direction of
Measures and Concrete Measures; and Part 3. Implementation of the Plan. In Part 2, each concrete measure is listed in boxed text together with the particular ministry responsible. The layout makes this policy document easy to read, with the frames enabling straightforward recognition of each ministry in charge. Boxes are often used in documents to highlight important passages within the text.
Although I was informed by an in-service staff member of MEXT in 2008 that these policy documents were distributed to related organisations including universities, when I searched for the first and second Basic Plans in the library of the Gender
Equality Centre in Sapporo (which is a municipal government body in the capital city of Hokkaido Prefecture), I found they had not received the second Basic Plan. Despite the fact that it is possible to access both Basic Plans from the website of the Gender
Equality Bureau, it is important to note that such fundamental documentation in regard to Japanese gender equity policy was not present within the inventory of a key centre within the capital city of a prefecture.
When comparing the two Basic Plans, it is possible to detect differences that reflect changes in the discourse of gender issues in Japan between 2000 and 2005. Changes in the statements in the Basic Plans allude to what was happening at the time. When
209 examining Article 10 of the two Basic Plans, where education and schooling are first mentioned, I compared elements of the article titled ‘Basic direction of measures’
(Table 1). The modalised statements ‘must’, ‘should’ and ‘it is necessary’ are common to both plans. The sentences are authoritative in manner and suggest a sense of high obligation. However, there were several critical changes between the two
Basic Plans, changes which appear to represent a setback to the implementation of gender equity policy; the changes were strongly influenced by patriarchal discourses.
The anti-feminist group insisted on the inclusion of ‘home life’ and the exclusion of
‘gender’, ‘gender-free’ and ‘women’s studies and gender studies’ from the second
Basic Plan (Kagekina seikyoiku jendaa furi kyoiu jittai chosa purojekuto chimu:
Project Team LDP, 2005). The feminist discourses embedded in the first version of the Basic Plan had been eroded by the anti-feminist discourses gradually.
The first of these major changes between the first and second documents is the introduction of ‘the importance of home life’ into the second Basic Plan, 2005 with the expression being used twice. It is important to note that the inclusion of the term
‘home’ is clearly connected to an anti-feminist discourse of backlash groups.
210 Table 7.1: Extract 1—Comparison of the wording of Article 10 of the two Basic Plans
the Basic Plan (2000) the revised Basic Plan (2005) 10. Promoting Gender Equality to Open the 10. Enrich education and learning that Way for a Diversity of Choices through promote gender equality and facilitate Enrichment of Education and Learning diversity of choice (1) Education and learning to promote gender (1) Education and learning systems to equality encourage the principles of gender equality Education at schools must increase It is necessary to further improve education awareness of equality between women and and systems to encourage the principles of men in line with the spirit of the Constitution gender equality. In schools, in line with the of Japan and the Fundamental Law of spirit of the Constitution of Japan and the Education, and must be based on the current Fundamental Law of Education, the task of creating a gender-equal society. … education system should be improved to the results of education up to that education teach the principles of individual dignity and level should be reinforced and an awareness gender equality to students, specific to their of equality between women and men should stages of development. To do so, it is be further enhanced…. [emphasis added] necessary to improve upon the ways in which respect for human rights is taught, and to emphasize the importance of mutual understanding and cooperation between men and women, and their home life…. [emphasis added]
The repetition of ‘must’ and ‘should’ in the statement in 2000 and the repetition of ‘it is necessary’ and ‘should’ in 2005 indicate the top-down imperatives of the policy.
The continuous use of modal forms of high obligation can be evaluated as an indication of the government’s strong commitment to the implementation of the Basic
Plan. Although ‘must’ in 2000 was revised to ‘it is necessary’ in 2005 in the
‘tentative’ English translations by the national government, the original Japanese statement was not changed. Importantly some new phrases were added to the 2005 version: the importance of family and home life were repeatedly emphasised. The discourse of ‘home life’ insisted upon by the Project Team (PT)20 was to cement ‘the existing outlook on family, home, and marriage’ (PT LDP, 2005, p. 2) that implied the traditional stereotyped gender roles at home. The PT was established by a group of the
20 Greater detail about the Project Team is given later in this chapter.
211 governing Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and, as demonstrated by subsequent sections on the PT’s argument, was influential in moving for these alterations. It is also evident that the main object of the PT was to eliminate the idea of ‘gender’ itself from gender equity policy starting with the attack on the idea of ‘gender-free’ education.
The minutes of a Special Investigation Committee Regarding the Basic Plan for
Gender Equality (SICBPGE)—Danjo kyodosankaku kihonkeikaku ni kansuru senmonchosakai recorded the precise arguments between the members and trace the arguments against the PT’s claim that gender theory destroys the family system. In the twelfth SICBPGE held on the 11th July, 2005, Hirooka’s argument clearly showed his objection in his statement:
Regarding this, which is ‘to make the Basic Plan without gender theory’, this makes the Basic Plan nothing from the first place. We never have the intention to express anything to deny a family. This is nothing but a misunderstanding. Also, if we extinguish [mention of the] word ‘jenda—gender’, it is complete nonsense in the first place. (Special Investigation Committee Regarding the Basic Plan for Gender Equality, 2005b, unpaged)
Chairperson Iwao tried to state her objection, “by explaining or, rather, adding some sentences, if such misunderstandings [can be] decreased, I think it is worth doing so.
… we should make efforts to solve the misunderstandings” (the 12th SICBPGE, the
11th July, 2005, unpaged). Iwao insisted that the committee could not ignore the PT and needed to make efforts to “solve the misunderstanding”. But Iwao’s appeal was in vain, because the PT did not misinterpret the claim of the committee; rather, they
212 skilfully and intentionally used a particular logic and examples to erase the idea of gender. The PT obviously expressed antipathy against the theory of gender which seemed to be an unacceptable new idea for people like the PT in the LDP members.
Komori (2006) explains situations of this sort by noting that heterophobia is rooted in a feeling of fear that arises from incomprehension. A strange new idea such as gender theory may be frightening to people such as the members of the PT because it has the capacity to upset the positions and conventional stable environments of people who dislike change. In the reference materials provided by the PT to the twelfth SICBPGE, the PT also refers to the expressions “unpaid work” (that is, to appreciate the output of housework) and “family management agreement” (that is, to put the family member’s roles and rules in a farm household in writing), arguing that those expressions should be reconsidered because they lead to ideas of the denial of family or the family system.
This kind of influence of the anti-feminist backlash left retrogressive traces in the amended Basic Plan of 2005.
The following extracts show the scars left in the revised Basic Plan in that they represent the elimination of gender related terminology from the statements. A direct expression of gender mainstreaming in the policies, which was brought from the
UNWCW Beijing—that of the gender-sensitive perspective—was erased. In addition, expressions that promote gender studies in the academic field, such as ‘women’s studies and gender’, ‘women’s studies and etc.’, ‘women’s studies and gender studies’,
‘these women's studies and gender research’, and ‘by holding women’s studies and gender studies’, were completely excluded from the text. At the same time, the phrase
“women’s participation in various academic disciplines” was used in both plans, and
213 was embodied as the government-led program aiming to increase the number of women not only in academic fields but also in the labour market (see Chapter Six).
Table 7.2: Extract 2—Comparison of the wording of Article 10 of the two Basic Plans the Basic Plan (2000) the Second Basic Plan (2005)
B. Promoting gender equality in institutions of B. Improvement of higher education higher learning Higher educational institutions should make Along with the efforts to incorporate a efforts to carry out their educational and gender-sensitive perspective into educational research activities based on the principles and research activities in higher education, to of gender equality, and encourage women further promote women’s participation in to participate in a variety of disciplines. various academic disciplines. E. Studies and research contributing to the E. Enrich the investigation and research on establishment of a gender-equal society women’s studies and gender. (joseigaku, (danjo kyodosankaku shakai no keisei ni jenda) shisuru chosa kennkyu nadono jujitsu) Promote women’s studies and etc. in higher In higher educational institutions, studies education and social education. To further and research that contribute to the building promotion of women’s studies and gender of a society based on the principles of studies in higher education institutions. Widely gender equality should be enriched and utilise the achievements of these women's improved so that people can have an studies and gender research in the program accurate understanding of gender equality. development of community education, etc., [emphasis added] and promote corresponding feedback to the communities. In social education, to promote women’s studies by holding women’s studies and gender studies in social education sphere. [emphasis added]
In comparing the two English translations (above), it is possible to observe a change from “studies and research regarding women studies and gender” to “studies and research contributing to the establishment of a gender-equal society”. Although this may not appear significant in some situations within the Japanese language context, this represents a major shift due to the fact that the expressions ‘women’s studies
(joseigaku)’ and ‘gender (jenda)’ were erased. The removal of references to both academic disciplines and their Japanese expressions of jenda represents a significant event in the policy’s evolution. This change can be interpreted as meaning that
“studies and research contributing to the establishment of a gender-equal society”
214 should not always necessarily be gender studies or women’s studies. Rather, “studies and research” could be in any area as long as the research contributes to a gender-equal society. It seemed that there was a consistent shift from a focus on women to gender, but that in fact this is an example of the ambiguity of ‘condensation symbols’ indicated by Troyna, because the aim of this shift was stopping the improvement and the use of women’s studies and gender studies. Hence, I argue that changing the wording, symbolises a masterful attempt to camouflage the elimination of gender theories within the text.
The removal of particular reference to women studies and gender was a successful outcome for a backlash group opposed to gender equality policies. A high-ranking member serving in the Gender Equality Bureau (GEB) in 2007 told me that “[the situation] was terribly hard, because there [remained] a villain of the piece—chohon-nin who opposed [gender equality policies] in the Cabinet Office”
(Informal communication 27). This reinforces the fact that many the gender equality administrators in Japan work in conditions where their attempts to implement policy occur under the scrutiny of opponents of gender equality.
The high-ranking member in GEB, above, implied the presence of an enemy inside the organisation. The backlash movement in Japan, whose head was within the
Cabinet Office, began to exercise power concurrently with the establishment of the
Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society. The central group of the movement, named the
‘excessive sex education’ and ‘gender-free education’ investigation Project Team of the Liberal Democratic Party (Kagekina seikyoiku, Jenda furi kyoiu Jittai chosa
215 Purojekuto chiimu) (the same as the above-mentioned PT) finally had the crucial and obvious effects on the occasion of the revision of the Basic Plan in 2005. In this climate, in May, 2005, Mr. Shinzo Abe, at that time Acting Secretary General of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and subsequently Prime Minister, organised and chaired the project team (PT) which was working towards the abolition of gender-free education and, as noted above, this group started to exert strong influence over the forming of the second Basic Plan for Gender Equality.
According to the minutes of the twelfth and thirteenth SICBPGE, held on the 11th and the 20th July, 2005, the PT submitted two documents requesting various changes including the elimination of the terms involving gender such as ‘gender’,
‘gender-free’ and ‘gender sensitive perspectives’ from the draft of the second Basic
Plan. In the materials submitted, the PT commented on each item in each section of the draft Basic Plan. One of their main requests was “to make the Basic Plan not based on gender theories” (unpaged), because gender ideas become the spur for
‘excessive sex education and reckless gender-free education’ (pp.1-16) (Liberal
Democratic Party, 2005a). Even further, the LDP Project Team’s advocacy appeared in the amended statement as a collateral condition in the definition of gender equal society. That is, as the following extracts (Table 3) indicate, the conventional definition of gender equality caused a “misunderstanding that the biological differences between men and women are denied” among teachers; thus, they need to
“have an accurate understanding of gender equality”, as written in the second Basic
Plan (The Basic Plan for Gender Equality, 2005, p. 107)
216 Table 7.3: Extract 3—Comparison of the wording of Article 10 of the two Basic Plans
the Basic Plan (2000) the Second Basic Plan (2005)
D. Foster a gender equality perspective D. Awareness for educators among educators. - To eliminate the misunderstanding that the - To promote the understanding of gender biological differences between men and equality among teachers and people women are denied in the gender-equal related. society, measures should be taken to ensure that people such as those involved in education have an accurate understanding of gender equality. [emphasis added]
The above-mentioned assertion that the notion of gender equality does not deny biological differences responds to the criticism made by various backlash groups. In the twelfth meeting of SICBPGE on the 11th July, 2005, a member, Hara, commented,
“the critics of the idea of gender say that gender-free education advocates intend to make the human an unsexed creature, like a snail. In other words, they say that gender-free education neuters people. They describe [gender-free] this way”. Then, the deputy chairperson, Furuhashi (who was engaged in forming the Basic Law) explained:
regarding the statement (that it does not aim at neutralization), it is not aiming at eliminating the consciousness of the sex difference, but the consciousness of gender discrimination. If it is explained like this, I think this will convince everyone. (12th SICBPGE, 11th July, 2005)
At the core level of neutralisation, one argument centred on discourses of
‘masculinity’ or ‘femininity’. In addition, essentialism’s superiority—which is based on biological sex difference—over gender perspectives is evident in the expression
‘neuter people’, ‘not deny the biological differences’, ‘to make the human an unsexed
217 creature, like a snail’. This discourse of ‘essentialism’s superiority over gender perspectives’ underpins the standpoint of backlash participants. The argument is that men and women are biologically different, thus there are things that should be differentiated; there are things that men can do but women cannot (and vice versa), or that each is superior in particular ways. This sort of argument persisted because the concepts of ‘gender as socially constructed’ and ‘gender equity’ are not widespread.
Instead the idea of ‘equality for men and women” is interpreted as ‘gender equality’
(see literature review chapter).
Following this backlash, some prefecture ordinances of gender equality, formed since the Basic Law of 1999, were revised to include expressions such as “without denying
‘masculinity’ or ‘femininity’ unilaterally” (Ichikawa City in Chiba Prefecture, 2003).
The claims of Hara or Furuhashi remained in discussion in the meetings and did not reach the PT. What was even more serious was the fact that the PT’s arguments overwhelmed opposition and subsequently appeared as amendments in the second
Basic Plan.
References to gender eliminated from the Basic Plan for Gender Equality
The Project Team against Excessive Sex Education (PT)’s main argument was that the
Basic Plan for Gender Equality should not be based on gender theory. The PT especially protested against the references to gender, women’s studies and gender theories. The PT submitted two documents to the twelfth meeting of the ad hoc
Special Investigation Committee regarding the Basic Plan for Gender Equality
(SICBPGE) held on the 11th July, 2005: one document focused on the review points
218 and suggested promoting measures on the Basic Plan; the other provided detailed comments on each article of the Basic Plan. In the latter material, the PT wrote a long comment on Article 10 regarding education and learning. In a brief summary on women’s studies in higher education they claimed that:
‘women’s studies related subjects’—joseigaku nado ni kansuru kyoiku—have
increased remarkably in recent years;
educators should not be taught ‘incorrect sex education’—machigatta seikyoiku;
the statement ‘promoting the enrichment of education regarding women’s
studies related subjects in universities and so forth—daigaku kyoiku
nadoniokeru joseigaku nadonikansuru kyouiku no jujitsu o unagasu’ should be
eliminated; and
the content and goal of women’s studies is not clear. If it refers to women’s
studies as currently provided, such subjects should be abolished.
It is instructive to compare the arguments of members of SICBPGE with the PT’s claims, as the minutes of the ad hoc committee meeting reveal some misuse of examples by the PT. First, the PT insisted that some schools carry out “excessive sex education”, and listed examples of children playing mixed-sex mock cavalry battles, or of boys and girls changing in the same room as a result of the idea of gender equality and gender-free education. It is important to note that the LDP reported this matter in an in-house online newsletter issued on the 15th April, 2005 (Liberal
Democratic Party, 2005b). However, according to the minutes of the meeting, two of the ad hoc committee’s members, Takenobu, a journalist, and Hara, an emeritus
219 professor of Ochanomizu Women’s University, provided counter-examples, insisting that in reality the situation was quite different. While it was true that some schools actually did carry out the reported practices, such practices had nothing to do with ‘a gender free education’ and rather arose as a result of a shortage of students or the lack of funding required to build changing rooms. Furuhashi added, in the same meeting, that:
the idea of gender-free does not originally mean to erase the consciousness of the sex difference. However, some people use the word as if it aims at erasing the consciousness of sex difference. I would like to say that this is not good at all. … [what we are aiming at is] ‘freedom from gender discrimination’…I think this
explanation will be acceptable. (the 12th SICBPGE, the 11th July, 2005, unpaged)
The results of the meetings of SICBPGE, however, did not meet Furuhashi’s expectations and the second Basic Plan lost the words related to gender. Although the ad hoc committee members agreed to provide further explanations to correct the misunderstanding of the PT, the power of the PT overwhelmed their efforts. The PT further argued that the idea of gender equality destroys the family system. Furuhashi commented that:
there is an opinion that gender equality destroys the family system. The system [the PT said] may refer to a traditional family system, but there is no such family system defined under the current Constitution. But if [the PT] calls family life at present “a family system”, the idea of gender equality exactly gives importance to the family as a basic premise, as “the
220 essential equality of the [both] sexes” 21 and the dignity of individuals in a family life is assured under Article twenty-four of the Constitution of Japan. (the 12th SICBPGE, the 11th July, 2005, unpaged)
Furuhashi’s objection against the PT on the ideas of family system and gender free was very strong. In addition, the PT’s argument for avoiding expressions gender, gender theory and women’s studies, was strongly opposed by Hara, who stated that the importance of such terms, words and ideas was supported by the Science Council of Japan and should not be eliminated. Another SICBPGE member, Yamaguchi, also argued that it was demonstrable that the word gender was frequently used internationally. She continued that it was indispensable to use the word gender in activities of international cooperation, which was one of the basic principles of the
Basic Law. She concluded, “The point that women’s studies is an interdisciplinary academic discipline should not be dropped” (the 12th SICBPGE, the 11th July, 2005, unpaged). As mentioned, the importance of the word gender was repeated and emphasised by members respectively in the meeting.
Lastly, in terms of the PT’s intention to change the expression regarding the implementation of the gender equality policy from “in all fields of the society—arayurubunya” to “in each field—kakubunya”, the committee members confirmed the importance of the former expression because this change critically concerns the idea of ‘gender mainstreaming’. In order to coordinate and check the influence of the gender equality policies, it was decided that the expression “all
21 This expression is cited from Constitution of Japan: ‘Ryosei no honshitsuteki byodo’, in Article 24.
221 fields” should not be changed so that the Basic Law remained as a guideline and the policies would indeed penetrate all fields of society. These were the key points made in the twelfth meeting held on the 11th July, 2005.
Against the PT’s suggestions or attacks in the review of the Basic Plan, the responses of the members of the ad hoc meeting were very defensive. The members merely repeated the original meanings of gender; it is clear that the PT did not misunderstand the meaning of gender, because the PT denies gender theory itself. Rather, the PT insisted that the Basic Plan for Gender Equality should not use gender theory. This was clearly a direct attack on gender theory. A few days after the twelfth SICBPGE, an LDP joint meeting including the PT was held on the 14th July, 2005. The chair,
Sumiko Iwao, and another member of SICBPGE, Atsushi Kashima, were invited to attend and it was requested that they reconsider the matters suggested by the PT at the forthcoming ad hoc meeting on the 20th July where the draft of the second Basic Plan would be reviewed. According to the minutes of that thirteenth meeting, Gender
Equality Bureau promotion manager, Sadazuka, first explained the PT’s main arguments in relation to the review of the Basic Plan, namely that it was not based on gender theories but rather on the arguments that:
expressions such as “unpaid work”, “family management agreement”, and
“complaint handling” are not appropriate to use because they lead to the denial of
family.
the idea of gender originally started from feminist thought, and was supported by
the left wing and also by the ideologically left wing Nikkyoso (Japan Teachers’
222 Union).
the draft of the second Basic Plan includes gender in many places although the
Basic Law and the current Basic Plan do not use ideas of gender.
although the word gender is recognised internationally, it is not recognised
domestically. Thus, the expression “gender” or “gender as socially and culturally
constructed” should be reconsidered. For example, [it can be expressed as]
although men and women are biologically different, they should not be
discriminated against socially and culturally. The word gender can be replaced
with “dissolution of gender discrimination” or “gender discriminate
consciousness”, or with some Japanese translation.
PT provided some cases of “excessive sex education or gender free education”.
Sadazuka’s explanation formed the basis of the induction process promoting the need for the PT’s arguments to be carefully taken into consideration in revising the Basic
Plan. In addition, the chair, Sumiko Iwao, stated in the LDP meeting that she had firstly confirmed the importance of the Basic Law and of a gender equal society. Next, she had indicated to the LDP meeting that the gender perspectives included in the current Basic Plan and the draft plan must first pursue equal opportunity before equality can result. Lastly, she said that she could not agree with the view of the LDP that matters should be excluded from the Basic Plan simply because the LDP did not approve of them. She reported that she had insisted that if the progress of particular matters was necessary to realise a gender equal society, she hoped the LDP would argue that such necessary matters be included in the Basic Plan. She also added to
Sadazuka that the PT insisted on revising the Basic Plan free of gender theories
223 because the Japan Teachers’ Union carried out gender free education or ‘excessive’ sex education based on the theory that gender relations are power relations between oppressing men and oppressed women. In relation to this matter, the LDP said that the promotion of women’s studies and gender studies in universities was not agreeable.
Iwao had expressed her opposition to this point and urged them to correct the PT’s misunderstanding. However, Iwao concluded that the ad hoc committee needed to reconsider some expressions which might be misconstrued or could not be understood easily. Iwao had started discussion of the LDP meeting by saying that:
I told [the LDP joint meeting] that I had received many indications [on the draft of the Basic Plan from the LDP joint meeting], and that I would take them to SICBPGE and ask the members to discuss them, and that I would try to make efforts to include [the LDP’s] arguments as much as possible. This is what I told [the joint meeting]. (Special Investigation Committee Regarding the Basic Plan for Gender Equality, 2005a, unpaged)
Iwao, a chair of the ad hoc committee and also the Gender Equality Bureau, then tabled to the thirteenth SICBPGE meeting a prepared draft amended in 23 places, and began that meeting with the intention of working towards careful consideration of the
PT’s arguments—especially regarding expressions of gender. Committee members then tried to find alternative words for gender (jenda), like men and women, or to examine some places where the word gender could be erased. For example, “gender statistics” would become “the separate statistics for men and women”, and “gender equality” would be “equality for men and women”. The PT also insisted that the expression “having a variety of lifestyles—tayou na raifusutairu wo motsu” should be
224 erased because such expressions can be interpreted extensively and this should not be necessary in the context. In other words, the PT feared or denied that Japanese citizens enjoy a diversity of lifestyles. More precisely, the PT did not admit to diversity that would be a cause of disruption to the conventional stereotyped lifestyle of men and women. The ad hoc committee members, especially Furuhashi, strongly opposed these proposals, saying that:
the idea of gender equality can not be fully described with replacement by the expression equality between men and women … It was the great current of the times. In this context, we (the drafters of the Basic Law) think that gender, which is an idea from ‘outside’, should be introduced. (the 13th SICBPGE, the 20th July, 2005, unpaged)
As for women’s studies and gender studies, another committee member, Kanda, said that:
As this background, [the subtext of the PT’s] argument is that women’s studies and gender studies are not necessary in a university. There are such opinions, hence the sentences should be
dealt with in consideration of such situations… (the 13th SICBPGE, the 20t hJuly, 2005, unpaged)
Another member, Inoguchi, who later became Minister for Gender Equality, added that, “I think it is important that the Plan states that women’s studies are to be promoted in higher education” (the 13th SICBPGE, the 20th July, 2005, unpaged).
Other members said that there had been some problems in the amended draft, but if the draft of the Basic Plan would not pass the Cabinet meeting without inclusion of the proposed PT amendments, the amended draft could not be accepted by SICBPGE.
Thus, the amended draft was reluctantly accepted in rough outline, including the PT 225 suggestions. The second Basic Plan, it would appear, represents nothing more than the compromised outcome of SICBPGE.
Recalling that time, a former high-ranking member of the Gender Equality Bureau was critical of these developments:
it was [PT] that said it is the gender free that is not good … making images of the gender free [by associating it with sex free], … thus created fait accomplis, then they said that such dirty words should not be used. They made it dirty themselves … but, sorry to say, after all, Japanese do not know about the idea of gender that much. …, they [PT] clamored that it was an absurd word again and again, and such a voice came to be on the front burner … so, it was already difficult to demolish [such voices], … originally, [gender] is a foreign word … at that time, each scholar has each particular definition on gender … [such attitudes] were just attacked . (Interview No. 26)
Regardless of the ad hoc members’ reluctance, the word gender was almost completely erased from the new Basic Plan in 2005, and the word gender was left out of the fundamental gender equality policy as it had been ‘contaminated’.
Part 2 of the revised Basic Plan is a place where the word gender, jenda written as a loan word from a foreign language, was retained. Although there is barely a place where jenda (gender) was written, a Japanese explanation of a word gender—jenda, however, was reworded. The definition was abbreviated from ‘gender difference as socially and culturally constructed’ to ‘gender difference as socially constructed’.
And the phrase ‘shakaiteki seibetsu—gender difference as socially constructed’ was explained in a note in the last part of the section. As indicated in the first part of this
226 chapter, the terms women’s studies and gender studies were completely erased from
Article 10 in the second Basic Plan. Additionally, in the second Basic Plan, the character for the loan word gender—jenda barely appears except in the Japanese translation of the Gender Empowerment Measurement (GEM) and Gender and
Development (GAD) where international terminology is used. Again, in the international context of section 11 titled “Contribute to the ‘Equality, Development and Peace’ of the global community”, some expressions of gender equality—jenda byodo and the gender mainstreaming —jenda no shuryuka were retained.
In order to trace the stimuli for these changes, the minutes of Council for Gender
Equality (CGE)—Danjo Kyodosankaku Kaigi meeting that preceded this amended draft’s tabling at the Cabinet meeting were examined. Five days after the thirteenth
SICBPGE, discussion on an amendment of the Basic Plan was moved to the agenda of Council for Gender Equality, prior to its introduction and probable approval at a
Cabinet meeting. At this nineteenth meeting of the Council for Gender Equality, held on the 25th July, 2005, SICBPGE reported on “the basic direction of the policy regarding the promotion and realisation of the gender equal society—danjo kyodo sankaku shakai no keisei no sokushin ni kansuru shisaku no kihonteki na hokou”—to
Prime Minister Koizumi. At this meeting, the members of the council who also served as members of the ad hoc committee (all female) strongly insisted on the importance of the word gender. For example, Iwao, who was Chair of the ad hoc committee, confirmed that the notion of gender, that was socially and culturally constructed, was important. As a result, it was decided, and noted in the report, that a publicity campaign would be developed to raise awareness about gender sensitive perspectives
227 in society. In the same meeting, Kuniko Inoguchi, who later became Minister for
Gender Equality in the last Koizumi Cabinet, claimed that the Japanese government had drawn upon much international documentation which included the notion of gender and that interpreted the term as socially and culturally constructed. Inoguchi further argued that it was important for Japan to improve its low position on the
Gender Empowerment Index (GEI) so as to take an international leadership role
(Council For Gender Equality, 2005).
Thus, it was argued that from the position of the Japanese government, the notion of gender needed to be retained. Inoguchi also added that the position of female scholars, especially in the fields of science and technology, should be secured, age limitations for employment and the term of limitation of scholarly attainment should be lifted in consideration of the childbearing and child-rearing issues affecting women.
Takako Sodei, a professor at Ochanomizu Women’s University, specifically requested that MEXT promote women’s studies and gender studies as interdisciplinary studies and that gender sensitive perspectives consider issues not only regarding women but also men. Sodei supported this argument by pointing to the recent phenomenon of karoshi or death from overwork. Hiroko Hara, an emeritus professor of Ochanomizu Women’s University, added that women’s studies and gender studies consider not only men and women but also the diversity of human beings and try to solve problems concretely by flexibly investigating real conditions.
Hara suggested that further theoretical and empirical studies on gender would help to
228 solve various problems—including domestic violence (DV) issues—that were under the purview of the Ministry of Justice.
Finally, Yuko Sumida, a lawyer, noted that the word gender has international recognition and that it had also been used in the first Basic Plan. However Sumida also referred to the PT’s suggestions and noted that the explanation of gender needed further consideration within SICBPGE so as to avoid potential misunderstandings. On the basis of these opinions, the report—including the words gender, gender related, women’s studies and gender studies—was submitted to Prime Minister Koizumi.
At the twentieth meeting of the Council for Gender Equality on the 24th October, 2005, the draft of the Basic Plan was not listed on the agenda. Importantly however, reference material from the National Governor’s Association, the “Opinion
Regarding the Amendment of the Basic Plan for Gender Equality—Danjo kyodosannkaku kihonkeikaku kaitei ni kansuru iken”—was submitted. The
Association requested that use of the word “gender—jenda” not be set back, and insisted that the opinions of local governments be reflected in the Basic Plan.
At the twenty-first meeting the Council for Gender Equality (CGE) on the 26th
December, one day before the approval of the second Basic Plan by the Cabinet, the report on the Basic Plan for Gender Equality was one of the main agenda items. The
Chief Cabinet Secretary at that time was Shinzo Abe, who was also the chair of the PT,
(Abe became the next Japanese Prime Minister nine months later). The last Minister for Gender Equality in the Koizumi Cabinet, Kuniko Inoguchi, explained that the draft was discussed in the Cabinet Office and with the ministries, based on the report
229 of the Council for Gender Equality from July. She added that, in consideration of the opinions of the ruling party, the use of particular expressions was considered to avoid misunderstanding. A definition of gender, expressed this time as only “social gender differences”, was written as a note. Minister Inoguchi explained:
Since there are some things that would not hinder the realization of a gender equal society, it is written that this Basic Plan does not review such matters. In addition, it is written that use of the term ‘gender-free’ [implies a different intent] from the gender equal society that national citizens want: [instead implying a gender equal society] that denies sex differences, makes a sexless person without distinction of femininity or masculinity, or denies a family and the traditional culture such as the girls-day-festival. (the 21st GEC, the 26th December. 2005, unpaged)
Here, Minister Inoguchi directly quoted the argument of the PT that the idea of
‘gender-free’ denies the sex differences or implies a sexless person, and she insisted that the idea is not something to which national citizens had agreed. It is possible to infer that this was the moment at which Inoguchi decided to pragmatically accept certain losses while gave ground to the opinions she felt she could not accept. In other words, Inoguchi retained the term and a definition of gender within the Basic Plan, while at the same time giving up her original claim for the idea of gender-free that the members of SICBPGE had insisted upon. Inoguchi also clearly stated her intent to be a front-runner in promoting the correct dissemination of ‘gender’ as it is an important idea to progress gender equality. (In reality, Inoguchi started to visit prefectures all over Japan, and I had the opportunity to participate in one such meeting when she visited our prefecture.) Nonetheless, as the final draft of the second Basic Plan shows, the expression of gender was retained at a minimal level and, furthermore, mention of 230 women’s studies and gender studies were completely erased. The draft submitted by the SICBPGE and the opinions of the female council members in the nineteenth meeting were ignored, as was the request of the National Governor’s Association. The fact remains however that the underlined paragraphs in the citation of Minister
Inoguchi’s explanation (above) represent little more than ‘window-dressing’ by the
PT of LDP for the final draft resulted in being amended along the lines of the initial
PT’s suggestions.
After Minister Inoguchi’s statement, a SICBPGE member, Toshiaki Tachibanaki, pointed out that the Basic Plan seemed to differ in some parts from the SICBPGE’s
July report and that it also seemed to have some insufficiencies, as there were many instances of the use of weak expressions such as “try to proceed the concrete policies” or “will consider”. Considering the uses of auxiliary modal verbs of ‘must’ and
‘should’ in the other parts of the Basic Plans, points to the fact that such expressions sound hesitant in terms of implementation. Interestingly Tachibanaki also said that he would like to pay his respect to the organisers of the governmental bill; however his use of the word ‘respect’ may have inferred a degree of irony. This interpretation is made on the basis of an explanation received during in interview with a former high-ranking member of the Gender Equality Bureau where the background to the amendment of the draft of the Basic Plan was reflected upon:
At that precise moment, it was nothing but the ruling parties that were strongly insisting on [making the Basic Plan] without gender. Many of them insisted that the plan should not be based on gender theory. In such a vortex [of backlash], if we said “how stupid!”, the plan would not pass the ruling parties. If they
231 didn’t agree to the draft, it would not be mooted in the Cabinet meeting. So you might think that [the reference materials of PT] were incoherent and unreasonable. This is the one (showing the reference materials). … Mmm ... in ordinary circumstances, we might say that it was absurd. But [we had to do it] in order to go through such procedures … [our decision was] … whatever happens, we needed to get a support from the ruling parties. … As for the government, we wanted to include [the word] jenda—gender in the Basic Plan. … This was the only way to do it … (Interview No. 26)
The former high-ranking member of the Gender Equality Bureau claimed that they had accepted the PT’s opinions in order to protect the word gender in the Basic Plan.
Nonetheless, the process ended in victory for the PT and the anti-gender lobby. Tachi
(2006) claims that ‘gender bashing’ groups intended to eliminate the idea of gender and to amend the Basic Law of a Gender-equal Society, the Foundation Law of
Education and the Constitution of Japan. As a first step, the groups were successful in extinguishing the notion of ‘gender-free’.
The fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth meetings of SICBPGE were successively held on the 9th, 14th and 29th of September, 2005 and only to discuss the ‘gender’ terminology question and the significance of promoting gender studies in realising a gender equal society. In opposition to the discourse of unnecessary gender theory by
PT, the meeting tried to find a way to leave the expression of gender and the gender sensitive perspectives in the Basic Plan. To conclude, as an expression to replace a conventional definition of gender, which is ‘socially and culturally constructed gender difference’, the meeting narrowed down the three options: ‘social gender difference’, ‘social difference of men and women’, and ‘socially constructed
232 difference between men and women’. As for ‘gender sensitive perspectives’, the meeting also left three choices; ‘perspectives concerning the existence of gender’,
‘perspectives to be sensitive to discrimination based on gender, fixed gender roles and prejudice’, and ‘perspectives aiming at creating awareness of gender, eliminating gender discrimination and developing individuality and ability’. Also, the meeting confirmed that gender as an academic term has since settled down and is used in almost all the academic disciplines such as sociology, politics, economics, medical science, and biology. In addition, the Science Council of Japan—Nihon Gakujutsu
Kaigi—has been striving for the establishment of gender studies as an academic discipline in universities, and also to clarify the significance and the role of gender studies by promoting gender-sensitive studies and interdisciplinary research.
It is significant that the national government held three meetings solely for the purpose of discussing gender; as a result of these series of meetings, the following notes were added to the second Basic Plan:
“gender” perspective:
1. Humans have an inherent biological state of being male or female (sex). On the other hand, there are socially constructed attributes associated with being male and female in terms of social conventions and practices. “Gender” refers to the latter. The concept of “gender” itself does not contain positive or negative meaning. The term “gender” is used internationally.
From a “gender” perspective, one can recognize that sex discrimination, stereotyped division of roles between men and women, prejudice, etc., have their origin in the idea of “gender” and they are socially constructed.
233 These “gender” characteristics could include factors impeding the formation of a “gender-equal society”, such as sex discrimination, stereotyped division of roles between men and women, and prejudice. Whereas, they also include factors that do not make negative impacts on the formation of a “gender-equal society” and need not be changed. In the process of reviewing the existing social systems and practices in preparation for change, a general consensus is required. (p. 21)
Once again, the above statements, such as “humans have an inherent biological state of being male or female (sex)” and “they also include factors that do not make negative impacts on the formation of a “gender-equal society” and need not be changed” clearly reflect the suggestions from the PT to SICBPGE. The result seems to be a product of compromise (weighted in favour of the PT) that ignores the opinions of the members of SICBPGE. A former high-ranking member of the Gender
Equality Bureau commented that it was extremely hard to leave the word ‘gender’ in the Basic Plan.
Defining ‘gender’ as not containing “positive or negative meaning” shows that policy decisions “in the public sphere could somehow be made in a value-neutral manner” and seemed to “avoid the political complexities” (Taylor et al., 1997, p. 18). The expression “there are socially constructed attributes” originally included the word
“culturally”; this exclusion appears to be intended to avoid political conflict. Critics in the backlash group argued that the idea of gender seemed to deny traditional cultural events—like celebrating the Girl’s Festival in March. However, a former high-ranking member of the Gender Equality Bureau (Interview No. 26) explained
234 that the exclusion was a means to protect and leave the word gender in the policy documents such as the Basic Plan issued in 2005.
She also said that members of the Gender Equality Bureau (GEB) believed that decisions such as these were the only way to protect the word gender in the Basic Plan, stating:
they like the fixed gender roles. You know, it is a theory of gender traits—seibetsutokuseiron. They say that there is a difference of intellectuality between men and women… they are such people … [in the Bureau,] we said we could not absolutely accept such an idea and we wanted to leave the word of gender [in the Basic Plan] … in a vortex [of backlash] like this, we chose a way that the word
gender could be used [even if it were not in a positive way] and we could use it (Interview No. 26).
Indeed, the member of GEB indicates that drafting the second Basic Plan in 2005 was a creation of “struggle over meaning” (Taylor, 1997, p. 26) rather than one of compromise.
This former member of the Gender Equality Bureau added that it took time for the members of the Gender Equality Bureau to understand why the word gender had been attacked so furiously. In the minutes of SICBPGE, the members also repeated that they did not understand why the PT had decided to paraphrase or eliminate several expressions of gender and gender related ideas. However, the PT members belonged to one of the ruling parties, the LDP, and were in the Cabinet Office. Without their approval, the Basic Plan would not be passed by the Cabinet. As described in the interview, there was also strong disagreement within the Cabinet Office with the
235 demonstrating that the Gender Equality Bureau was not an uncomplicated group of bureaucrats under the single control of the Cabinet Office. Indeed, many were
‘femocrats’ who devoted themselves to, and believed in, implementing gender equality policies (see Chapter Two). Eventually, about one month after the issue of the second Basic Plan, on the 31st January, 2006, the Gender Equality Bureau (GEB) sent a notification titled ‘Regarding gender free’ to prefectures, asking them to make its content known to cities, towns, villages and relevant posts. The content was that it was appropriate not to use the word ‘gender free’ not only in national but also local public bodies. GEB made the word ‘gender free’ a scapegoat in order to save the word
‘gender’ in the Basic Plan. However, what GEB did was extend government control to the local government level. A member of the former Council for Gender Equality strongly opposed this government action, saying that, “it is a central control. It is not preferable” (Interview No. 29). This was the moment when the power of the central government was reflected in the forms of knowledge and discourses in society
(Wodak, 2001b). In this way, the position of gender equality in the political context, not to mention in the area of education, was drastically marginalised.
The concrete measures written into the second Basic Plan are valid for five years, to
2010, with its basic direction being valid for 15 years, to 2020. After the second Basic
Plan was approved by the Cabinet, SICBPGE was dismissed. In the implementation of the second Basic Plan, some unpleasant feelings remained among the people involved.
236 In the twenty-fifth meeting of the Special Investigative Committee regarding Basic
Issues of the Council for Gender Equality—danjo kyodosankaku kaigi kihonmondai senmochosakai (SICBICGE) held on the 1st February, 2006, where the basic issues for realising a gender equal society—such as the basic principles, philosophies, national administration and measures—were discussed, the committee members and the
Gender Equality Bureau spoke on the background issues regarding the final stage of reviewing the second Basic Plan.
At the beginning of the meeting, Director General Haniwa Natori, from the government, said that by using the word gender with its clear definition and by showing the inappropriate cases of misunderstood examples, the government was striving to promote the ‘correct’ understanding of gender. The chair, Iwao, and a member, Sumita, expressed their appreciation to Minister Inoguchi and the Gender
Equality Bureau for their great efforts (gokurou) in leaving the word gender in the
Basic Plan and in getting the approval of the Cabinet because its use was very important, not only to clear up misunderstandings but also to promote correct understandings of gender. However, Iwao, who also served in SICBICGE, here made blunt but sincere comments that the misunderstood cases provided by the PT had no relationship to gender equality. Rather, the cases provided by the PT were used in a way which was very clear and easy to understand, and effective for spreading and promoting the PT’s message. Therefore, all the members of SICBPGE agreed not to pick up and state those cases in the words of the Basic Plan. This remained their final point of consensus.
237 However, as ironically described by Iwao, Chair of SICBPGE, as uyokyokusetsu ga atte or ‘after many twists and turns’, the PT’s expression was eventually written into the Basic Plan. Iwao concluded by saying that, for those who hate the notion of gender, it was necessary to disabuse them of their misunderstanding.
Tsujimura, a member of SICBICGE and a professor of Tohoku University, added that it was a serious matter that, under the influence of misunderstanding of gender-free, there was a tendency towards the eradication of the use of the term gender itself in the academic field. The Science Council of Japan expressed serious concern about this tendency and considered arguing this matter by establishing a committee. On the occasion of the amendment of the Basic Plan, the political backlash against the promotion of gender equality reached higher education. As noted above, the revised
Basic Plan in 2005 represents “the outcome of political struggles over meaning”
(Taylor et al., 1997, p. 28). This was the clear result of “struggles over policy directions” (Taylor et al., 1997, p. 29) and the competing feminist and patriarchal discourses in the Prime Minister’s Office at that time. Indeed, the attack on the idea of gender by the backlash group was a moment of crisis for gender equity policy in
Japan.
Summary
Although the Japanese government upheld the gender equality policy as a top priority for the twenty-first century, when the policies were handed down to each ministry (in the case of education, MEXT), the gender equity policy was demoted to the status of other routine policies. I examined references to education in the Basic Plan for
238 Gender Equality historically by comparing the shifts from the first to the second Basic
Plan. In MEXT, two tensions or conflicts became quite clear. One related to the resistance to gender equality implementation exposed in interviews and the contents of the minutes of the meetings which display the force of the subordinate committees of the Gender Equality Bureau. The other was MEXT’s reluctant organisational culture, shown in the marginalised status of the Coordinator on gender equality and the gender quality section in MEXT. Nonetheless, the Minister responsible for MEXT displayed a proactive approach in proceeding with a project regarding improvement of the status of female scholars under the Women’s Career Shaping Support Project
(WCSP) of Gender Equality Bureau. However, it can be said that the WCSP again shows a strong intention of raising consciousness of Japan’s legal position in the international gender related indices.
In critical policy analysis, one task is to “reveal the ways in which information provided …might be distorted or false or misleading” (Taylor et al., 1997, p. 20). This chapter has highlighted an obvious example where this took place in a case of Japan.
The Gender Equality Bureau of the national government adopted to influence the thought to all local governments in Japan. It was to notify these authorities that the phrase ‘gender free’ was not preferred for use in official documentation. The notice explained that the purpose of this decision was to solve the problems of misunderstanding and confusion of the idea of using ‘gender’. Indeed ‘gender free’ was once used as a symbol to realise the gender equal society, meaning the emancipation from gender discrimination, and has been used among Japanese academics (Fukazawa, 2004; Ikeda, 2005; Kameda & Tachi, 2001; Kimura, 2006;
239 Osawa, 2002; Tachi, 1998, 1999, 2001). This educational sphere was chosen as the site for an attack by the backlash group. And the Gender Equality Bureau seemed to abandon the phrase ‘gender free’ to preserve the word ‘gender’.
Over five years, after the enactment of the Basic Law, the group opposed to gender equality steadily gained power and successfully influenced policy documentation on the occasion of the review of the Basic Plan for Gender Equality. In spite of the clear retrogressive intention of the backlash groups, the members of proponent groups such as the Gender Equality Bureau and the ad hoc committees including CGE and
SICBPGE were not ready to oppose the opponents. The documentation on the processes behind this revision, gathered by gaining access to the often-inaccessible national organisations, and examining the minutes of some meetings related to the revision of the Basic Plan, revealed the existence of silent negotiations behind the official meetings intended to reach agreement between proponents and opponents.
Behind the government’s official documents, there were various arguments related to gender, and directions on gender equality policies. The arguments of the promoters of gender equality, including the ad hoc committee members such as in SICBPGE, seemed to have a straight fight with the claims of the PT group. It seemed to be an intense ideological struggle between a backlash group—that had a top position in the political hierarchy—and national citizens. As a result, and despite the stiff resistance of the committees and the local governments through the silence behind the last committee meeting, the national government accepted the suggestions of the objectors regarding the idea of gender. They compromised to make changes to the
240 original suggested report of the SICBPGE that had intended mainstreaming gender perspectives as statements in the Basic Plan.
The gender related words in the education arena were deleted. Ultimately, it was a victory for opposition groups who were able to exercise power and who knew and utilised the functions of ‘parliamentary democracy’. The Japanese government retained its policy of increasing the number of female students and scholars in order to save face internationally, but gave up the measures in education—the promotion of women’s studies and gender studies—in order to nurture the next generation with gender perspectives. In the next chapter, I examine how Article 10 in the Basic Plan is embodied in the actual sites of universities.
241 Chapter Eight: From Bureaucracy to Higher Education—The Impact of Gender Equity Policies in Higher Education
This is the last analysis chapter of this trajectory study. In the previous chapter, I examined the gender issues articulated in the Basic Plan for Gender Equality in the area of education at the level of bureaucracy. In this chapter, the impact of the government’s gender equity policies on the universities level is explored and begins with a discussion of action taken by a national university association.
After the Council for Gender Equality outlined its representation of a gender equal society in the Vision of Gender Equality in 1996, Japan made steady progress in terms of its policy formulation. This is evident in the fact that the Basic Law for a
Gender-equal Society was established in 1999, and the (first) Basic Plan for Gender
Equality was issued soon after in 2000. In the same year, the Japan Association of
National Universities (JANU) made twelve suggestions, one of which was to increase the rate of female full-time instructors to 20 per cent by 2010. In concert with this, in
2001, then Prime Minister Koizumi appointed five female Ministers (for the first time in Japanese history) to his first Cabinet, and in 2002 he requested that the Council for
Gender Equality design measures to support females ‘contesting workplace decisions’22. In 2003, the Headquarters for the Promotion of Gender Equality of Japan announced that the government intended to increase the proportion of female leaders
22 The practice of women challenging for higher positions and responsibility.
242 in all fields of society to at least 30 per cent by 2020. This policy is called ‘Measures to Support Women’s Challenges (MSWC)—Josei no charenji shien’.
At the same time, however, the education policy relating to gender equality (as stated in Article 10 of the Basic Plan in 2000), dropped the wording concerning ‘women’s studies’ or ‘gender studies’ when it was amended in 2005. Such a regressive outcome appears to be the result of a compromise in reaction to the ‘backlash movement’
(outlined in the previous chapter). Despite the fact that female scholars do not always support gender theory, it can nonetheless be argued that the Japanese government displayed their negative attitude to the full implementation of gender perspectives through school education for the next generation, while at the same time promoting a policy to increase the number of female scholars.
On the other hand, due to the recognition of sexual harassment issues in the workplace during the late 1990s, sexual harassment issues in educational institutions gradually began to receive more attention. Serious sexual harassment incidents within universities were increasingly reported by the media, with many cases being presented to the courts. Finally, after being involved in a court case related to sexual harassment (Hata, 2007), in the same year of the enactment of the Basic Law for a
Gender-equal Society, in 1999 the Ministry of Education issued provisions regarding the prevention of sexual harassment within its own organisation. This provision was made known to related organisations—including both national and private universities (Hata, 2007, p. 22). On the occasion of the central government reformation in 2001 the Ministry of Education was restructured as the Ministry of
243 Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). The reformation of the ministry integrated the field of science and technology into the ministry of education and highlighted the policy regarding the promotion of female students and scholars in the field of science and technology. In 2004, national universities were restructured into national university corporations or houjinka. With the move to give national universities greater autonomy with this reformation, competition amongst national, public, and private universities became more intense.
This chapter explores the impact of the government’s gender equality policies on universities. In this study, three national (state) universities and two private universities, in Tokyo and Hokkaido, Japan were investigated. Of the three national universities, two focused exclusively on training to be elementary, junior high, and high schools teachers, while the two private institutions spread their pre-service teacher education across several departments/faculties. Data gathered for this study came from interviews conducted with 26 academic and clerical staff members of the state and private universities. Written documents—brochures, and texts from the universities—were used also to explore discourses and social practices raised in the interviews.
This chapter consists of two aspects relating to how gender equity policies that were embodied in universities: first, the study investigated how the Basic Plan and its related gender equality policies—such as the Measures to Support Women’s
Challenges (MSWC)—influenced the establishment of gender equality administration in universities in Japan. Second, the study explores the effects of the provision
244 regarding sexual harassment prevention in universities issued by the Ministry of
Education, Culture, Sports Science and Technology (MEXT), which aimed at the promotion of respect for human rights. These two issues have in common in that they both have to deal with problems of discrimination against women. In the first part of the Chapter Eight, the cases of three national universities (Northern Cities University,
Japan Academic University, and Far Eastern University) and two private universities
(Sapporo Liberty University, Tokyo Central University) were compared. In this section, analysis of the cases of the national universities revealed that the sense of loyalty to the government and the spirit of competitiveness among national universities shown by teachers of national universities promoted the establishment of gender equality administrative structures within universities. In particular, feminist teachers who had higher positions led such policy implementation. On the other hand, private universities appeared to have less interest in the Basic Law, but showed a strong interest in grants offered by MEXT and eventually such grant competition helped drive the implementation of gender equality policy.
In the second part of the Chapter Eight, a case study method of research revealed the teachers’ efforts and distress in relation to the activities of the sexual harassment prevention committee. For example, the activities of the committee seemed to be heavily dependent on in-service teachers. Some activities of devoted feminist teachers seemed to bring successful results in consciousness-raising among some colleagues, while for others it resulted in friction. The study showed that the situation of the committee was problematic. The findings in this chapter help a deeper understanding of the current situation of universities where the staff tackle the promotion of a gender
245 equitable environment within universities and suggest further directions and measures to improve the prospects for gender equitable environments in universities in Japan.
Changes in university administration
National universities
The impact of the Basic Law
After the enactment of the Basic Law for a Gender Equality, some national universities started to apply the government’s gender equity policies and acted quickly to establish a gender equality body within their administration. For example,
Nagoya University, a national university, set up a working group (WG) in 2000, and established an office of gender equality in 2002. Immediately after that, another of the national universities investigated, the Eastern Japan University (EJU) in Tokyo, was similarly decisive, and provided several examples of how it was promoting gender equality policies when EJU drafted its own basic plan for gender equality in 2003. The timing of the formation of this basic plan was quite early among universities in Japan.
During an interview, a professor from EJU recalled the situation at that time and claimed that “this was obviously influenced by the Basic Law for a Gender-equal
Society” (Interview No. 29, EJU). In terms of policy, national universities at that time were included in the overall national government organisation23 and thus had a responsibility to promote the policy of gender equality. In this sense, national universities, as national government bodies, found it relatively easy to become involved in national policy. The professor at EJU pointed out that Article 8 in the
23 In 2004, national universities in Japan became educational corporations.
246 Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society mentions the responsibility of the State. She implied that employees in national universities—as government employees—had a responsibility to comply with Article 8 of the Basic Law. Further, in Article 10 in the
Basic Plan, issued in 2000, a concrete action to be taken by universities is prescribed as follows.
From the Basic Plan (2000):
B. Promoting gender equality in institutions of higher learning
Based on the suggestions in order to promote gender equality in national universities, conducted by the working group on gender equality in the Japan Association of National Universities (JANU), to promote women’s participation in arena of science / research.
It is evident from the section above that the responsibility of national universities for gender equality was for the first time clearly articulated. This lead to the Japan
Association of National Universities (JANU) formulating a quick response to the
Basic Plan along the lines of twelve suggestions on gender equality promotion, listed in Table 8.1.
247 Table 8.1: Suggestions by the Japan Association of National Universities: In order to promote gender equality in national universities
Report by the Working Group regarding Gender Equality in the Japan Association of National Universities (JANU) in May, 2000 Suggestions: In order to promote Gender Equality in national universities
1. Articulation of intention and guideline for the improvement of gender equality in a university 2. Enhancement of gender studies in curriculums and research 3. Improvements in investigation for understanding circumstances of female employees and educational affairs 4. Applying positive actions for establishing open recruitment system for increasing female academics (Aiming at increasing female academics up to 20 % by 2010) 5. Promoting female participation in the field of science and technology where the number of females is low 6. Improvement of working conditions including research environment of part-time teachers 7. Promotion of gender equality in research and improvement of research environment of female researchers 8. Introduction of complaints system 9. Prevention and measures against sexual harassment 10. Support for child rearing and compatibility of caring patients 11. Regarding the use of alias or a maiden name in research career 12. and others
Source: (Kokuritsu Daigaku Kyokai (The Japan Association of National Universities), 2000)
In relation to the fifth suggestion, to promote “female participation in the field of science and technology”, some universities especially focused on increasing the rate of female full-time scholars in the arena of science and technology to 20 per cent by
2010. The highlighting of the arena of science and technology has two aspects: one is the decision to combine the Science and Technology Agency with the Ministry of
Education on the occasion of the Central Government Reform in 2001; the other is to help to redress the gender imbalance that resulted from the extremely low number of women in the field, which is also a reflection of the gender biases in the choice of
248 subject majors between male and female students (NWEC, 2003). For example,
Toyoshima (2008) points out that females made up approximately 7 per cent of the membership of the academic society of science and technology in 2007. The Basic
Plan shows that ‘to promote gender equality in national universities’, priority seems to be given to promoting ‘women’s participation in the arena of science/research’.
This first choice obviously reflects the power of the ex-Science and Technology
Agency within the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
(MEXT). In addition, as the Japan Association of National Universities (JANU) is composed of the Presidents of all national universities in Japan, the top-down communication from each President seemed to work effectively enough to shake the
“gender order” (Connell, 1987, 2002) in the academic arena.
In the case of the Eastern Japan University (EJU), policy implementation within the
University was absolutely in line with the Basic Plan and the gender equality scheme of the government. In 2002, EJU showed its ‘intention and guideline for the improvement of gender equality’ as suggested by JANU, and a Committee for Gender
Equality was established under the direct supervision of the President of the
University (Interview No. 29). This Committee for Gender Equality was set up to improve four spheres of gender equality, namely 1) education, 2) research, 3) employment, and 4) the working environment. In 2003, the Action Plan for Gender
Equality within EJU was formed and showed that EJU’s interests mainly focused on increasing the numbers of female students and scholars in the field of science and technology and supporting them; there was only a single item in the plan that dealt with the promotion of gender studies. This scheme was obviously intended to increase
249 the number of women in science and technology—either as students or as academics—demonstrating clearly the results of EJU efforts, and at the same time directly contributing to the rank of Japan in international gender related indices such as GEM or GDI, with which the Japanese government is keenly concerned (Bando,
2004). Thus, it can be said that the scheme of EJU is likely to find favour with the national government.
Further, the concrete basic plan under the University’s committee was congruent with the ideas of the Measures to Support Women’s Challenges (MSWC) program initiated by the Prime Minister’s Office. In 2007, a model support plan of the EJU titled "Ten
Years for Career Establishment—Kyaria Kakuritsu no 10 nen Shien Puran" was adopted within the "Model Project to Support Nurturing Female Researchers"
(supported by the Special Coordination Funds for the Promotion of Science and
Technology of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
[MEXT]). Thus, in line with gender equality policy, the Eastern Japan University
(EJU) displayed its merit as a case study for the policy to the government, and won a grant from the government.
One of twelve suggestions by the Japan Association of National Universities (JANU) in 2000 was a proposal to increase female instructors to around twenty per cent. The above-mentioned professor at EJU in Tokyo spoke of the heavy impact of the suggestions on the University in their implementation of gender equality:
Every year the JANU sends out a survey … and sends us the results. So the circumstance of each university appears very obvious. In fact, a university would not investigate the rate of
250 female graduate students or professors spontaneously by itself without such a questionnaire from the JANU. (Interview No. 29, EJU)
This comment from a professor at a national university on how EJU displays an understanding that the university itself would not, un-prompted, move to conduct surveys but that it could not help doing so when asked to by the JANU, because it was implemented top-down from the President of each university. Thus, the sense of loyalty of national universities’ employees in Japan is demonstrated in their inclination to work extremely hard on issues that have been legislated. It seems that such bureaucratic intensity sparked by legislation was also a factor pressuring universities to act.
The President of Northern Cities University (NCU) in Hokkaido also spoke of the influence of the JANU:
JANU made a suggestion to all national universities, like … improving the research environments for female researchers. … Therefore, each university began to move … We picked it up last year (in 2005), and made a working group. (Interview No. 20, NCU)
The professors’ claims were underpinned by their loyalty to the national government and their positive motivation for social change as a member of a national government body. Article 10 of the Basic Plan—particularly the statement that articulated the roles of the Japan Association of National Universities (JANU)—worked effectively in pushing the implementation of the gender equality policy through the President of each university. The Basic Law seemed to function as an instrument of power
(Foucault, 1980, p. 141) over national universities because they are national 251 government bodies, and the suggestion of JANU sounded like the exercise of absolute power. JANU’s hegemonic power (Fairclough, 2001b) over national universities was readily exercised because the national universities seem to take JANU’s control for granted: they should introduce gender equal policy. The gender equality policy strongly drove them to take actions under the banner of a national policy.
The competitiveness of the national universities
A professor at EJU who positively admitted the influence of the Basic Law on the
University suggested the reason for the early establishment of a gender equality administrative system within the university:
The major reason why our university drafted the basic plan was because Nagoya National University had already formed the plan …. At that time, Gakucho (the university President) and his assistant committee said that we had to do it because Nagoya University did … before society began to move, we thought that we had to do something at our university. (Interview No. 29, EJU)
From this interview, it is possible to draw two main points: one is that the national universities observe trends within other national universities carefully, and are susceptible to horizontal pressure exerted from other institutions. In the case of the university mentioned above, the professor asserts, “there [were] many professors in our university who were concerned with the formation of the Basic Law” (Interview
No. 29, EJU), including herself. It is not surprising then that academics within the university felt a special ‘responsibility’ for its implementation. It is possible that such feelings might have aroused rivalry between universities that had a head start in organising a gender equality administration structure. In addition, her comment that 252 “before society began to move, we thought that we had to do something at our university” shows a concern to position the university as setting trends within society.
In addition, this comment seemed to imply that the reformation from within the
University was the starting point for making society move. She predicted that the
Basic Law might be influential enough to change society, and she seemed to show enthusiasm for making EJU one of the role models that introduced the idea of gender equality in the university. Her comment seemed to emphasise that the need to realise a gender equal society became a hegemonic idea among the national universities. The professor of EJU continued that:
Japanese (society) has a strong horizontally egalitarian consciousness. So we may think that it is shameful if we don’t do what others have already done. (Interview No. 29, EJU)
Her emotional expression “it is shameful” not to be a member of a group doing the same thing, which evokes Japanese shame cultures defined by Benedict (1946), sounded emphatic. It can be said, as the professor mentioned, that there is a sense of egalitarianism. But, at the same time, it strongly appeared that the sense of competition with other national universities, especially in this case, Nagoya
University, and also a strong sense of responsibility and commitment accelerated gender equality implementation within EJU.
The President of Northern City University (NCU) in Hokkaido also showed strong concern with being the first, and said that:
[the] ratio of female teachers (in Hokkaido) is much lower than the average (ratio in Japan). … I hope the cause (of the circumstances in Hokkaido) will be analysed. … No 253 universities in Japan [except NCU] have picked up these problems. No universities in Japan… (Interview No. 20, NCU)
These interviews indicated two competing discourses, ‘competition’ and
‘egalitarianism’, among the national universities. This President’s competitive attitude, by emphasising repeatedly “No universities [except NCU] in Japan picked up these problems”, about being seen to show initiative among other national universities, can be understood as another pressure or motivation the university needed to move on the policy. The professor at EJU was outspoken about her university’s attitude and added quietly that: “our university [members] think that the university should not always be the first one to act, but it shouldn’t be very late [to act, when] compared with other universities” (Interview No. 29, EJU). Her comment articulated the culturally and historically constructed identity of EJU, as EJU has kept its position as one of the top universities for more than 100 years, and is usually or almost always taking the first place in doing something. The discourse of ‘taking initiatives of change’ based on rivalry seemed to become ‘the power’ to drive the implementation of the gender equality policy in national universities.
A professor who took the leading role in the setting up of a working group (WG) for gender equality administration at NCU in Hokkaido, and who also served as a special assistant to the university President, explained her strategy in introducing a gender equality administration system in NCU. She first indicated the negative aspect of red-tape and claimed that “since our university is a national university, [we were concerned] about the suggestions from the JANU and the Science Council of Japan”
(Interview No. 18, NCU). She continued, explaining the background as follows:
254 A document [of JANU] was sent to each university, but it was sleeping on the shelf of a member of the clerical staff. I neither knew about it nor had I seen it. … But Eastern Japan University and Nagoya University took it seriously and established offices of gender equality. … After that, I thought that our university has to move on to it, too. I happened to be a special assistant to the President (Gakucho). So I suggested it to the President and a member of the board of directors (Riji). … Universities are now exposed to an evaluation system. … Thus, if other universities started doing it, we think that this is a situation that we have to do it, too. (Interview No. 18, NCU)
The professor, one of Japan’s leading scholars in gender-related issues, argues the necessity of including gender related subjects in the university curriculum. However, even with this background, the professor stressed that some external pressures—such as suggestions from the JANU and the actions of other national universities—were needed to force the universities into action. Again, the discourse of ‘competition’ and
‘egalitarianism’ among national universities was repeated. She claimed that her university, NCU, started to move on gender equality policy because it was a national university (Interview No. 18, NCU).
One outcome of the competition among national universities appeared in a report from the JANU, which stated that national universities might be evaluated by MEXT in terms of their level of achievement in gender equality along the lines of the national policy. The results of such evaluation may affect their applications for gender related grants offered by MEXT, such as through the Measures to Support Women’s
Challenges program. Thus, it would appear that JANU utilised the reports in a strategic fashion and thus produced a spirit of rivalry among national universities.
255 Simultaneously, JANU stimulated the ‘follow-the-leader mentality’ or “horizontally egalitarian consciousness— yokonarabi-ishiki” embedded in Japanese society.
The ties from the national policy to JANU as a national organisation, and to each national university are in alignment. This communication strategy by using the sense of loyalty of national universities’ employees thorough JANU was effective in stimulating a “chain relationship within the order of discourse” (Fairclough, 1995, p.
13). However, on the other hand, each of them intended to show its own particular initiative for change observing other national universities’ actions. It was clear in the competing discourse among interviewees that each national university had taken the situation in other national universities very seriously, and tried to gain the competitive edge. It is probable that pride plays a significant part in the fact that many national universities express the belief they are indeed different or special institutions because they are closely tied to the national educational administration.
Strategies of the feminist activists in the universities
It is worth mentioning that there were determined feminists in each university who played key roles in implementing gender equality policy. The professor at EJU also appeared to show pride that she and her colleagues established this phenomenon.
When I asked about the background of the organisation of the office for gender within the University, she implied that the trend towards establishing a gender equality promotion system in each national university—including EJU—had been sparked in the government by members of the University, and that the trend was ultimately brought back to the University:
256 There is an external pressure that behaves like a boomerang. For example, by appealing against a Japanese situation in an international conference, when a claim is not accepted in Japan, some intend to make the government—which has been hesitant to move—move by using international pressure. This also shows that the power of people in search of vision in Japan is too weak to affect the government directly. (Interview No. 29, EJU)
Her reference to international pressure using the ‘boomerang’ metaphor was interesting. Perhaps she and her colleagues who were involved in the Basic Law might have intended to utilise the universities’ Presidents to revolutionise their own university to introduce the gender equality policy into the university. Despite such uncertainty, it is nonetheless clear that the government may have exercised the top-down communication strategy by using the JANU to help ease the penetration of the Basic Plan by starting with national universities.
A similar process for setting up the WG and the headquarters for gender equality in the national universities was evident in the case of Japan Academic University (JAU) in Tokyo. A Vice-president of JAU described the background to the establishment of the gender equality administrative section within the University, saying that she personally made the suggestion of setting up a project team in order to establish a gender equality administrative system to the Departmental Chief Meeting. This professor’s strategy was very like the case of NCU, carried out by a previously mentioned professor who was an assistant to the university President, who also suggested establishing a gender equality administrative system to the President. Their
257 ‘boomerang-like strategy’ appeared to be successful, because after suggesting the projects, both were asked to be the key players in the policy implementation.
Just like the teachers in Northern Cities University, in Eastern Japan University, and also in Japan Academic University—all of whom are well known feminist researchers within Japan—these women continue to take on key roles in implementing gender equality policy in their respective universities. In the case of the professors at NCU and JAU, both were members of the ‘Group Considering Education from Gender
Perspectives’ which was greatly influenced by the commitment of the platform of the
UN World Women’s Conference in Beijing in 1995 and established that group with the intention of influencing government educational policy documents from 1996 onwards. They surely and steadily disseminated their aspirations, even after the breakup of the Group.
In the case of the Vice-president of JAU, who once served as a leader of the project team for establishing the gender equal administrative structure within the University, she had some good supporters among her colleagues. She recalled that: “the project team members were very excellent and more active than I expected. They decided to establish the headquarters and made a plan in the first meeting” (Interview No. 22,
JAU). The project team members of JAU seemed to be ready to take actions as shown in their active accomplishment in the first meeting. Such an outcome might also depend on the professor’s strategy to undertake “manoeuvring behind the scenes
258 (nemawashi24)” (Interview No. 22, JAU). This ‘nemawashi’ strategy seemed to be systematically followed at JAU. I interviewed two of her colleagues (in a single session) who were once key members of the project team on gender equality at JAU and at that time served as members of the gender equality headquarters at the university:
We have been growing the tendency. (Interview No. 23-1, JAU)
But, we did not do anything like submitting a demanding paper. We individually and personally talked to people around. And [the professor] was in the centre of it. (Interview No. 23-2, JAU)
She was in the position that she could say something to the university directly … For example, … we received a notice from the government, then we investigated our situation carefully, and we found that the university was obviously not doing anything yet … In this meaning, teachers had much stronger awareness to support this tendency than members of the directors’ board meeting. (Interview No. 23-1, JAU)
In the case of Japan Academic University, a channel of communication from the national government seemed to work smoothly. As one professor commented in interview No. 23-1, “a notice from the government” reached the interested academics and the notice gave a reason for the feminist teachers to take an action. In addition, it is possible to discern from the key players’ narratives that there were two main factors necessary for a successful outcome. First, they carefully adopted a negotiation strategy. The way the professors “have been growing the tendency”, doing it
“individually and personally” follows the above-mentioned familiar nemawashi or
24 Nakasako (2001, p. 3) defines nemawashi as “a prior and informal consultation to avoid conflicts and obtain a consensus in decision making at formal meetings”.
259 ‘previous consensus building’ strategy—establishing the background first in order to achieve the purpose. This kind of preparatory support building must be especially important in case of the gender issues, because, as these academics noticed, there are some ‘allergic’ responses to feminism or gender issues (Katayama, 2000;
Uchiumizaki, 1999a) in this institution (the Vice-president of JAU mentioned in her interview that some called her “a scary teacher” or, disparagingly, “a teacher of gender” (Interview No. 22).
Furthermore, the key players believed that they could establish a gender equality administration system smoothly, because the Vice-president accepted a powerful position “where she can say something to the university directly”. She mentioned that she was the first female Vice-president in the history of JAU, and her position was precisely one of those that the Japanese government wanted to see occupied more frequently by women, as set out in the Measures to Support Women’s Challenges scheme. In addition, as the Vice-president confided in her interview, she tried to build credit or rapport among colleagues and members of the Board of Directors (Riji25) before taking any action on administrative reform related to gender issues. Using this strategy it was possible for a female academic to get the upper, challenging position within the university, where she subsequently brought about a successful result by adopting the Japanese traditional business negotiation strategy in decision-making.
25 A riji is a person like a Vice Chancellor or a member of a University Academic Board in Australia who has administrative and financial power.
260 Private universities
This section discusses the different types of resistance that emerged in the strategy using a grant project in introducing gender equality policy. This strategy was adopted by the two private universities regarding the development of a gender equality administrative structure: one was Sapporo Liberty University (SLU) in Hokkaido, and the other was Tokyo Central University (TCU) in Tokyo. During the investigation, I was able to document the establishment of the gender equality administrative structure at one of the universities, while the other university showed little interest in gender equality issues. In the first part of the section on private universities, my investigation found that: 1) teachers in smaller universities showed low awareness of establishing a gender equality administrative structure. The importance of this policy seemed to be buried under the survival issues of private universities; 2) the devotion of those feminists who made most use of winning a grant in implementing gender equality policies and their friction with top management were revealed. It appeared to be the case that the flow of gender equality implementation in private universities was very different from that of national universities.
Resistance as a passive tactic
Unlike national universities, private universities did not show a strong interest in other universities’ moves regarding administrative reform related to gender equality.
Unlike the Japan Association of National Universities (JANU), the Association of
Private Universities of Japan (APUJ), whose name was not mentioned in the Basic
Plan, seemed not to take any action on the Basic Plan’s Article 10. In response to a
261 question about the influence of APUJ or MEXT, a Vice-president of Sapporo Liberty
University (SLU) asserted:
There was no influence. No concrete message came. … There is a Top Seminar in a year, where the President, the Vice-president, or Riji-cho (a chair of the Board of Directors) attends to study on management issues. … I often attend the seminar, but the issue of gender equality was never placed on the agenda. (Interview No. 1, SLU)
The Vice-president of SLU completely denied the possibility of leading a top-down implementation through the nation-wide network, as JANU had in the case of national universities. The Vice-president added that:
to answer the question of whether we did something along with the Basic Law or not, it would be a right answer that we didn’t do anything special. … I personally consider hiring female academics and clerical staff positively, but it does not mean that we do such things organisationally. (Interview No. 1, SLU)
Hence, the Vice-president displayed little intention of establishing a gender equality administrative structure in the university. His attitude to the law regarding the top priority issue in the twenty-first century was clearly different from that of the academics of national universities. It was evident that the gender equality policy implementation did not reach as far as this private university.
A professor of SLU, who teaches gender theories and who also calls herself an activist, similarly indicated that there was little possibility of establishing a committee for gender equality administrative structure in the University, although she claimed the necessity for doing so. She commented that:
262 for women, a long range project should be planned. If I can show a list of plans that cost little money, it may be accepted [by the university]. But I don’t have time to make a list. … The list of plans shouldn’t be an irresponsible one as it may make the position of gender (scholarship or pursuer) weak. As I don’t have time, regrettably, I persevere in silence. (Interview No. 8, SLU)
The professor indicated two difficulties in SLU. One was a problem of time and the other of money. She complained that she was inundated with minor tasks, and that the shortage of time in office hours hinders the establishment of the administrative structure for gender equality. In addition to lectures, research, and numerous clerical jobs, or a post like that of departmental dean, teachers usually spend a lot of time caring for students, seeing applicants, visiting companies or high schools, and so on.
Nonetheless, it is quite clear that the priority of gender equality in SLU was very low.
The necessity of gender equality seemed not to be openly discussed in official meetings—even once. Not doing anything itself generated resistance to the gender equality policy implementation. It cannot be denied that the issue is diminished in the name of heavy workloads.
Another issue that emerged from an interview with the professor from SLU related to management where she mentioned that financial issues affect the activities within a university: small private universities in Japan like SLU have financial difficulties.26 A professor of West Sunshine University (WSU), one of the small private universities in
26 The Promotion and Mutual Aid Corporation for Private Schools of Japan announced that as of May 1st, 2008, 47.1 per cent of private universities (266 universities) fell down the quota. (J Cast News Business and Media Watch, 2008).
263 Tokyo, also said that the management issue came first: “there is no project of gender equality in my university. … We seriously consider how to survive. … Even if I suggest the issue, I don’t know how much… because we have many other problems”
(Interview No. 25, WSU). Obviously, for these universities, gender issues seemed to be marginalised. The way that gender equality policy was trivialised and compared to other survival issues in SLU and WSU was noteworthy.
The conventional means of handling management among top executives in universities—most of whom are usually still men in Japan (Prime Minister's Office,
2008)—marginalises gender issues as they are just women’s issues. “Patriarchal power normally operates through the routine functioning of the institutions” (Connell,
2002, p. 145) and it worked to hide the importance of gender issues behind the routine matters. In other words, the discourse of ‘the survival issue’ represents the power of authority that controlled a ruling form of knowledge, a social force of organised power (Wodak, 2001b): the hegemonic idea among private teachers was that the priority was survival of the institution, and that this was not connected with the gender equality issues. Such institutional power restrains the development of gender awareness.
Moreover, the feminist teachers in both universities who (somewhat helplessly) accepted the situation actually assisted in putting the gender issues in the universities aside, that is, such reluctant attitudes could be a kind of ‘resistance’, as a form of exercise of power (Hall-Taylor, 2000) making them ‘complicit’ in stabilising gendered power structures (Hatcher, 2000).
264 The lure of research grants
Many private universities are exposed to competition in gaining grants for their projects from the national government. The two private universities investigated in this study—in Tokyo and Hokkaido—are not inhibited in publicising their grant-winning projects on their web pages. Sapporo Liberty University (SLU) in
Hokkaido even advertises the number of universities applying for certain grant projects and the names of successful applicant universities, including its own. Tokyo
Central University (TCU), the other researched private university in this study, applied for funding under the ‘Model Program to Support Female Scholars—Josei
Kenkyusha Shien Moderu Ikusei Jigyo’, which MEXT announced in 2006. The male dominated organisational culture of this university—from the point of gender ratio and climate—is apparent to both insiders and outsiders.
I visited TCU, which is one of the top ranked large universities in Japan, to conduct interviews on the occasion of a symposium commemorating the start of the Model
Program to Support Female Scholars in the field of math and science. The Program committee established the Institute to Support Women and started some projects such as opening a nursery, producing a textbook for lectures, and designing the administrative structure for gender equality in the university. It was a characteristic part of a prestigious university in Tokyo that the Institute to Support Women involved a member of JST27 and an ex-bureaucrat relevant to gender issues, who were naturally
27 JST stand for Japan Science and Technology Agency. More than 90 per cent of its revenue comes from government subsidies. According to the web page of JST, it is an integrated organisation of science and technology in Japan that establishes infrastructure for the entire process from the creation of knowledge to its return to the society.
265 both close to the government, although their involvement was as pro bono work. The blueprint, including various plans, looked impressive, but the practice was not so certain.
A professor, who was a member of the Institute to Support Women, did not hide her disappointment that the university did not intend to pay the ex-government official, because such positions may affect the frequency and enthusiasm with which they are involved in the activities. She also complained about an event that happened just before I arrived to attend the commemorative symposium:
When we had a meeting [two weeks ago] to prepare for the symposium in starting our project, … we heard that a member of the Board of Directors (Riji) in charge of the project had not yet decided … We all got angry. (Because) no matter how hard we work, our institution will not be changed if a Riji is not involved. … So we decided to make a phone call to the Gakucho’s (President) office. Usually he replies saying, “Fine, fine, please come”. But this time…his secretary passed the line to another secretary in charge. Then the secretary answered that, “the schedule is tight, … as he (President) has just left,...” … We got angry again. … So [a member] sent a letter saying that we would quit everything … Then, a few days later, we had a call that they would decide on a Riji in charge of the project. (Interview No. 13, TCU)
Eventually, as promised, a Riji who controls the finances and power in the university was put in charge of the project and he presented the symposium. The professor told me that she felt a little easier as the Riji chosen was a person who understands the context well. Considering the pro bono role of the ex-bureaucrat’s involvement in the
266 committee, however, it was obvious that the university did not want to use their money.
A remarkable element in this matter (discussed in the interview excerpt above) is the attitude of the secretary in passing the telephone call to another secretary in charge of the project, and their language use. The indirect expression of regret at refusing the contact represents Japanese cultural aspects of language use. Japanese try to say no without saying no, instead using indirect means. Thus the secretary’s indirect language use clearly represented the President’s resistance to change, and turned out to be a use of institutional power to hinder the project. It was obvious that the
President’s refusing contact with the Institute members and the lack of urgency in choosing the Riji (a member of the Board of Directors) implied that his interest was not in establishing gender equality administration structure but in winning competitive grants; alternatively, his actions might mean that he had already lost interest in realising gender equal environments once the University got the grant. To be precise, the Gakucho and Riji-kai might not have any interest in the practical functioning of gender equality project or they might just want to retain nominal projects. Importantly, the communication gap between the committee members and the power around the Gakucho still existed, and the members still did not know why they were refused contact with the Gakucho.
Although the committee as a working group consists of specialists regarding gender equality policy, laws, education, and so on, the members of the committee were forced to ‘dance attendance’ to this power. Was the ultimatum letter from a member
267 (discussed in the above interview excerpt) threat or revenge? Anyway, the office politics in Tokyo Central University gave a victory to the committee, at least for the moment.
The professor of the Institute to Support Women also added that, from the start, this project was characterised as targeting a grant for research in the arena of the national policy of gender equality. She continued that this did not mean that it was not at all spontaneous. The professor seemed to believe that professors involved in the Institute to Support Women including herself took advantage of a good opportunity in conducting the gender equality policy in TCU when the high ranking staff decided to apply for the grant:
The [issue of] harassment was a trail wind. It was for the sake of the grant. … Thanks to the Gakucho, he carelessly applied for the grant. (Interview No. 13, TCU)
The professor (Interview No. 13, TCU) used “thanks” ironically; the Gakucho
“carelessly” applied for the grant as the members experienced incomprehensible resistance from the Gakucho and Riji. In this extract, by saying that “it was for the sake of the grant”, she clearly indicated that the Gakucho’s interest was in winning the grant. Nonetheless, there was a significant advantage in the Gakucho being the chief applicant. The members of the Institute to Support Women might have a good reason to ask the Gakucho for his support. Also her words, “the harassment is a trail wind”, can be read in the context of the fact that Tokyo Central University (similar to many other universities) experienced a criminal case; establishing a sexual harassment
268 prevention committee on campus was demanded as one of gender quality policies, which I will discuss in detail in the next section.
As the professor indicated in interview 13, it was “an undertaken project” by MEXT to support female scholars, to increase their numbers and to establish the gender equality administrative structure in the university. However it might be possible that the feminist teachers in the Institute to Support Women might make use of the grant project to involve the administration level of the university to implement gender equality policy in the university, since the number of grants gained from the government reflects the evaluation and reputation of a university. Considering the consciousness of the professoriate, it can be said that MEXT designed a form of grant that would attract both private and national universities to implement the gender equality policies.
A professor, who was a member of the Institute to Support Women in TCU, said that this project was originally delivered from the top (Gakucho level). As she feels the male dominant organisational culture of TCU keenly through her experiences, this action by the university gave her a different view:
(The symposium held) yesterday was very good. It is going to establish, like that… I was worried about it very much. (I heard that) originally the University (the Gakucho) suggested this project. Not from us. … I asked (myself), ‘was that right?’ I felt a little relieved to hear that it was originally the University’s idea. (Interview No. 11, TCU)
Her comments “is that right?” and “I felt a little relieved” show that it was not expected that the gender equality project was suggested by the top level of the
269 university. It was a surprise for her, because she mentioned how overwhelmingly male dominant the university’s organisational climate was. She reported that:
there are many professors who have an idea that even as a part-time instructor, women are bad. … Even students have strong images that a teacher of German should be a male teacher. … I really think that I have contributed (to the university) greatly simply because of being a woman teaching Western History. (Interview No.11, TCU)
Her language use in “even as a part-time instructor” indicates the “indirect discrimination” (Horiguchi, 1997, p. 146) against female part-time workers in Japan, because women occupy most of the part-timers’ marketplace in Japan, as shown in the
M-curve phenomenon. In addition, her indication of hegemonic gender discourse claiming the inferiority of women among both students and many male academics in
TCU implied that such academics and students did not hide their “double standard”
(Takai, 1997, p. 20) against female teachers. Such gender bias, and disadvantage are daily accumulated (Connell, 1987) and commonly observed as the outcome of the operation of power (Halford & Leonard, 2001). Her indication that she has
“contributed simply because of being a women” indicates the marginalised situation of female academics in TCU and also shows the necessity of further women’s participation in higher education institutions like TCU.
Another professor, who played a key role in organising the Institute to Support
Women and who was in charge of the teacher education course, underlined a male dominant organisational culture of TCU and emphasised that this project would contribute as much—or more—to teaching academics and other university staff like
270 clerical workers than to students. He explained the purpose of the project, “being subsidised by MEXT for (gender equality) promotion, one of the purposes is, including students, of course, but to conduct the project for the consciousness raising of teachers and clerical workers” (Interview No. 9, TCU). Considering the complaint of the professor in Interview No. 11, his comments indicate the depth of the necessity of implementation of gender equality policy in this university.
While some feminist teachers continue their efforts to establish the Institute to
Support Women, other feminist teachers maintain an embarrassed silence at being involved in the Model Program to Support Female Scholars. They are the members of the Gender Institute that was established just after the enforcement of the Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society in 2000. The membership of the Institute is composed not only of teachers in TCU but also people from various fields such as media, government, and so on. Members said that their activities were not only for undertaking research but also for utilising research in order to impact upon media or the government. Such activities and principles were shared by the members of the
Gender Institute over a period of time. Some feminist teachers felt a sense of divided loyalty between the two gender related institutes. One of them was concerned about the necessity for smooth communication between the two gender institutes and showed uneasiness, describing the complicated feelings and worries among the people involved in both institutes. She said that: “the director worried very much that
[a professor] might move from the Gender Institute to the Institute to Support
Women” (Interview No. 11, TCU). Another professor was outspoken in expressing
271 such difficult and complicated feelings against the movement of Institute to Support
Women.
Well, … when the project started, they did not say anything to Gender Institute members, including me, at all. Basically (in their project), getting a grant came first. … looking at the procedure by which it was established, … I myself kept a distance … Yes, including myself, members of the Gender Institute have worked hard on gender problems at the grassroots level in Japanese universities…. There are many teachers with whom we shared many difficulties in that Institute. … I would like to watch calmly for a while. (Interview No. 14, TCU)
As a person who had been involved in grassroots feminist activities, she could not help but show her reluctance to get onto a ready-made gender equality platform provided by the government. This platform was now, in a sense, a tool to leverage the university’s competence in the competitive race for gaining grants. It was obviously inconsistent with her personal approach to feminism for her values as a social activist might not allow her to accept a project that utilised a gender equality policy for winning a grant race.
Although there are not many private universities with gender equality administrative structures in Japan, most universities have launched gender related projects. They are sexual harassment prevention committees on campus. In the next section, I will take up this issue as one of the measures against gender discrimination.
272 Preventing sexual harassment in universities
The recognition of sexual harassment in Japan
The second part of this chapter presents a case study of the sexual harassment prevention system in one of the private universities, which complied with the policy of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT).
The committees’ particular foci were reflected in their titles. In the case of the
(national) Japan Academic University (JAU) in Tokyo, the university established its
Campus Life Committee in 1994 in order to address sexual harassment. A professor of JAU appealed to the strong motivation among feminist colleagues in the committee’s development saying that “although I was also involved in a group, the
Campus Life Committee was launched for women’s rights by the request of the women’s group in our university. There was a [harassment] issue, ...” (Interview No.
23-1, JAU). She suggested that there was a desperate need for a harassment prevention system within the University. It is worth noting that she mentioned that the committee was organised “for women’s rights” and “by the request of the women’s group”. It is also notable that there was a foundation in JAU where a feminist group was already organised, and the women in the group were able to make requests of the university. Feminist teachers in JAU, led by the professor who was promoted to the vice presidency, seemed to have made every effort to bring gender equality policies into JAU.
On the other hand, the rapid spread and establishment of the committees within universities is largely attributable to the legislative and proactive actions of the
273 Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). Since 1999, it has been each individual university’s obligation to address the issue of sexual harassment. Further, in 2004, the university introduced a third party evaluation system approved by the Minister for MEXT (although it had undertaken self-evaluation since
1991). The Vice-president of SLU in Hokkaido commented, “Education in universities—including its function—is evaluated by MEXT, the society, and the students. Their critical eyes have become gradually more and more discerning”
(Interview No. 1, SLU). The evaluation definitely includes measures on harassment issues, and the issue of sexual harassment is now under the surveillance of the national government and has the public’s attention.
Educating staff
One prevention activity conducted by the sexual harassment prevention committees was to hold seminars to educate teachers within all of the investigated universities.
Both national and private universities in Sapporo conducted educational seminars targeting sexual harassment once a year, inviting a lawyer, doctor or sometimes a lecturer from within the university as a key speaker. Every lecturer and staff member was required to attend at least one seminar, although anecdotal evidence from the interviews suggested that this was not necessarily happening. In JAU in Tokyo, a chairperson of the Campus Life Committee complained that some teachers and staff members never attended. By the same token, the Dean of the Department of
Humanities at SLU in Sapporo maintained, “basically, everyone should attend the seminar, but the fact was that many did not attend. Well, starting from teachers who have high consciousness, or who have some concerns, we got people to attend the
274 seminar. This is the current circumstance” (Interview No. 4, SLU). The
Vice-president of SLU also lamented that:
The definition of harassment does not resonate among teachers. It is very difficult to explain about it to them. We made the rules about sexual harassment some time ago. … However, we have difficulties in applying them. (Interview No. 1, SLU)
Obviously, there appears to be a difference in the level of concern between the Dean and the Vice-president. The Dean’s statement showed a lack of enthusiasm for inviting participants and displayed acceptance of the absences at the seminar. His attitude helped to restrict people’s access to knowledge (Marshall, 1997a) to open the door for change.
The Vice-president, on the other hand, repeatedly implied the existence of problems or difficulties caused by teachers’ low levels of consciousness concerning harassment, and suggested nominal harassment prevention seminars would be useless and inefficient. These divergent responses from senior staff within the institution indicate a gap in the organisational lines of communication that present one of the significant barriers to policy implementation. However, the Vice-president’s phrase, “it is difficult to explain about it”, made it clear that the “definition of harassment was hard to understand”. That is, the Vice-president, who is at the top of the university, pointed out a problem, but at the same time, his words justified the dysfunction of the seminar as something inevitable. The attitudes to keeping the seminar inactive can be a resistance to the promotion of gender equality in daily practice. Although the harassment prevention seminars appeared to be maintained as a token system, it might
275 have been beneficial in terms of evaluation of the university for SLU to demonstrate that the university had educational measures for sexual harassment prevention.
A case study of a sexual harassment prevention committee
The establishment of the Harassment Prevention Committee in TCU took place quite early among universities. Based on the recognition of strong needs by members of the university Board of Directors (Riji), TCU started working toward establishing a sexual harassment prevention committee from 1997. And in 1999, just before the enactment of the Basic Law, the committee was established. Meanwhile the members of the Harassment Prevention Committee at Tokyo Central University (TCU) conducted their harassment education seminars for academic and clerical staff in a strategically targeted manner. The seminar leaders were a professor in teacher education-related gender subjects and a member of TCU’s clerical staff. They attended all faculty meetings (16 faculties as of 2007), and gave lectures:
We ended up visiting each faculty meeting of all the faculties in TCU. Teachers of other universities were surprised at hearing this, because there would be no possibility to have time for such seminars in a regular faculty meeting. … We started visiting a faculty if invited. … As we went on, when it came to the last faculty, the rest of the faculties began to invite us one after another. … There were responses saying that they noticed that things like this would also be included in harassment. Like this, I think our first visit to each faculty was very significant, but the second visit appeared to get far better responses. (Interview No.12, TCU)
In the case of TCU, the committee was able to ensure the thorough dissemination of an awareness of harassment issues by visiting faculty meetings. In other universities,
276 however, the process involved the harassment prevention committee waiting for volunteers to attend, a point to which other university teachers reacted with disbelief.
However, such reactions demonstrate the gap between the awareness levels at TCU and at other universities. It is also worth noting that the committee at TCU repeated the educational program with the same staff, which one professor found to be extremely effective. The attitudes of the committee at TCU showed high levels of commitment and determination to prevent harassment; in addition, the members of the committee interviewed had acted to tackle gender issues on campus in various other ways. This professor, who had attended the third UNWCW in Nairobi in 1985, and who also had had long experience as a part-time teacher at TCU, described her activities on gender—including her lecture related to gender and the visits to faculty meetings—as a “guerrilla-like” activity. In other words, she carried it out not because she was directed to do so, rather because she was compelled to do so at a personal level. Indeed, she could be said to be a practitioner of “academic activism—raising critical awareness through research and teaching” (Lazar, 2007, p. 146).
Although she has received some positive responses after giving seminars at each faculty, she said that she still felt further necessity to continue repeated activities
(Interview No.12, TCU). Her devotion to the dissemination of the idea of gender equality was strong. It should be highly valued that she and her colleague’s repeated lectures steadily raised the awareness of teachers in TCU, because their activities were still unique considering the situation in other universities. This means that she
277 provided knowledge as power to change people and society little by little. Her determination to continue the guerrilla-like activities sounded invincible.
The activities of the sexual harassment prevention committee at TCU were comprehensive. The table of contents of the TCU’s Sexual Harassment Guidelines, which appeared to be the most thorough among the subject universities, outlines the contents as follows:
(1) basic policy against sexual harassment (2) the definition of sexual harassment (3) the applicable scope and targets of this guideline (4) the contacts and person responsible for sexual harassment consultation (5) the sexual harassment information committee (6) the sexual harassment prevention committee (7) the separation of punishment procedures from coordination procedures (8) the prohibition of unfair punishment or practices against complainants or consultation (9) the duty of confidentiality (10) the education, seminar, and enlightenment for prevention of sexual harassment.
According to a 2004 report on its work, the committee’s activities were: educational seminars for all teachers including new teachers and non-Japanese background teachers, publicity to students in the form of pamphlets, newsletters, home pages and posters, a symposium on gender and violence, and a lecture on a legal case of sexual harassment. Along with patient and enthusiastic exertions by members of the sexual harassment committee, the structural plan described above also indicated the university’s efforts.
278 Facing conflicts among staff
TCU seems to be one of the leading private universities in Japan in laying out a framework of gender equality in the university. However, a previously mentioned professor who is a member of the Gender Institute and the harassment prevention committee commented critically that:
The decision of the committee has no legal status, thus it tends to fill a coordination [between a perpetrator and a victim] role. So, before a problem becomes too serious to be dealt with within the campus, the committee may act as a trouble-shooter to fix the problem or act to cover-up the matter … Ideally, I hope that the committee should include third parties from outside of the campus. People on campus become somehow protective … I accidentally happened to see [a perpetrator] on campus later, too. (Interview No. 14, TCU)
It is very probable that the committee may take a ‘trouble-shooter’ role. It was also an appropriate suggestion to introduce the third party into the harassment prevention committee, so as to resemble an evaluation system. It might be also true that the system that decides penalties among colleagues has developed some serious and complicated problems. On that matter, a professor of the Institute to Support Women spoke in a grave tone of her experiences in attempting to resolve a complaint about a colleague:
He is a very eminent and famous man…. pretending not to know [about it] and temporising … so people in the complaints section could not handle him. … So all the members gathered and … we heard all the details from him again. … then we decided the penalty … But, you know, later, after he moved to a different university, he wanted to get revenge and was resentful
279 of the way he was treated … so, when we finished the case, my mental health became very bad. At any rate, I would like to get rid of such a stress. It’s a hard job. (Interview No. 13, TCU)
This professor implied that such an eminent academic used his power to harass ex-colleagues. The harassment prevention committee was not powerful enough to convince this eminent male academic who might relish the fame and power of a higher position of academic hierarchy. Further, she reported that she was intimidated by unjustified resentment. She added that members of the committee were “repaid
[their] kindness with revenge” by a perpetrator, and she continued that “it was scary
… there were lots of such cases, so we felt it in our bones” (Interview No. 13, TCU).
This kind of event seemed to create a great deal of stress for some committee members. According to her comments, addressing the issue of harassment sometimes seemed to be beyond the ability of the committee members as the problems appeared to need a counsellor in psychology or law. Although the sexual harassment committee included two professional counsellors, almost all activities were carried out by the in-service teachers within the universities. This serious situation cannot be overlooked, because what some professors experienced was secondary harassment by the perpetrators who were former colleagues. The members of the committee need to recognise this as secondary harassment and that it is quite unfair.
Putting aside her above-mentioned problems, the professor (Interview 13, TCU) was concerned about her students and clearly showed her feeling of responsibility to change the environment in her comment, “there are obvious [examples of] harassment directed towards the graduate students as reported in the symposium yesterday. We have to improve the environment”. She was deeply concerned with this matter, for the 280 situation generates mutual surveillance and an unintended mental hierarchical order among teachers. In addition, the surveillance committee, with power and knowledge, observes and also informs (with a view to correction) unaware people so that they can adjust to the disciplined society of gender equality. As the professor mentioned above notes, the committee is not a legal institution. Thus, requiring teachers to judge their colleagues like police officers is likely to generate problems and tensions, and cause enormous stress for the teachers involved. As the professor (Interview 13, TCU) noted, if the reaction of a perpetrator influences the working environment after the case, the modalities and constituent members of such a sexual harassment committee system needed to be reconsidered; the members of the committee themselves were harassed by a certain kind of academic hierarchal power.
Sexual harassment in teacher education courses
In addition to the sexual harassment cases on campus, those cases in which students become victims outside of campus life are also complicated and delicate. A professor at Northern City University (NCU), a national university in Sapporo, stated, “I tend to hear of cases from the field of teacher training practice (such as in junior high schools or high schools than the cases on campus)” (Interview No. 19, NCU). When the perpetrator comes from outside the university, the committee experiences a different set of issues. The teachers in charge of teacher training courses maintained that a major barrier to them making complaints to schools is the fact that the institution relies on the school’s generosity in accepting trainee teaching students for their field-practice during the regular school terms (Interviews No. 1, SLU, 9, and 12,
TCU). Those interviewed reported that they had to handle issues related to harassment
281 with the utmost care, because their correspondence with and responses to each relevant school would influence that school’s acceptance of future trainees.
Moreover, if an on-the-job trainee quits their training in the middle, the current teachers training system requires that the student foregoes their certificate of teacher education itself. Thus the university tended to ignore the problem. However, nowadays universities seem to move towards protecting the students’ human rights. In this regard, in the case of Sapporo Liberty University (SLU), when a student experienced harassment from a Vice-principal of a high school (in 2006), SLU sent a complaint letter to the Principal and had some meetings. A professor at SLU stated,
“After finishing the training, the student reported the matter. We asked the school that the Vice-principal would not to take the role of trainer for the next year” (Interview
No. 5, SLU). An advisor in the teacher education course at SLU added that it was a sign of progress that the university reported the case to the Board of Education of both the prefecture and the city, because the university formerly had forced the students to endure any problem. The advisor added that the committee used to just calm down the students, “[We used to] talk to the students ‘well, there, there (diddums)’, … I assume that the committee did not take into consideration that the teacher (the perpetrator) would repeat the same thing at that time” (Interview No. 3, SLU). The attitude toward the students was as if dealing with a baby, and did not take any action against the perpetrators.
In Japanese society, women and small children (onna kodomo) are sometimes categorised together as being weak, and thus to be protected (Ogasawara, 1998). Such
282 a powerless young female student would be encouraged or persuaded to keep quiet in order to settle the case down. It might be easier for the university to treat such cases in this way rather than to make the issue broader by taking the problem beyond the campus. However, in the contemporary, market-driven climate it is extremely unwise to condone such cover-ups under the supervision of MEXT and the critical eyes of the university evaluation system. Furthermore, considering the fall in the number of students because of Japan’s declining birth rate, the judgment of the university cannot help but be student-oriented.
Summary
The first half of this chapter discussed how the Basic Plan influenced the setting up of a gender equality administration structure within a number of universities in Japan. In the case of national universities, teachers showed strong awareness that they are government employees and such awareness became the impetus for the implementation of the government’s national gender equality policies. The top-down implementation from JANU appeared to be especially effective due to the Basic
Plan’s introduction in 2000. Although JANU’s twelve suggestions included the promotion of gender studies, eliminated in the Basic Plan 2005, targeted universities showed strong interest concerning the positive actions in increasing the number of female academics in Japan to 20 per cent by 2010. The intention of national universities was obviously to gain a favourable review by the national government, because to increase the rate of higher position academics will lead to an improved rank on international indices like the Gender Empowerment Measure. The promotion
283 of gender studies, however, was caught in the anti-feminism backlash, and seemed to be implemented slowly.
Another characteristic common to the two national universities was the ‘boomerang phenomenon’ seen in the devotion of feminist teachers. Knowing that the project tasks for those at the top of the universities would be returned to them like a boomerang when the actual project was conducted, feminist teachers kept suggesting the need to influence the president of each university. In each case, this phenomenon was commented upon by a feminist teacher who had a position near the top Gakucho
(President), who was responsible for making the academic a leader in organising the working group for establishing a gender equality administration structure. In this, the boomerang-like strategy was an act of self-sacrifice for these professors, because it meant an increase in their own workload. Such devotees were feminists who had received their ‘baptism’ at the UN Women’s Conference in Beijing. It was obvious that neither university would have taken the first step without the existence of such teachers. This was especially true for one of them, who carefully and tactically prepared everything and waited while the new gender equality ‘baby’ matured.
In addition to these feminists’ efforts and patience, a sense of loyalty to the government and that of competition with other national universities, which were shown by the staff in national universities, helped drive the implementation of the gender equality policy. As a background to organising the gender equality administrative structure, several informants mentioned that the recommendation of
JANU based on the statement in the Basic Plan for Equality became a major driver. In
284 addition to the promotion of gender equality policies by this nation-wide network, the discourse of egalitarianism and competitiveness incited a spirit of rivalry with other national universities. They even showed the strong intention to take initiative by expressing overt competitive notions.
In the case of the private universities, on the other hand, there was lack of concern about the Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society. Despite this, the race for getting grants (including regarding gender equality programs) meant that the private universities were involved in the governmental gender equality policy. At TCU, some feminist teachers tried to make the most of the opportunity for getting grants for policy implementation within the university, while the President and some feminists showed a certain kind of resistance to its actual implementation. There seemed to be a clear change in the President’s mind. As one of professors made ironic remarks that the President “carelessly applied for the grant”. But after the blueprint of the gender equality project from the Institute to Support Women became clear, his attitude to the
Institute turned out to be unsupportive: he refused contact and showed reluctance to support it financially, appointing a Riji and asking the ex-government official to act in a pro bono role. His attitude turned out to be one of clear resistance against reformation in TCU.
The second part of the chapter documented the main factors that drove the universities to establish sexual harassment prevention committees: the reputation of the university and the consciousness of the feminist teachers in the universities. The movement of the national government (MEXT) and the critical eyes of the students and society
285 became pressures on the universities, too. The provisions on sexual harassment and the work of the committee were sometimes effective. The investigation found that there were differences in levels of consciousness-raising among interviewees in the universities where education seminars were not well attended, while the university in the case study, where there was a thorough and active committee, initiated some effective activities. Universities where the committee members were passive and waited for the voluntary involvement of staff created a vicious circle of sexual harassment because of the low awareness on gender and harassment issues. On the other hand, the university, where the committee dispatched the lecturers when requested by each faculty, tackled the cases actively. The recognition of harassment issues within each university seemed to have proportional connection with the effectiveness of the prevention committee.
The nature of involvement in the harassment issue by the harassment prevention committee is problematic. The interviewees disclosed uneasiness at seeing the perpetrators on campus and sometimes they experienced counter-harassment from a perpetrator after the settlement of an issue. However, the members seemed not to recognise that such foul play should not be ignored. On top of that, considering the emotional and physical burden on members of the committee chosen from among faculty members, reconsideration of the situation of the committee may be necessary.
286 Chapter Nine: Conclusion
The notion of gender has had a revolutionary impact on the broader social structure of
Japan, where stereotyped gender roles are strongly entrenched. Under the influence of direct global pressure, the Japanese government finally enforced the Basic Law for a
Gender-equal Society in 1999, which was intended to mainstream gender perspectives within a range of policies that touched upon every field of society including education. The introduction of the idea of gender incorporated into the political strategy of economic growth shook the fundamental social fabric of the nation. This study investigated the implementation of the Basic Law for a
Gender-equal Society from its initial development, the bureaucratic journey of the policy and finally, how the policy impacted upon the higher education sector. It documented the aspirations and strategies of feminists who have tried to bring the ideas of the Basic Law into practice. This feminist critical policy study is intended to contribute to further understandings of the implementation of gender equity policies in higher education in Japan. In order to pursue this research aim, the following research questions were addressed.
Main research question
What happened to gender equity policy in higher education in Japan as it moved from the national to the university levels?
(Question 1): What were the objectives of the original gender equity policy?
287 (Question 2): What were the feminist strategies regarding the development and implementation of gender equity policies?
Feminist critical policy analysis (Marshall, 1997b; Taylor, 1997), drawing on critical feminist theory (Connell, 1986, 1987, 2002; Taylor, 2004a; Wearing, 1996) and feminist critical discourse theory (Lazar, 2000, 2001, 2005b, 2007; Taylor, 2004b;
Wodak, 2001a, 2001b), was used to understand and elucidate the gendered power relations in the development and implementation of gender equity policy, and consequently to explore how gender equity policy might contribute to political advocacy in social practice in Japan. The feminist critical discourse analysis (Lazar,
2005, 2007; Wodak, 2001a, 2001b) used in this study clarified that the text of the
Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society strongly represented feminist theory and that the obstacles to change in Japanese society continue to be stereotyped gender roles, gender discrimination, women’s subordinate position and violence against women, which perpetuate gender inequality.
The study tracked the processes from policy making to implementation where in the first analysis chapter—Chapter Five—I paid attention to the feminist movement’s influence on government statements on teacher education as the historical background to forming the Basic Law. In Chapter Six, I examined key policy documents that became the foundation of the development of the Basic Law. Here I closely scrutinised the text of the Basic Law, related policy documents, and interview data from key persons so as to clarify the direction in which the Japanese government intended to guide society. Due to the fact that the Japanese government’s bureaucracy
288 plays such a critical role during both policy administration and implementation, I paid attention in Chapter Seven to how the gender related ideas in education—written into the Basic Plan—have been discussed and interpreted at bureaucratic levels before being embodied within actual educational institutions. Here, I focused on critical moments during the policy revision and analysed shifts in language use or discourses.
In undertaking this critical policy analysis, questions of “who [was] involved in policy making, how processes of consultation [were] arranged and whose interests they serve[d]” (Taylor et al., 1997, p. 20) were critical to revealing relations between power, interests and practice. Thus, the concept of power and discourse from feminist critical discourse theory formed a critical lens through which I viewed and analysed the data. Lastly, in Chapter Eight, my analysis focused on the current embodiment of the Basic Law in higher education in Japan in the 2000s. The following sections review my findings and discuss each in relation to the research questions that have guided this study.
Japanese feminists’ activities in the field of education
Democracy was brought to Japan from western countries after WWII and, more specifically, was heavily influenced by ideas flowing from the United States of
America. This is also true in terms of the critical factors that brought notions of gender equality more recently to Japanese society. This information emerged from the literature that examined the women’s movement during the pre-WW II period and from Article 24 of the Constitution of Japan issued in 1945 where equality for women and men was legally articulated for the first time. In addition, the Fundamental Law of
Education was shown to reflect the idea of gender equality stipulated in the text of the
289 Constitution and assured equal opportunity in education for men and women. Thus, the issue of gender equality within the educational sphere was already established well before the notion of gender equity policy emerged. Nonetheless, it appears that the feminist movement in Japan waited for the global impact centred on United
Nations World Conference on Women, and subsequently made efficient use of this global shift to make inroads into Japanese society (Matsui, 1996).
As noted in Chapter Five, the feminist movement in the late 1990s successfully influenced national education policy documents in relation to teacher education. This first analysis of their movement in the educational field showed the importance of the
UNWCW in Beijing in 1995, and how this conference enabled women to be empowered and take political actions, negotiate and lobby those involved in making gender policy. The themes that influenced Japanese feminists at the time were
‘empowerment’, ‘gender sensitive perspectives’ and changing the society through a basic process of ‘lobbying’ the government. The concept that underpinned the distinct political philosophy was societal change via a process of ‘resistance’. This section of the thesis indicated that the movement’s strategy was supported by the solidarity of other feminist groups who were also influenced by the UNWCW in Beijing. The thesis argued that this women’s resistance movement was one of the civil drivers that impacted on how the Japanese government formulated the basic guidelines of the gender equity law. Although the group itself was fragile and ultimately dissolved to form several other organisations, their movement was clearly transformational in building a sense of solidarity amongst its former members. Considering the subsequent feminist movements in education led by a number of disparate groups (for
290 example, those that opposed the alphabetical class attendance roll), there is no doubt that there were common understandings among the feminists, for they shared a deep desire to put the major themes learned in UNWCW in Beijing in practice. Thus, I suggested in this section of the thesis that such forms of resistance represent a foundational element of the Japanese feminist movement in education. Such groups were clearly responsible for driving change and it must be acknowledged that they constituted important drivers that brought a new age for Japan (Jojima, 1996) with the establishment of the Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society in 1999.
The objectives of the Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society
The Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society was the culmination of a report to the
Prime Minister titled “Vision for Gender Equality” and the Osawa Report (tentative title). The process of the formation of the Basic Law, including the Vision and the
Osawa Report, was strongly influenced by a limited number of feminist scholars who contributed to the government commissioned investigation or were members of advisory bodies to the government. This study showed how the objectives and key concepts stipulated in the Basic Law were affected in no small measure by feminist scholars who brought and influenced gender studies and women’s studies in Japan in collaboration with feminist bureaucrats such as Bando (2004).
The Basic Law states the urgent need to realise a gender equal society. For this purpose, the Basic Law stipulates that ‘stereotyped gender roles and gendered social norms’ based on Japanese patriarchy should be redressed by promoting positive approaches of both men and women as ‘equal partners’. It was argued that the concept
291 of ‘gender relations’ (Connell, 1987; Taylor, 2004a) between the dominant and the oppressed was repeatedly reflected in the Basic Law, particularly in the section that described the discourse of ‘human rights’. From the point of view of gender relations, the government’s insistence on notions of being ‘equal partners’ could be interpreted along the lines that women’s situation cannot be changed until men also fundamentally change. However, the shift from the focus on women in the Vision to gender focus (men and women) in the Basic Law was argued to have the potential to weaken the focus on women in the policy. In addition, as stated in the Vision for
Gender Equality, the Basic Law was formed to create ‘new values’ and a ‘new society’. The Basic Law suggests promoting the ‘compatibility of activities in family life and other activities’. This section of the thesis highlighted the need for the
Japanese system to work so that men and women can be ‘equal partners’ not only in the family but also in other social, economic and political situations.
While an ideology of ‘change’ is something clearly anticipated by women suffering oppression, the Basic Law was apparently a problem for men who received the benefits of the “patriarchal dividend” (Connell, 2002, p. 142) from the traditional
Japanese social structure. Gender equality for men and women represented by the phrase ‘equal partners’ is used as a ‘condensation symbol’ (Troyna, 1994) and carries a risk that core women’s problems are obscured. It may be ideal that the gender equity policy focuses on both women and men as its goal; nevertheless, effectively undertaking only women’s problems should be its initial target. The government’s commitment will be tested by how seriously they adopt an uncompromised policy, or the extent to which they address stereotyped gender roles and gendered social norms.
292 This involves not only accepting the diversification of individual values or lifestyles, but also dismantling conventional gendered values.
Lastly, as one of the means to spearhead the gender equal society, the Basic Law articulates the need to ‘empower’ women. Specifically, the necessity of social education including lifelong learning stated in the Vision was repeated in the Basic
Plan. Lifelong learning in Japan usually indicates cultural activities like hobbies for aged people. However, in order to achieve a gender equal society, the education should focus on gender studies or women’s studies for a broad range of ages.
Due to the fact that the Basic Law is not an individual law to describe school education or higher education, the study examined how the objectives of the Basic
Law were embodied in education and analysed the role of the Basic Plan, which was the action plan of the Basic Law across twelve priority areas (one of which was education). This research highlighted how notions of gender in education related to the Basic Plan were discussed by bureaucrats and policy makers. This section of the study stressed important shifts from the first Basic Plan to the second Basic Plan
(revised after a period of five years).
What happened to the policy as it moved between sectors?
The Basic Law was practically launched from 2000 as a paramount issue for the twenty-first century. However, considering the content of the revised Basic Plan issued at the end of 2005, it would have to be said that the implementation of the Basic
Law faced hard-line opposition from its inception. Chapter Seven revealed a moment of crisis that the Basic Law faced and highlighted how the revised Basic Plan was
293 indeed the product of a “political struggle over meaning” (Taylor, 1997, p. 28). This critical aspect of the research was analysed in Chapter Seven using the concepts of
‘power’, ‘gender’, ‘gender equality’ ‘feminist discourse’, ‘anti-feminist discourse’, and ‘resistance’.
The study revealed, through the words of Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports,
Science and Technology (MEXT) staff interviewed, and from the minutes of various meetings, how the resistant attitudes of MEXT hindered the mainstreaming of gender in policies and projects. However, conflicting arguments put forward in the meetings of ad hoc committees and the Council for Gender Equality (CGE) showed that some committee members were critical of the attitudes within MEXT and tried to retain the original foundations of the Basic Law. The data also revealed a fierce attack led by an anti-feminist group and how the policy makers struggled to find a negotiated solution.
Opponents to the idea of gender equity at first raised their disagreement at the local government level, and sought, in some prefectures, to revise the ordinances for gender equality, to take out gender-related books from city libraries or to force prominent scholars to cancel lectures. Finally, the pressure mounted by the opponents of gender policy transformation reached the special investigation committees revising the Basic
Plan for Gender Equality under the Council for Gender Equality (CGE). Here, the committee members insisted that the word gender itself or gender related words such as gender studies should not have been erased or revised from the Basic Plan.
The research has highlighted how the expert committee eventually lost authority and how the second Basic Plan was drastically revised using suggestions submitted by a
294 backlash group committed to undermining the main tenets of reform. One of the CGE members, for example, complained that the revised Basic Plan did not reflect the report submitted to the Prime Minister by the CGE in July (2005). The study revealed that the final revision was conducted during in-camera meetings within the Gender
Equality Bureau, which effectively kept any members of the CGE or the Ad hoc
Special Investigation Committee regarding the Basic Plan for Gender Equality
(SICBPGE) out of the ultimate decision making process. The final outcome showed how key elements of political power overcame the wishes of the committee and represents a moment when the ruling central government exercised power over forms of knowledge and resulting discourses (Wodak, 2001b). This process is clearly evident in the revised Basic Plan where the phrase ‘women’s studies and gender studies’ was changed to the expression of ‘the study counts towards gender equality’.
Although the revised secondary Basic Plan did not totally abandon the idea of gender as suggested by the Project Team (the key backlash group), the foundational notions of gender within the policy were easily amended. The revised Basic Plan represented both political struggle and compromise for a former high-ranking member of the
Gender Equality Bureau who confessed that there were a lot of barriers to overcome in order to leave any references to gender within the Basic Plan.
The impact of gender policy at level of the university
Chapter Eight of this thesis showed that the effect of national policy on the university sector was clearly influenced by two factors: that gender equity policy is effective if the source of policy is MEXT; and that the national universities are far more sensitive
295 to national policy than are the private universities. This chapter also highlighted differences in attitude, approach, and consciousness toward realising gender equal policy between national and private universities, as well as the geographical disparities between universities in Tokyo and Hokkaido. In Chapter Eight, the concepts of ‘gender relations’ ‘gender order’, ‘gender regime’, ‘feminist discourse’,
‘anti-feminist discourse’, ‘power’, ‘patriarchal power’, and ‘resistance’ were used to analyse the data.
Although Japanese universities are said to be autonomous, in the case of national universities, interviewees from the four universities mentioned their concerns about what other universities were doing regarding the Basic Plan. Moreover, they added that actions by other universities were a major motivation for establishing gender equality administration structure within their university, which was based on an
‘egalitarian consciousness’ among Japanese. This chapter showed commonalities, including that, in both national universities in Tokyo and Sapporo, feminist professors who had been members of the Group Thinking Education from Gender Perspectives
(see Chapter Five) devoted themselves to promoting gender equitable environments in their universities. Both of them were in positions very close to each university
President. This made it possible for the professors to suggest helping organise the gender equality administrative structure of the university only on the condition that they would be key members for the project. I named this tactic a boomerang strategy.
Despite the moribund state of the word gender in the Basic Plan in 2005, the direct influence of backlash has not appeared in the context of national universities. In the
296 development of the gender equality administrative structure within universities, what made the universities move was the power dynamics used by the feminists who gained higher positions within the universities. Thus, establishing the gender equality administrative structure would not have been possible if there had been no suggestion by JANU stated in the Basic Plan, nor enthusiastic feminists who were in powerful positions in the university hierarchical structure.
This section of the thesis documents a form of “academic activism” (Lazar, 2007, p.
146), for it has attempted to disclose as yet unpublished power relations that changed the direction of policy. This chapter also noted how both national and private universities made a plan of the comprehensive and fundamental administrative structure on gender equity that influenced staff working conditions and also changed the curriculum.
However, the difference in the enthusiasm of staff in Tokyo and Hokkaido was reflected in the tangible plans they achieved. One university in Tokyo (JAU), for example, showed more active results with stimulative and continued projects. The key members at JAU talked about their ambitions and plans more enthusiastically and seemed to muster their human resources in such a manner that enabled them to take action and raise consciousness on the problems they faced. On the other hand, key players in NCU in Sapporo seemed to be isolated, and staff of the project depended heavily on the leader who initiated the plan. The study concluded that the key players needed a strong sense of determination and the allocation of human resources, and that the strategies developed were key factors in success.
297 In the case of private universities, which are not connected to the Japan Association of
National Universities (JANU), the statements of the Basic Plan in 2000 did not appear to have any major impact. Nonetheless, universities in which maths and science faculties were reacted to the Model Program to Support Female Scholars offered by
MEXT. The university project members in such institutions made the most of the application of the project in order to establish a gender equal administrative structure within their universities. However, unlike the case of national universities, the
President of the private university, TCU, expressed a degree of discord with the project members. In addition, they could not counter criticism from a feminist that the project was originally undertaken merely for the acquisition of grant money (rather than for its own sake or driven by policy). Here, success in securing such grants became one of the barometers of university’s competence. Despite getting off to a rocky start, TCU launched the project in a positive manner by using the geographical advantage of the capital city of Japan to involve former and active government-related members in the project. In the case of TCU, the University having some science or technology related departments met the conditions for applying for the model program. For example, the program by MEXT was designed for female scholars in maths and science, whose low numbers had been reflected in Japan’s low rank on the
Gender Empowerment Measure. However, the MEXT program excludes universities with an arts background. Therefore, MEXT seems to leave such universities behind in the gender equity promotion program.
Similarly, the gender equity policy did not reach the President of SLU, a private university in Sapporo, Hokkaido. Unlike his counterparts in the national universities,
298 the Vice-president of SLU mentioned that the issue of gender had not become an agenda item in meetings of the Presidents of private universities. Professors who were in a position to play a key role in promoting gender equity within small universities,
SLU in Sapporo and WSU in Tokyo, showed their reluctance to take action, saying that the issue of gender equity could not be the priority because of their heavy routine workload and other issues such as the university’s economic survival. Given that patriarchal power normally operates to hide the importance of gender issues behind routine matters (Connell, 2002), this section of the study highlighted how testimonies implied a lack of personnel who recognised gender issues, or marginalisation of gender issues and gender related scholars within a university.
The sexual harassment prevention system as a driving force of change
The study also found, as reported in the previous section, that the action plan of the
Basic Law functioned relatively well in national universities, but not in the private universities that were examined (the exception was in terms of MEXT policy). In other words, both the national and private universities paid much more attention to policy directives from MEXT. The most conspicuous example here is the impact of sexual harassment prevention. Despite a situation where there was little acknowledgement and lack of awareness, the Vice-president of a private university implied that the system was utilised to support students’ complaints or as a trouble-shooter preventing lawsuits. He also added that it was difficult to raise the consciousness of gender issues among staff. Nonetheless, Connell (1987) indicates that gender bias and disadvantage are accumulated daily and, therefore, it was not
299 surprising that all investigated universities experienced cases of sexual harassment on campus.
The research showed how staff involved in the sexual harassment prevention committee experienced difficulties, especially when they had to judge their colleagues.
Several members of this committee expressed that they experienced a great deal of stress, while a professor who had been judged as a perpetrator displayed a cynical attitude about the management of the harassment case in which he was involved.
Members stressed that the make-up of the committee should consist of third parties.
However, in light of the protection of the privacy of both victims and perpetrators, this section of the study maintained that it is prudent to consider whether or not a sexual harassment committee consisting of only third parties can properly function to solve such internal problems (Seino, 2002).
While some of the universities researched in this study have put a superficial sexual harassment prevention system in place, one feminist at TCU tried her own grassroots activity that was precisely aimed at preventing harassment that may occur between the dominant and the oppressed in an academic sphere. While committees in other universities usually hold one or two meetings a year to educate staff on sexual harassment, the professor at TCU delivered lectures to each faculty within the institution. She called her slow but steady activity ‘guerrilla-like’ and referred to this practice as ‘resistance’ (Hall-Taylor, 2000) which clearly underpinned her grassroots feminist philosophy.
300 Implications for policy and practice
The findings of this study indicated a gap in implementing gender equity policy between national and private universities, with policies in national universities taking advantage of the social channels that both connect and react. While national universities succeeded in getting quick reactions that embodied the gender equity policies, the Basic Plan resulted in leaving private universities (especially those without mathematics and science related faculties) well behind in implementing their gender equity policy. The findings also clarified that private universities mostly responded if they received a directive from MEXT. With this in mind, the research study presents the following recommendations to aid both government and universities in their quests to further implement the gender equity policies in Japan.
MEXT should:
(1) suggest that the Association of Private Universities of Japan (APUJ) takes some
action as written in the Basic Plan to JANU.
(2) develop a gender equity program that influences all faculties within the academy,
and specifically the fields of mathematics and science.
(3) increase grants programs that may further positive action to increase the number
of female scholars such as Model Program to Support Female Scholars—Josei
Kenkyusha Shien Modesu Ikusei Jigyou’ across all academic disciplines.
(4) increase the number of grants in ‘research [that] counts toward gender equality’ in
order to enhance gender studies and gender related research.
301 (5) form a comprehensive individual gender equity policy along with the Basic Law
for a Gender-equal Society that will be effective in educational field in Japan as a
whole.
Universities should:
(6) consider establishing gender equal educational environments within universities.
(7) change their constituent members of sexual harassment prevention committees so
that the committee reflects the characteristics of the third parties.
(8) take measures to reduce the stress and burden of the members of sexual
harassment prevention committees, especially in relation to their colleagues. The
stress may unduly influence fair judgment and proper management.
(9) place sexual harassment prevention committees’ importance on post facto
management of harassment, and also give priority to educating staff and students
in order to prevent trouble.
(10) utilise the educational activities of the sexual harassment prevention committees
as a driving force in order to spread gender equity policy within a university.
Connell (2002) indicates that the gender regime of an institution can be changed, and a key factor of such change is whether or not the gender regime of the institution can independently depart from the broader gender order that frames it. Given that the gender regime and gender order correspond with and relate to each other, I argue that small changes from an institution (gender regime) such as a university, or a school
302 constitute a starting point that may ultimately result in change in the gender order
(social structure) of a society.
Further research
This trajectory study indicated new findings and understandings of feminist aspirations and strategies, and how aspects of national policies impacted the implementation of gender equity policy within universities. In addition, the data collected for this study spans approximately twelve years starting initially in 1996, through to developing and forming of the Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society, its
Basic Plan and the revised Basic Plan, the minutes of governmental meetings in those years, and interviews conducted in 2007. The follow areas are open to additional investigation and I list some possible or desirable directions that such research might follow.
(1) First, follow up research in each investigated university could be undertaken for the gender equality administrations that recently have been launched. Based on announcements posted on the Internet home page of one of the investigated sites, one university holds weekly events in relation to gender, then indicating the level of diffusion of the idea of gender equality on campus. Another university operates a grant system within the gender equality administrative structure of the university in order to promote research on gender by their staff. However, the home pages of other universities make no such announcements and thus it is difficult to discern the exact situation after the establishment of their gender equality administrative structures. By
Follow up research—using case study method—on obstacles experienced by the
303 policy implementers of each university and comparison between each situation may contribute to helping other universities plan the establishment of gender equality administrative structures, or in exchanging ideas for further implementation of the gender equity policies.
(2) Examining the actual impact of the activities of gender equity policy on teacher education curricula within universities is another area of potential investigation. All the universities used as research sites in this study were intentionally chosen because they include teacher education courses. Thus another desirable area of research could investigate how the gender equity policy has impacted upon teacher education curricula and students. Alternatively, the research might follow an action research methodology, targeting a specific project linked to a specific gender equity policy.
(3) Further research could explore the anti-feminist discourse on the Basic Law for a
Gender-equal Society. In the present trajectory study, I followed feminists’ activities and the collected data were mainly feminists’ discourses, especially in relation to data around revising the Basic Law in Chapter Seven. While there is some research on backlash in Japan (Sofusha Editing Section, 2006; Wakakuwa et al., 2006), the texts of documents issued by the backlash group were not closely analysed in this study.
Thus, by using Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis, such anti-feminist discourse could be dismantled for further understanding.
(4) Lastly, as Japanese universities have just started to put their gender equality administrative structures into place, it may be useful to investigate, in a comparative manner, cases in foreign countries. These could include those countries where the
304 Japanese government dispatched the initial investigation group that compiled the
Osawa Report (see Chapter Six). Especially useful would be a comparison of findings in terms of countries such as Korea where specific gender education policy has been enacted and where, in common with Japan, Confucian beliefs form a point of social reference.
Summary
As Eto (2008) pointed out, the number of studies that focus on feminist aspirations and activities in Japan, especially written by Japanese researchers, is quite limited.
When it comes to the field of education, such studies are even fewer in number. This current study, aiming at revealing feminist strategies and efforts in intervening in gender equity policy, has made an original contribution to feminist critical policy research in the field of Japanese higher education. The qualitative methodology used in this study, especially in the form of collected interview data enabled me to access
‘elite individuals’ who are difficult to gain entrée to (Marshall & Rossman, 1999).
This feminist critical policy research highlighted aspects of power and gender in their conversations, and when combined with the trajectory policy research component of the study, the research disclosed the historical, cultural, political, and ideological aspects of Japanese society that feminists have experienced while intervening in gender equity policy implementation.
The feminist critical discourse analysis (Lazar, 2005, 2007; Wodak, 2001a, 2001b) used in this study clarified that the text of the Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society strongly represented feminist theory; the Basic Law indicated that the obstacles in
305 conventional Japanese society take the form of stereotyped gender roles, gender discrimination, women’s subordinate positions, violence against women and gender inequality. The Basic Law advocates men and women to be ‘equal partners’ by promoting practical steps towards realising a gender equal society. However, the actual process of implementation was clearly shown to be hampered by anti-feminist groups and by patriarchal discourses which, in turn, impacted on the amendment of the second version of the Basic Plan. Unfortunately, it would appear that Japanese gender equity policy has already begun to lose ground.
Nonetheless, the Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society was established and the policy finally launched. Women could, therefore, attain knowledge and empower themselves through a series of ‘guerrilla-like’ feminist activities. For the purpose of further promotion of a gender equitable situation not only in universities but also in the society as a whole, critical academic feminists in universities, engaging in ‘academic activism’ (Lazar, 2007, p. 146), need to unite to improve the situation for gender equal environments within higher education. In addition, in the age of globalisation, and
ICTs in information exchange, it can be expected that social change will continue to occur. A door to the new age has already opened, and no one can turn back the strides already taken to promote gender equity in Japan.
306
Appendices
307
Appendix A: Ethical approval certificate
309
Appendix B: Information on Consent (English and Japanese versions)
Information Sheet
Title of the Research project: Gender Equity Policies in Teacher Education Program in Japan.
Investigator: Sanae Kawana PhD candidate Centre for Learning Innovation, Faculty of Education Queensland University of Technology:
Aim of the research: To explore how gender discourses are represented in texts of gender equity policies in education and spoken discourses in teacher education in higher education, Japan.
In order to conduct this research I would like to interview a number of people who are involved in gender equity policies implementation and teacher education in higher education in Japan. I will be seeking to conduct an interview with you, approximately an hour in duration, to gain information about relevant policy implementation in your area of responsibility. The interview will be tape recorded if you are agreeable to this. We are also asking if you could provide us with any documents, which would be relevant to the research.
Please note that: 1) The contents of all interviews will be confidential, and you will not be individually identified in the
research, by name or position. 2) You have the right to withdraw your consent at any time during the project.
I hope the findings of my study will contribute to the policy makers in education and the curriculum organisers in teacher education to consider the strategies in implementing gender equity policies. Also I hope the findings of my study will be one of helpful considerations for the people in Japan to understand and facilitate the gender equity policy in education so that they will find more effective strategies in implementing gender equity policies in education. If you have any further questions about the project, or your participation, please contact the researcher before signing the consent form.
311
Participant consent form
Title of the project: Gender Equity Policies in Teacher Education Program in Japan.
Investigator: Sanae Kawana PhD candidate, Centre for Learning Innovation Faculty of Education, Queensland University of Technology:
I, ………………………………………, declare that I have been informed about the project ‘Gender Equity Policies in Teacher Education Program in Japan’, what will be required of me if I consent to participate in the research, and the confidentiality of my comments. I have read the information sheet provided both in English and Japanese, I have been given the opportunity to ask questions about the project at any time during the project. I understand that I will in no way be individually identified in the research, by name or position.
I hereby freely give my consent to take part in the project, by: Agreeing to my verbal comments or interview being recorded.
I reserve my right to: Seek further information about the project before, during or after any session; Withdraw my consent to take part in the project at any time, without any consequences. If you have any concerns or complaints about the ethical conduct of the project, at any stage throughout the project, you may contact the secretary of the University Human Research Ethics Committee, Brisbane, Australia on 61-7-3864-2902, or contact the Research Ethics Officer on 3864 2340 or [email protected] if they have any concerns or complaints about the ethical conduct of the project.
Name………………………………………. Signature…………………………… Date………………………………………..
312
承諾書依頼に関する資料
論文課題名：日本の教育職員養成課程に於ける男女平等政策
研究者氏名： 豪州クイーンズランド工科大学大学院教育学部博士課程 ラーニング イノベーション センター 川名 早苗
概要：
本研究は、教育に関する男女平等政策にジェンダーの言説が如何に表記され ているか、又、高等教育機関の教育職員養成課程に於いて如何なる言説が存 在するかを調査し、明らかにするものである。
本調査を行うにあたり、男女平等政策履行及び高等教育機関の教育職員養成 課程に係る方々に約１時間程度のインタビューをご依頼したい。また、その インタビューを録音させて頂く事をご了承いただきたい。更に、本研究調査 に関連する文献等、資料提供のご協力にも感謝する。
私は、インタビューに関しては、次の事をお約束する。 １）インタビューの内容は、機密扱いとし、貴方個人が個人名或は肩書き等 により判別されない様にする。 ２）貴方は、本調査中に何時でも調査協力の承諾を撤回できる。
私は、本研究が、男女平等政策履行の戦略を取る際に、男女平等に係る教育 政策の策定者、教育職員養成カリキュラム作成担当者の方々に貢献できる事 を望んでいる。また、教育に於ける同政策への理解を深め、機能させ、更に より有効な施策を計る一助となる事を望む。
本研究の内容、御協力等について何かご質問があれば、ご署名の前に研究者 にお尋ね下さい。
313
承諾書
論文課題名：日本の教育職員養成課程に於ける男女平等政策
研究者氏名： 豪州クイーンズランド工科大学大学院教育学部博士課程 ラーニング イノベーション センター 川名 早苗
私は、標記研究の説明を受け、私の情報の機密が保持され、下記に述べられ た事を理解し、研究に協力する事に同意します。
私は、別紙の承諾依頼に関する資料（英文、和文）を読み、質問の機会を与 えられた。
私は、私個人が、個人名或は肩書きにより判別されない事を理解した。
私は、本研究に於いて、次の事に同意し協力する。 口頭によるコメント或はインタビューが録音されること。
私は次の権利を有する。 本調査の開始以前、途中、セッションの後、更なる情報を求める事。 如何なる事が起きようとも、何時でも、本調査への協力同意を撤回する 事。
本研究の調査中、如何なる課程に於いても、倫理的な不満、不安がある時は、 大学ヒト調査倫理委員会の事務局に連絡する事ができる。番号は豪州、ブリ スベーン、61-7-3861-2902、又は、研究倫理委員、3864−2340、或は [email protected] までご連絡下さい。
承認者署名
承認者氏名
日付
314 Appendix C: The Interviews
Questions
Core Questions of the interviews:
1. Can you tell me about your current position and a role in the institution?
2. What involvement have you had in the development of gender equity policies in the institution?
3. To what extent, did the UN Women’s Conferences influence the formation of gender equity policies such as the Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society?
4. Which group/s supported the formation of gender equity policies such as the Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society?
5. Which group/s supported the implementation of the gender equal policy?
6. To what extent did the Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society influence education?
7. To what extent did the Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society influence the establishment of gender equality promotion committees at each national university, for example your own university?
8. To what extent was the National University Association influential in establishing projects of gender equality promotion within national universities? (How about private universities?) How did the Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society the influence the project?
9. To what extent did the Law on the Promotion of Human Rights Education and Human Rights Awareness-Raising' influence education? Have committees within your university ever picked up this law as an agenda item?
315
10. What is the future plan for implementing gender equity policies in your university?
Questions to a member of ‘a group thinking about the education from gender perspectives’.
1. When and how was ‘the group which thinks about education from gender perspectives’ organised?
2. What was the purpose of this group when it was established? Who were the members of the group? Did the group have any slogan or the theme?
3. What kind of activities did the group do? What were difficulties or obstacles were faced by the group? Who were the supporters of the group?
4. When and why was the group dissolved? Do you think the group achieved the goals for which it had been organised?
5. At present do you feel there are any other group/s that can take the place of the previous group that considers education from a gender perspectives’?
6. In reflecting upon the group, how do you feel that you contributed to this group activities?
7. What do you think was the major achievement/s of this group What do you think this group will be remembered for? What do you think is the legacy of this group?
Interviewees—assigned numbers and institutions
(All names are pseudonyms.)
316 Institution Interview No. Date Gender Remarks Sapporo 1 07/01/11 M Vice-president/Sexual Harassment Liberty Prevention Committee (SHPC) University 2 07/02/05 M Professor/ Teacher education program 3 07/02/05 F Advisor/Teacher education program/SHPC 4 07/02/07 M Dean/Teacher education program/SHPC 5 07/02/20 M Professor/ Teacher education program 6 07/02/20 M Clerical worker in charge of MEXT 7 07/03/05 F Professor/ Teacher education program
8 07/03/07 F Professor/ gender studies Tokyo 9 07/03/14 M Professor/ Teacher education program Central /The Institute to Support Women (ISW) University. 10 07/03/14 F Professor/ISW 11 07/03/15 F Professor/ISW 12 07/03/15 F Professor/ISW/SHPC 13 07/03/15 F Professor/ISW /SHPC
14. 07/03/16 F Professor/Gender institution /SHPC Northern 15 07/01/16 F Professor/Teacher education/a working Cities group (WG) for gender equality University administration 16 07/01/16 F Professor/Teacher education/ WG 17 07/01/24 M Professor/Teacher education/Curriculum Committee/ 18 07/02/07 F Professor/ Teacher education/WG/Gender studies 19 07/01/24 M Professor//Teacher education/ WG
20 07/02/14 M The President
21 07/02/14 M Clerical worker in charge of MEXT Japan 22 07/03/24 F Vice-president/Teacher Academic education/Takeda University 23-1 06/04/28 F Professor/Teacher education /WG
23-2 06/04/28 F Professor/Teacher education/WG
West 25 07/01/28 F Professor/Gender Studies/ Nakaya Sunshine University Gender 26 07/03/26 F Former high ranking member Equality Bureau, Cabinet 27 07/06/22 F Current high ranking member as of Office. 2007 MEXT 28 06/09/28 F A staff in gender equality section
317 Former 29 06/09/06 F Former high ranking member/Professor Council for of Eastern Japan University Gender Equality
318 Appendix D: Certificate of Endorsement of
Translation and translated data
319 Translated data with the original Japanese data
from Chapter Five: Gender and Teacher Education Policy in Japan: Feminist Teachers Organising for Change
In an invitation, dated December 18th, the Group articulated their goals, including that of submitting the position paper, for the first time:
Hereafter, we will continue to go forward in this movement so that the Council will take up this issue, give the movement a hearing, and include the issue in the report that will be written next summer. We will also continue to take action so that the Ministry of
Education will embody the content of the report in its policy: As one of these measures, we have organised the symposium mentioned in the attachment. (The Group Thinking about
Education from Gender Perspectives, 1996a)
今後、審議会で是非この問題を取り上げヒアリングを行うと ともに、来夏に予定されている答申に盛り込み、さらに文部
省がそれを具現化するよう、働きかけを継続していきたいと 思っています。その一つとして、、、別紙のシンポジウムの
企画をいたしました。
In organising the Group, the professor of JAU claimed that she was influenced by the agenda of the
Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing 1995:
It was after the World Women’s Conference in Beijing and the announcement of Vision for Gender Equality 2000 in Japan, that Japanese women, including us, began to become aware of the idea that we needed to empower ourselves and take practical and comprehensive actions like lobbying to move the power. [Tomita
320 and I thought that] we had to do something in the field of education, too… (Interview No. 22).
この頃もうヴィジョンとか北京会議の後ですから、なんて言 うんですかね、抱括的な、何かロビーイングてきな事をしな ければ駄目だ、エンパワーメントをというかたちで自分たち がアクションを起こして、動かしていくという様な発想が私 たちに少し出来上がって来始めていた頃ですよね、日本の女 性にとっても。で、何か教育の分野でしなくては行けないと
いう事で、
The female member of EPTC promised her full cooperation. At first, she told the Group that:
She said that she was not a specialist on gender matters, so she did not know what to say in the meetings …and she said that she also
did not need the minutes or data documents that she got in every meeting. She would give them all to us. (Interview No. 22)
あの彼女は専門じゃないし、ここで、何をいいのかって言う
事も分からないというので、、、毎回の資料を「あげる。」 って言って、その方から、毎回送ってもらってたんだと思い
ます。
In discussion of the content of the curriculum, the minutes reported that one member said:
Although I do not think that ‘gender studies’ are established academically, I think it is important to have knowledge about gender equal society. (Educational Personnel Training Council, 1997c)
「ジェンダー学」というものが学問的に定まったものとは考 えないが，男女共同参画社会についての認識を持っておくこ
とは大切。
The professor of JAU recalled her own careful reading of the documents, and commented:
321 From this point in time, I also began to examine the governmental documents thoroughly or closely for the first time, … Again, I think this was because of the great influence of the Beijing Conference. (Interview No. 22)
私も初めて、其の頃から、こういうの、国の政府の公文書み たいなものって言うのをキチンと見る、どっかよそ事ではな くって、キチンと見るって言う事が、ありました。やはり北
京会議の影響が大きかったと思います
Within the ETPC, on January 30th, 1997, in the 7th ad hoc Committee of Curriculum—Karikyuramu nado Tokubetsu Iinkai in ETPC, the previously mentioned ETPC member stated that:
Gender equality is argued about; this shows that this society is one in which women can not participate… I think that there are circumstances where schools inherit male-dominant social
attitudes. For this reason, subjects regarding gender equality should be included in education programs, especially in Teacher Education Programs.
男女共同参画が言われるが、これは女性が踏み入れられない 社会であることのあらわれではないか。男性上位の社会を学 校が受け継いでいる現状があるのではないか。このため、男
女平等に関する科目を教育課程、とりわけ教員養成課程にと
りいれるべきではないか。
As part of this process, the Group organised its second symposium on November 30th, 1997. In an invitation letter, the Group mentioned that:
… at the present stage, it is not enough, but recognisable changes were included in the words of the report. However, the movement should not be stopped here … We will hold a symposium again at this point; by thinking together and exchanging information of practical activities, our movement is expected to develop further
322 for the promotion of the gender equal educational practices … (The Group Thinking about Education from Gender Perspectives, 1997d)
現段階では十分といえないまでも評価すべき変化が報告書 の文言にこり込まれる事になりました。しかし、運動はここ で終わるわけにはいきません。、、、ここで再びシンポジウ ムを開催し、皆様とともに考え、実践活動の情報交換を行う ことによって、さらなる男女平等教育実践の高まりへと発展
することを期待するものです。
When asked why the Group stopped its activities, the professor of JAU stated that:
Our goal was to lobby the EPTC. I don’t think we had the idea that the group would continue permanent activities … [It was our way
to do it] without having a by-law, … I have said that feminist scholars did not place a leader [in a group]. (Interview No. 22)
最初っから、その時の教育審議会にロビーイングするという
目的で作りましたから、会則をつくってね、永続的にしよう とか、そういう発想はあんまりなかったんですね、、、「女 性学者は代表を作らないんです」みたいな事を言ったことが
ありますね。
Later, I found the high-ranking member of EPTC became a
member of a certain gender related academic research group. He said to me, with a broad grin, ‘I have finally understood what you meant at that time’. (Interview No. 22)
後日談をいうと、この方、後に XXXX 会議のジェンダー問 題特別会議の委員になって、、、XXXX 先生がですね、「あ の頃 XXXX さんが言っていた事をようやく分かる様になっ て来たよ」ってな事をですね、、、ジェンダー特別委員会で、 にやにやしながら、こちらの方に出て行くとご挨拶した様な
経緯があります。
323 from Chapter Six: Gender and Power in the Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society, Japan
A former high ranking member of the Office for Gender Equality indicated that:
At the start, the office used to be very small. Then, the NGOs eagerly requested the establishment of an organization that conformed with a law or to situate a Minister in charge there … our government has proceeded [the gender equality policies] by being pushed by the UN and led by many women … I think that is an administrative characteristic [factor] of our government. (Interview No. 26)
もともと組織がとても小さい所を女性団体が、法令に準拠し たキチンと組織を作って欲しいとか、担当大臣をおいて欲し いとか一生懸命言ってくれたのね。、、、国連に肩を押して
もらって、女性たちに手を引っ張ってもらってそして進んで きた、そういう風に出来たっていう遠隔があるんですよ。そ こは行政的には特徴があるなっと思っていますね。
A former member of the former Council for Gender Equality in the Office of the Prime Minister Office noted:
if the word ‘education’ had been used, it would then have become specific to the educational field; instead, the word ‘schools’ was
used to deal with the issue of the actual place of schools. … it was the way to form the basic law—osahou—not to specify particular fields like that. … In this sense, the Basic Law did not influence any specific fields—[including the educational field]—directly. Furthermore, it marks time for a while at each section in each ministry before they take practical measures along with the Basic Law. (Interview No. 29)
これ教育と書いたら分野の話になってしまうので学校とい う場所の話にしているんです。、、、そういう風に個別の分 野に立入らないというのが基本法のお作法ですから、そうい
324 う意味で、直接影響を与えたっていう事はありません。各省 庁が自分の持ち場で、この基本法を受けてどういう風に進め て行くかっていう、ワンクッションおいた話になるんですね。
From Osawa Report:
Prohibition of gender discrimination, harassment:
It goes without saying that the prohibition of gender discrimination is one of the most important themes in discussing the basic law. (p. 14)
性差別禁止とハラスメント：基本法令を検討するうえで、性
差別の禁止が重要な論点の一つとなる事は言うまでもある
まい。
From Osawa Report:
Structure of a basic law: …in light of the emergent need for the realization of a gender equal society socio-economically, it is necessary to establish the basic law [that will be implemented not
in a specific field but in all fields in the society] as soon as possible. (p. 14)
基本法制の構成：、、、男女共同参画社会の実現が経済・社
会的に緊急の課題である点を考えると、基本法令をすみやか
に制定する必要性はおおきいといえよう。
From Osawa Report,
Related organizations:
If we are to establish a basic law that can review the social system or social practices from gender perspectives, it is vital that the national machinery retain the right to review them also (p. 16).
325 関連機関：社会制度・慣行を男女共同参画の視点にたって見 直す根拠を、国内本部機構に賦与するような基本法令を制定
できるならば、、、意義深いものとなろう。
from Chapter Seven: Education and the Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society
A staff of Gender Equality Section within MEXT stressed in the interview that
the ministry has a ‘vertically-segmented administrative set up—tatewari gyousei”. … [This results in] “the matters of universities … [being] dealt with by the Higher Education Bureau, and those of teacher education … [being] handled by the Secondary Education Bureau… (Interview No. 28)
「文科省は良く言われる縦割りでして」、、、「大学等の事 は高等教育局、教員養成については中等教育局と分かれてい
て、、、」
The staff of Gender Equality Section within MEXT stated that
the Basic Plan does not state that something should be done in each arena, but that there are previously conducted projects that were
sorted out and written up. That is the most appropriate way of understanding the Basic Plan” (Interview No. 28).
基本計画につきましては、これこれの分野でこうしなさいと 決めたものではなく、これまであるものを、分類して書いた ものだと思って頂ければと思います。その捉え方が一番ふさ わしい様に思います。
Importantly she also added:
MEXT is not in a position to tell a university or teacher educator to do this or that … We sent the Basic Plan to each university, and as
326 a matter of fact, measures corresponding to the relevant and related parts of the Basic Plan should be considered by each university respectively. (Interview No. 28)
文科省としては、大学や教員養成に関して、こういう風にし なくてはならないと言う立場ではないとお考え頂きたいの でございます。、、、各大学には基本計画をお届けしており、 当然、該当部分は大学それぞれで対応をお考えになることだ と存じます。
At the sixth meeting of the SISIC, on November13th, 2006, the General Director of the Gender Equality
Bureau, Haniwa Natori, noted that:
This ‘mainstreaming’ meaning to reflect gender perspectives on all political arena, is an important agenda in an Action Plan adopted in UNWCW in 1995. It is our important duty to ensure that it is
established in practice.
これはジェンダー・メインストリーミングという、ジェンダ ーの視点をすべての政策分野へ反映させるということで１
９９５年の世界女性会議で採択された行動綱領に盛り込ま れた大きな課題がありますが、それを実際に担保する大きな 任務だと思っております。
This is evident in the comment of a former high-ranking staff member of the Cabinet Office who also formerly worked at MEXT:
The Gender Equality Bureau takes the initiative of the gender equality policy as its most important agenda. However, for each ministry which receives the instruction (from the Gender Equality Bureau), it is just one of the various matters it must handle. They (the staff of MEXT) are extremely busy with their routine work. They are asked to do many things from different places, so they say,
327 “Oh, that’s too much. We can’t handle anymore!” It is a fact that they were being ‘driven up the wall’ with overwork. (Interview 26)
男女共同参画局がいの一番で一生懸命旗降っているんだけ れど、例えば受けての方の省庁になってしまうと、それは色 んなことを言ってくるその一つになってしまうのよ。、、、 自分たちの日常の業務で非常に忙しいの、、、それで、目一 杯あちこちから色んな事を言われながら、ああまたか、また かって発狂状態になりながらやっているというのが現実な のよ。
In addition, the staff member articulated that the Japanese government’s organizational culture is androcentric, noting:
The government offices are generally male dominated. So, in fact, there are quite a few people who have not thought fully about
gender equality. (Interview 26).
一般にどこの役所も男性のところが多いですから、男女共同 参画なんてあんまり考えないで過ごしている人も結構いる
んですよ、実際は。
The Coordinator of Women’s Policies in MEXT while reporting on an internal study noted:
In this investigation, we are examining the reasons for [students] dropping out of school, however, the main purpose of this survey is to grasp the number of the dropping out students. Therefore, we did not investigate the details such as the difference of gender. (the 3rd SISIC, May 24th , 2005)
私どもの調査、、、内容としては、中退の状況又は理由など を調査するものでして、、退学者数の把握が主眼でございま して、したがって、性別というような細かい属性まで尋ねて
いないところです。
328 Furuhashi, critically commented that MEXT should recognize the meaning of ‘gender mainstreaming’ as follows:
Because of the establishment of the Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society, even if something looks as if it has nothing to do with gender equality, it is required to consider the things from the gender perspectives … Therefore, I hope that you would understand that your theory, that “understanding the situation by gender is not necessary because the main purpose is to understand the number of the students who dropped out high school”, is not accepted now. So I strongly suggest that you need to tell this to the section in charge again, this is my request to MEXT. (the 3rd SISIC, May 24th , 2005)
男女共同参画社会基本法ができて、、、男女共同参画に関係 のないようなものであっても、男女共同参画の視点を考える
というふうになったわけですね。、、、したがって、この中 において、「高等学校中途退学者数の状況等の現状を把握等 であることから、性別を分けて把握する必要性に乏しいた
め」と、こういう論理は今は成り立たないと。そこのところ を理解していただいて、もう１回担当課に強く言っていただ きたい、こういうふうに思うのが文部科学省に対する要望で
す。
The Coordinator answered:
To increase the items of investigation, that may be the very difficult
factor, I think. (the 15th, SISIC, October 23rd , 2006)
調査項目を増やすということがやはりなかなか難しいのだ
と思いますけれども。
329 Then Kashima strongly showed her resentment against the neglect of the mainstreaming of gender perspectives by MEXT and insisted:
At all costs, please divide it into men and women. Our special investigation committee [SICBIGEC] has been asking the same thing [of MEXT] from last year. So I think this should absolutely
be fully understood. Please do it thoroughly in MEXT. (the 15th, SISIC, October 23rd, 2006)
同時に、その男女別も是非。去年から私どもの専門調査会も お願いしているわけで、これは是非徹底したいと思っていま
すのでので、省内に徹底してください。
Hirooka’s argument clearly showed his objection in his statement:
Regarding this, which is ‘to make the Basic Plan without gender theory’, this makes the Basic Plan nothing from the first place. We never have the intention to express anything to deny a family. This is nothing but a misunderstanding. Also, if we extinguish [mention of the] word ‘jenda-gender’, it is complete nonsense in the first place. (Special Investigation Committee Regarding the Basic Plan for Gender Equality, 2005b, unpaged)
だけど、この「ジェンダー論によらない基本計画を」とい うと、これはそもそも基本計画でも何でもなくなってしまっ
て、 我々は家族否定につながる表現などしている気持ちは 全くありません。 これは誤解としか言いようがないと思い ますね。 それから「ジェンダー」という言葉を削除した ら、そもそも話にならない。
Chairperson Iwao tried to state her objection,
“by explaining or, rather adding some sentences, if such
misunderstandings [can be] decreased, I think it is worth doing so.
330 … we should make efforts to solve the misunderstandings” (the 12th SICBPGE, July 11th, 2005, unpaged).
説明をするというか、 若干書き込むというようなことで誤 解がよりなくなるようなことはやはりしてもいいのではな
いかと私は思っているんですね。 、、、誤解を解くような 努力は私はすべきではないかと、 こういうふうに考えてお ります。
In the twelfth meeting of SICBPGE on July 11th, 2005, a member, Hara, commented,
the critics of the idea of gender say that gender-free education advocates intend to make the human an unsexed creature, like a snail. In other words, they say that gender-free education neuters people. They describe [gender-free] this way.
ジェンダーなどを批判なさる側は、ジェンダーフリー教育を
提唱する人たちは、 オスとメス・雌雄の別のないカタツム リのような生物に人類をしようとしているのだ、 だから人 類を中性化しようとしていると、そういう表現をお使いにな
っているんです。
Furuhashi (who was engaged in forming the Basic Law) explained:
regarding the statement (that it does not aim at neutralization), … it is not aiming at eliminating the consciousness of the sex difference, … but the consciousness of gender discrimination. … If it is explained like this, I think this will convince everyone. (the 12th SICBPGE, July 11th, 2005, unpaged)
そういうことに対して、、、 性差意識の解消を目指すもの でないから、、、我々が目指すものは性差別意識の解消なん ですよと言う、、、そういうふうに言うのが私は一番わかり やすいのではないかと思ってそういうふうに言っているん
です。
331
Furuhashi added, in the same meeting, that:
the idea of gender-free does not originally mean to erase the consciousness of the sex difference. However, some people use the word as if it aims at erasing the consciousness of sex difference. I would like to say that this is not good at all. …[what we are aiming at is] ‘freedom from gender discrimination’…I think this
explanation will be acceptable. (the 12th SICBPGE, July 11th, 2005, unpaged)
ジェンダーフリーというのは、本来は性差意識の解消じゃな
い。 しかし、それをまさに性差意識の解消を目指すがごと く一部の人々が使っておるということは 非常にいけないこ とである、、、。 「性差別意識の解消」、その事を言えば
大体おさまるのではないかとうきがしているんです。
Furuhashi commented that:
there is an opinion that gender equality destroys the family system. The system [the PT said] may refer to a traditional family system,
but there is no such family system defined under the current Constitution. But if [the PT] calls family life at present “a family system”, the idea of gender equality exactly gives importance to
the family as a basic premise, as “the essential equality of the [both] sexes”28 and the dignity of individuals in a family life is
assured under Article twenty-four of the Constitution of Japan. (the 12th SICBPGE, July 11th, 2005, unpaged)
男女共同参画は家族制度を破壊するという意見があります。 その家族制度は何かというと、旧来における家族制度のよう
28 This expression is cited from Constitution of Japan: ‘Ryosei no honshitsuteki byodo’, in ’ written in the Aarticle 24.
332 です。 しかしそのような制度は、新憲法下ではないわけで すね。 しかし、現代における家庭生活を家族制度というな らば、 それについては男女共同参画はまさに家族というも のを大事にしているということは大前提なわけですね。 そ れで憲法においても、家庭生活における個人の尊厳と両性の
平等を 24 条に書いてあるわけです。
Iwao had started discussion of the LDP meeting by saying that:
I told [the LDP joint meeting] that I had received many indications [on the draft of the Basic Plan from the LDP joint meeting], and that I would take them to SICBPGE, and ask the members to
discuss them, and that I would try to make efforts to include [the LDP’s] arguments as much as possible. This is what I told [the joint meeting]. (the 13th SICBPGE, July 20th, 2005, unpaged)
私が申し上げましたのは、大変、たくさんいろいろな御指摘
をいただきましたので、 それを専門調査会に持ち帰って、 皆様に検討していただき、できるだけ取り込むように努力を
いたしますと、 こういうふうに申し上げてきました。
Furuhashi, strongly opposed these proposals, saying that:
the idea of gender equality can not be fully described with replacement by the expression equality between men and women … It was the great current of the times. In this context, we (the drafters of the Basic Law) think that gender, which is an idea from
‘outside’, should be introduced. (the 13th SICBPGE, July 20th, 2005)
男女共同参画の考え方が男女平等じゃ出てこないわけです よ。、、、それが今大きな時流だから、そういう意味におい
てジェンダー、 外部の考え方を入れなくちゃいけないとい うのが、我々の考え方ですから。
333
As for women’s studies and gender studies, another committee member, Kanda, said that:
As this background, [the subtext of the PT’s] argument is that women’s studies and gender studies are not necessary in a university. There are such opinions, hence the sentences should be dealt with in consideration of such situations… (the 13th SICBPGE, July 20th, 2005)
この背景には、今、大学教育の中での女性学とか、ジェンダ
ー学が必要じゃないという、そういう意見があるわけで、 そ れに対応する文章にしないと、、、それをきちんと状況を踏
まえた上での文章にする必要があるのだと思います。
Another member, Inoguchi, who later became Minister for Gender Equality, added that,
“I think it is important that the Plan states that women’s studies are to be promoted in higher education” (the 13th SICBPGE, July 20th,
2005, unpaged).
高等教育機関等における女性学の振興を図るという文言が
ちゃんと残ることが重要だと思います。
A former high-ranking member of the Gender Equality Bureau was critical of these developments:
it was [PT] that said it is the gender free that is not good … making images of the gender free [by associating it with sex free], … thus created fait accomplis, then they said that such dirty words should not be used. They made it dirty themselves … but, sorry to say, after all, Japanese do not know about the idea of gender that much. …, they [PT] clamored that it was an absurd word again and again, and such a voice came to be on the front burner … so, it was already difficult to demolish [such voices], … originally, [gender] is a foreign word … at that time, each scholar has each particular
334 definition on gender … [such attitudes] were just attacked . (Interview No. 26)
自分たちで言っておいてけしからんって言うわけだから ね。、、、セックスフリー、ジェンダーフリーてなイメージ であれして、あおり立てて、既成事実化して、だからこんな 汚れてしまった言葉使うなって、自分たちで汚しておいて、 使うなだから、、、でも、残念ながら、やっぱりジェンダー って概念については日本人あまりしらないのよ。知らないう ちに、とんでもない言葉だ言葉だって言う方が、こうわあわ あわあわあ言われて優先されてしまっているんで、それはも う覆すことは出来なかったのね。、、、元々は外来語だから、、、
当時は社会的文化的に作られた性別、性差って学者によって 様々だったのが、ちょっと狙われちゃった感じなのね。
Minister Inoguchi explained:
Since there are some things that would not hinder the realization of
a gender equal society, it is written that this Basic Plan does not review such matters. In addition, it is written that use of the term ‘gender-free’ [implies a different intent] from the gender equal
society that national citizens want: [instead implying a gender equal society] that denies sex differences, makes a sexless person without distinction of femininity or masculinity, or denies a family
and the traditional culture such as the girls-day-festival. (the 21st GEC, December 26th, 2005, unpaged)
男女共同参画社会の形成を阻害しないと考えられるものも あり、このようなものまで見直しを行おうとするものではな いということも記述しています。さらに、「ジェンダー・フ リー」という用語を使用して、性差を否定したり、男らしさ、 女らしさや男女の区別をなくして人間の中性化を目指すこ と、また、家族やひな祭り等の伝統文化を否定することは、
335 国民が求める男女共同参画社会とは異なることを記述して
います。
According to a former high-ranking member of Gender Equality Bureau where the background to the amendment of the draft of the Basic Plan was reflected upon:
At that precise moment, it was nothing but the ruling parties that were strongly insisting on [making the Basic Plan] without gender. Many of them insisted that the plan should not be based on gender theory. In such a vortex [of backlash], if we said “how stupid!”, the plan would not pass the ruling parties. If they didn’t agree to the draft, it would not be mooted in the Cabinet meeting. So you might
think that [the reference materials of PT] were incoherent and unreasonable. This is the one (showing the reference materials). … Mmm ... in ordinary circumstances, we might say that it was absurd.
But [we had to do it] in order to go through such procedures … [our decision was] … whatever happens, we needed to get a support from the ruling parties. … As for the government, we wanted to
include [the word] jenda—gender in the Basic Plan. … This was the only way to do it … (Interview No. 26)
さっきみたいな所がまさに与党なんですよ。ですからジェン
ダーによらないものと強く御主張される方が多いわけです が、そういう風な中でそんなのけしからんとなると、あの、 与党は通らないわけですよ。与党を通らないと閣議まで持っ て行けないと言う事になってきますから、だからこれご覧に なったらかなりめちゃくちゃだと思われたと思うけど、これ
がそれなんですけど(資料を提示して)、ちょっと、そう言う 所もあるんですよ。、、、ウ〜ん。普通だったらバカクサと 何言っているんだと、そういう風な事を手続きのために、如 何しても与党を通さなければいけないと言う様な話で、、、 政府としては計画に是非ジェンダー（の言葉を）入れたかっ
たし、入れるのはああするのが唯一の方法だったから、、、。
336 a former high-ranking member of the Gender Equality Bureau stating:
they like the fixed gender roles. You know, it is a theory of gender traits—seibetsutokuseiron. They say that there is a difference of intellectuality between men and women… they are such people … [in the Bureau,] we said we could not absolutely accept such an idea and we wanted to leave the word of gender [in the Basic Plan] … in a vortex [of backlash] like this, we chose a way that the word gender could be used [even if it were not in a positive way] and we could use it (Interview No. 26).
要するにこの人たち固定的役割分担がいいんだもん。ね、特 性論なのよ。男と女とはね、頭が違うと、言うふうな人た ちなんだから、、、それに対して私たちはそれだけはちょっ
とできなかったんで、、、何とか残したいなあと皆でなって いたんですね。、、、この様な中ででも、ジェンダー等の言
葉を使わせてもらうという事で、出来た事だから、、、。
from Chapter Eight: Gender Equality Policies in Higher Education
The above-mentioned professor at EJU in Tokyo said…:
Every year the JANU sends out a survey … and sends us the results. … So the circumstance of each university appears very obvious. In
fact, a university would not investigate the rate of female graduate students or professors spontaneously by itself without such a questionnaire from the JANU. (Interview No. 29, EJU)
毎年推進情報の調査ってしているんですよ、国大協は。、、、 それで、各大学、毎年、毎年、一目瞭然になりますから、実 際学内で学生や院生の教員の女性の比率をつかむってこと 自体この国立の国大協からアンケートが来なければなかな か自動的につかもうとするものではないので、
The President of Northern Cities University (NCU) in Hokkaido also spoke of the influence of the
JANU: 337 JANU made a suggestion to all national universities, like … improving the research environments for female researchers. … Therefore, each university began to move …We picked it up last year (in 2005), … and made a working group. (Interview No. 20, NCU)
(国大協)それが各大学に呼び掛けたわけです。、、、女性の 研究者の研究環境を良くしましょうとか、、、、それで。、 各大学が動き始めたんですね。、、、我々も去年それを取り
上げて、、、 working group 作ったんですね。
A professor at EJU…:
The major reason why our university drafted the basic plan was because Nagoya National University had already formed the plan.
….At that time, Gakucho (the university President) and his assistant committee said that we had to do it because Nagoya University did … before society began to move, we thought that we
had to take initiative and do something at our university. (Interview No. 29, EJU)
そうですね。XXX 大学が男女共同参画基本計画を作らなきゃ
って思ったのは名古屋大学が作ったのが大きいですね。、、、
(そう言い出したのは)当時は（学）長、その補佐会ですね。、、、 そういう所で、今世の中こういう動きになっているから、こ
ういう風にしないと行けないんじゃないかとか、やっぱり、 世の中動き出す前に XXX 大学としてやらなくちゃ行けない
事があるんじゃないかみたいな、、、。
The professor of EJU continued that:
Japanese (society) has a strong horizontally egalitarian consciousness. So we may think that it is shameful if we don’t do what other universities have already done. (Interview No. 29, EJU)
338 日本は横並び意識が強いので、よその大学やっているのにう ちの大学やっていないというと、すごくみっともないって思 いますから、、、。
The President of Northern City University (NCU) in Hokkaido also showed strong concern with being
the first, and told that:
[the] ratio of female teachers (in Hokkaido) is much lower than the average (ratio in Japan). … I hope the cause (of the circumstances in Hokkaido) will be analysed. … No universities in Japan [except NCU] have picked up these problems. No universities in Japan (have picked up these problems)… (Interview No. 20, NCU)
女子教員、北海道は、これは全国比で言うと非常に低いんで すね。、、、そこいらへんにメスをいれて、なぜなのか、そ れをどう見たらいいのかということも分析して欲しい。、、、
それは恒常的にどこも大学として取り上げてこなかった、全 国どこもやっていない。
in NCU. She first indicated the negative aspect of red-tape and claimed that:
since our university is a national university, [we were concerned] about the suggestions from the JANU and the Science Council of Japan” (Interview No. 18, NCU).
（私たちがバックグランドとして持っているのは、）国立大 なので、国大協の提言と日本学術会議の提言と言うあたり で、、、（それは一つの課題なんですね）。
(P.10) She continued, explaining the background as follows:
A document [of JANU] was sent to each university, but it was sleeping on the shelf of a member of the clerical staff. I neither knew about it nor had I seen it. …But Eastern Japan University and 339 Nagoya University took it seriously and established offices of gender equality.…After that, I thought that our university has to move on to it, too. I happened to be a special assistant to the President (Gakucho). So I suggested it to the President and a member of the board of directors (Riji). …Universities are now exposed to an evaluation system. … Thus, if other universities started doing it, we think that this is a situation that we have to do it, too. (Interview No. 18, NCU)
国大協の提言ですね。それが各大学に降りましたけど、その 書類は殆ど事務で眠っていたわけ。全く私も知らなくて見た 事も無かった、事務のどこかで眠っていた。だけど、これを
重視した、XXX 大、名古屋大等これをどうやって実現する かって言う事で、男女共同参画委員会等を立ち上げて行くっ て言うのがあったので、、、家でも作らなければならないんじ ゃって言う事で、私がたまたま特別補佐しているので、理事
や学長にいったわけですよ。要望をだしたんですよ、、、大 学 というのは今評価にさらされているから、、、他の大学もやれ
ば家もと言う背景もあったとおもうのですよね。
The professor at EJU
There is an external pressure that behaves like a boomerang. For example, by appealing against a Japanese situation in an international conference, when a claim is not accepted in Japan, some intend to make the government—which has been hesitant to move—move by using international pressure. This also shows that the power of people in search of vision in Japan is too weak to affect the government directly. (Interview No. 29, EJU) 例えばね、ブーメランにする外圧ってあるんですよ。日本の 国内で声を出しても、通りにくい事が、国際的な会場で実情 を訴える事によって及び腰だった政府関係者のお尻に火が ついて、実施されるというブーメラン的外圧って言うのをよ
340 くありまして、是はやっぱり日本国内で志を持っている人と かが直接働きかける力が弱いって言う事ではありますけれ
ど、、、。 key members of the Project Team on gender equality at JAU
We have been growing the tendency. (Interview No. 23-1, JAU)
But, we did not do anything like submitting a demanding paper. We individually and personally talked to people around. And [the professor] was in the centre of it. (Interview No. 23-2, JAU)
She was in the position that she could say something to the
university directly … For example, … we received a notice from the government, then we investigated our situation carefully, and we found that the university was obviously not doing anything yet
… In this meaning, teachers had much stronger awareness to support this tendency than members of the directors’ board meeting. (Interview No. 23-1, JAU)
、、、機運は作ってきましたね。
ただ、組織として何か要望書を出すとかそういう事はし ていませんで、個々人がちょこちょこ回りに言うと、そ こで、特に一番中心にいたのが、XXX 先生なので、、、。
大学にもの申せる立場に XXX さんがいて、、、例えば国から もそういう要請がきていて、、、よく調べたら、家って何にも やってないじゃないという事を、、、そういう意味ではそれを 支えて行く教員の意識っていうのは、役員会意識っていうよ
りも、教員の意識の方がありましたね。
a Vice president of Sapporo Liberty University (SLU) asserted:
341 There was no influence. No concrete message came. … There is Maruzen Top Seminar in a year, where the President, the Vice- president, or Riji-cho (a chair of the Board of Directors) attends to study on management issues. … I often attend the seminar, but the issue of gender equality was never placed on the agenda. (Interview No. 1, SLU)
何もないですね。具体的な形ではきてないですね。例えば 丸善トップセミナー等が年一回あります。そこには学長、副 学長、理事長なんかが行くんですけれど、経営の問題です ね。、、、私トップセミナー随分出ていますけど、男女共同 参画がどうのというのは一回もでてきていないですよ。
The Vice-president added that:
to answer the question of whether we did something along with the Basic Law or not, it would be a right answer that we didn’t do anything special. … I personally consider hiring female academics
and clerical staff positively, … but it does not mean that we do such things organisationally. (Interview No. 1, SLU)
基本法によって何か取り組んでいるかと言うと取りくんで
ないというのが正解だと思う。、、、個人的に、人事の際女 性の採用を積極的に考えて、、、ただ、これは組織的にそう 言う事をやっているという事ではございません。
A professor of SLU,.
for women, a long range project should be planned. If I can show a list of plans that cost little money, it may be accepted [by the
university]. But I don’t have time to make a list. … The list of plans shouldn’t be an irresponsible one as it may make the position of gender (scholarship or pursuer) weak. As I don’t have time, regrettably, I persevere in silence. (Interview No. 8, SLU)
342 そして女性の為にももっと、長期の計画をたてて、、、この部 分は少ししかお金がかからないとかのリストを作れば、お金 がかからないのは殆ど実現してくれると思いますけれど、リ ストを作る暇もなくて、いい加減なリストであれば逆効果に 成ると言うか、、、ジェンダーの立場は弱くなるとかという、、、 時間がないので残念ながらここで引き泊まっているのだけ
れども。
A professor, a member of the Institute to Support Women,
When we had a meeting [two weeks ago] to prepare for the symposium in starting our project, … we heard that a member of the Board of Directors (Riji) in charge of the project had not yet decided … We all got angry. (Because) no matter how hard we work, our institution will not be changed if a Riji is not involved. … So we decided to make a phone call to the Gakucho’s
(President) office. Usually he replies saying, “Fine, fine, please come”. But this time…his secretary passed the line to another secretary in charge. Then the secretary answered that, “the
schedule is tight, … as he (President) has just left,...” … We got angry again. …So [a member] sent a letter saying that we would quit everything …Then, a few days later, we had a call that they
would decide on a Riji in charge of the project (Interview No. 13, TCU)
14 日の（シンポジウムの）為に 28 日に集まったとき、、、 たたき台を作ろうと、、、誰が理事かもきまっていないと、 その時にね、何だかね、、、皆で腹が立ってね、理事が入ら なければ、（私たちが）しゃかりきになったって変わるわけ ではない、施設が変わるわけではないと、、、（５人かぁ、） (学)長室に電話かけて、、、いつもだったら、、、、「お〜 お〜、いいよ」 なんて、でも秘書がでて、担当の秘書に変 わりますと、「〜、ずっとスケジュールが、今お帰りになっ たばっかりなんで、」、、、もう怒りに怒って、、、其 れ で 、 全部止めますって手紙も XXX さんだしたんだったかな、そし
343 たらね、数日経ってから、、、電話かかってきてね、、、理 事決めるからって、、、。
The professor of the Institute to Support Women
The [issue of] harassment was a trail wind. It was for the sake of the grant, … Thanks to the Gakucho, he carelessly applied for the grant. (Interview No. 13, TCU)
ハラスメントは追い風ですね。振興助成金のお陰ですけれど、 なまじ、(学)長がうっかり応募した為にね、、、（笑）、、、
A professor, who was a member of the Institute to Support Women in TCU,
(The symposium held) yesterday was very good. It is going to
establish, like that… I was worried about it very much. (I heard that) originally the University (Gakucho) suggested this project. Not from us. …I asked (myself), ‘was that right?’ We felt a little
relieved to hear that it was originally the university’s idea. (Interview No. 11, TCU)
昨日は本当に良かった、立ち上がりそう、みたいな、私もす
ごい不安だったんですけれど、元々大学が最初に言ったって 言うんで、我々よりも、大学がこういうのをやってみようと って行ったらしいですよ。元々大学って言う所は我々も安心
した所なんですけれど、へえ、そうだったんですかって言う 感じで、
there are many professors who have an idea that even as a part-time instructor, women are bad. … Even students have strong images that a teacher of German should be a male teacher. … I really think that I have contributed (to the university) greatly simply because of being a woman teaching Western History. (Interview No.11, TCU)
非常勤講師でも女性は駄目だって言う考えの先生が多くっ て、、、教員もそうですけれど、学生もドイツ語って男性の 先生って言うイメージがすごく合って、、、私、本当に、西
344 洋史を教えている女って言うだけで本当に貢献しているん
だって本当に思いましたよ。
Another professor was outspoken in expressing such difficult and complicated feelings against the movement of Institute to Support Women.
Well, … when the project started, they did not say anything to Gender Institute members, including me, at all. Basically (in their project), getting a grant came first. … looking at the procedure by which it was established, … I myself kept a distance … Yes, including myself, members of the Gender Institute have worked hard on gender problems at the grassroots level in Japanese
universities…. There are many teachers with whom we shared many difficulties in that Institute. … I would like to watch calmly for a while. (Interview No. 14, TCU)
あれ自体がスタートするにあたっては、私を含むジェンダー 研究所に一切相談が無かったんですね。其れで、基本的には 外部資金の獲得って言う事が先に合って、スタートしていっ
て、、、其れが立ち上がって、今の形になって行く課程に、、、 私自身は一寸距離を置いているんですよ。、、はい。私自身も そうですし、ジェンダー研のメンバーも日本の大学の中で、
ジェンダーの問題をずっと草の根でやってきて、、、あの研究 所の先生方達とも色々な場で苦労を共にしてきた方達も多
いので、、、少し見守ってみようかなって思っています。
The vice-president of SLU also lamented that:
The definition of harassment does not resonate among teachers. It is very difficult to explain about it to them. We made the rules about sexual harassment some time ago. … However, we have difficulties in applying them. (Interview No. 1, SLU)
345 ハラスメントの定義が教員の中に浸透していない事がござ いまして、そこを先生の方に説明するのが一苦労という事が あります。セクハラの規定を作りまして、、、運用には苦労 しております。
A professor in teacher education-related gender subjects of TCU:
We ended up visiting each faculty meeting of all the faculties in TCU. Teachers of other universities were surprised at hearing this, because there would be no possibility to have time for such seminars in a regular faculty meeting. … We started visiting a faculty if invited. … As we went on, when it came to the last faculty, the rest of the faculties began to invite us one after another. … There were responses saying that they noticed that things like
this would also be included in harassment. Like this, I think our first visit to each faculty was very significant, but the second visit appeared to get far better responses. (Interview No.12, TCU)
全学の教授会回ったんですよって言うと、他の大学の方は本 当に驚かれますね。教授会でそう言う時間をとるって言う事 があり得ないし、私たちは、、、最初のうちは手を挙げてく
れる所から行きましょう、って言う事で、、、まわっていく 内に、だんだん残り少なくなると、ウチもやんなきゃ見たい になってきて、実際問題でかけて行く、お話しすると、これ
ってそうなのかみたいな反応が合ったりとか、、、、そう言 う意味では、最初の一回り目も重要だったと思うんですけれ ど、その後もう一回、回った時の方がずっと反応が違った感 じがするので、、、。
A previously mentioned professor who is a member of the Gender Institute and the harassment prevention committee commented critically that:
The decision of the committee has no legal status, thus it tends to fill a coordination [between a perpetrator and a victim] role. 346 So, before a problem becomes too serious to be dealt with within the campus, the committee may act as a trouble-shooter to fix the problem or act to cover-up the matter … Ideally, I hope that the committee should be third parties from outside of the campus. People on campus become somehow protective … I accidentally happened to see [a perpetrator] on campus later, too. (Interview No. 14, TCU)
委員会の決定というのは法的制約が無いので、調整型になら ざるを得ないですよね。其れで学外に訴える手前の所で、ト ラブルシュート、もみ消し、として、機能しているのかもし れないなと思います。、、、理想なのは、学外の方ばかりの 第３者の方の機関になるばかりであるべきだろうと私は思
っていて、如何しても学内の人間ですと防御的になります し、、、その後、学内でばったりなんて言う事も私もありま
したしね。
A professor of the Institute to Support Women spoke in grave tone on her experiences in attempting to resolve a complaint about a colleague:
He is a very eminent and famous man…. pretending not to know [about it] and temporising … so people in the complaints section
could not handle him. … So all the members gathered and … we heard all the details from him again. … then we decided the penalty
… But, you know, later, after he moved to a different university, he wanted to get revenge and was resentful of the way he was treated … so, when we finished the case, my mental health became very bad. At any rate, I would like to get rid of such a stress. It’s a hard job. (Interview No. 13, TCU)
すっごい偉い人なんですよ、しらばっくれて、のらりくらり なので、苦情処理も対応出来なくって、結局、結論を出せな かったので、全員集まって、円卓の様な感じで事情を聞い て、、、其れで結論だして 、、、ところがね、外へ行ってから、 逆恨みの様に、、、一件終わると、自分自身の精神衛生がすっ
347 ごく悪くなりますよね。とにかくそのストレスをどうにかし たい。大変です。
348 English version and original Japanese version of policy documents
The tentative translation by the national government of Japan for the Vision of Gender Equality, the Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society, and the Basic Plan for Gender Equality are used.
Chapter 6
Table 6.1: Provisions and recommendations in source documents
Vision (issued in 1996) Basic Law (issued in 1999) Basic Plan (issued in 2000) Recommendation 1. Reviewing social systems and practices 1. Forming a society with no Article 4. Consideration to social 2. Reviewing social systems gender-related prejudice systems or practices and practices and reforming awareness from the perspective of gender equality Recommendation 2. Promoting Compatibility of Activities in Family Life and Other Activities 2. Establishing gender equality Article 6. Compatibility of activities in 3. Assuring equal opportunity in the workplace, family, and family life and other activities and equal treatment in community employment 4. Building partnerships in agriculture, forestry, and fishing villages 5. Supporting women and men to harmonise work with family and community life Recommendation 3. Promoting Joint Participation in Planning and Deciding Policies 3. Promotion of joint Article 5. Joint participation in 1. Increasing participation by participation by men and planning and deciding policies, etc. women in policy women in policy decision-making processes decision-making Recommendation 4. Respecting Human Rights 4. Reinforcing efforts to Article 3. Respect for the human 6. Developing conditions to promote/protect the right to live rights of women and men enable elderly people and without discrimination on the others to live in peace of mind basis of gender 7. Elimination of all forms of violence against women 8. Respect for human rights of women in the media 9. Supporting life-long health for women 10. Promoting gender equality to open the way for a diversity of choices through enrichment of education and learning Recommendation 5. Contributing to International Cooperation 5. Contributing to the "equality, Article 7. (International cooperation) 11. Contributing to the development and peace" of "equality, development and the global community peace" of the global community
349
Table 6.1: 政策の条項（項目）及び提言
男女共同参画ヴィジョン 男女共同参画基本法 (1999 年) 男女共同参画基本計画 （1996 年） （2000 年） 提言 1. 社会における制度または慣行についての 1. 性別による偏りのない社 第四条. 社会における制度又は慣 2. 男女共同参画の視点に 会システムの構築 行についての配慮 立った社会制度・慣行の見 直し、意識の改革
提言 2. 家庭生活における活動と他の活動の両立 2. 職場・家庭・地域におけ 第六条. 家庭生活における活動と 3. 雇用等の分野における る男女共同参画の確立 他の活動の両立 男女の均等な機会と待遇 の確保 4. 活力ある農山漁村の実 現に向けた男女共同参画 の確立 5. 男女の職業生活と家 庭・地域生活の両立の支援 提言 3. 政策等の立案及び決定への共同参画 3. 政策・方針決定過程への 第五条. 政策等の立案及び決定へ 1. 政策・方針決定過程への 男女共同参画の促進 の共同参画 女性の参画の拡大
提言 4. 人権の尊重 4. 性別にとらわれずに生き 第三条. 男女の人権の尊重 6. 高齢者等が安心して暮 る権利を推進・養護する取 らせる条件の整備 り組みの強化 7. 女性に対するあらゆる 暴力の根絶 8. 生涯を通じた女性の健 康支援 9. メディアにおける男女 共同参画の推進 10. 男女共同参画を推進し 多様な選択を可能にする 教育・学習の充実 提言 5. 国際的協調 5. 地球社会の「 平 等・開 発・ 第七条. 国際的協調 11. 地球社会の「平等・開 平和」への貢献 発・平和」への貢献
350 Extract 1:
From the Vision:
Part II. 2.（2） Promotion of Gender Equality in Agriculture, Forestry, Fisheries, and Self-Employed Businesses
women play a big role in production activities as a manager or family employee, thus contributing to the maintenance of the family and the development of the community. On the other hand, … their achievement is not evaluated fairly, and women's participation in the decision-making process has not increased yet. This is because production and daily life are so closely connected that they are inseparable, and also because stereotyped gender roles and customs still exist.
２. (2) 農林水産業、商工業等の自営業における男女共同参画 の促進
女性が果たしている役割の重要性にもかかわらず、これらの 事業経営や地域における女性の貢献は、生産と生活が密接不
可分であることや、地域に残る固定的な役割分担意識や慣習 などから、それに見合った評価がなされておらず、女性の方
針決定への参画も進んでいない。
From the Basic Plan
4. Building Partnerships in Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing Villages
[Basic policy directions]
Clarify the management position of women who occupy 60% of the agricultural workforce, and who play important roles in sustaining agriculture, forestry and fisheries. Create surroundings that promote women’s participation in the management of agriculture, forestry and fisheries businesses including new entries, as well as promoting related entrepreneurial activities.
351 ４ 農山漁村における男女共同参画の確立
施策の基本的方向
女性は、農業就業人口の６割を占めるなど、農林水産業の重 要な担い手であり、経営において果たしている役割は極めて 大きい。また、女性は、農山漁村における生活の運営や地域 社会の維持・活性化にも大きく貢献しており、女性の参画に
対する期待は大きい。
(4) Create an environment conducive to the lives and activities of women
Promote the creation of an environment conducive to the lives and activities of women. In particular, promoting measures designed to ease the burden on women who undertake labour, domestic work, childcare, elderly care and other work is indispensable.
（４）女性が住みやすく活動しやすい環境づくり
農山漁村には、職業として農林水産業に携わる女性、地域 社会活動を行っている女性、また、ライフステージから見れ ば、出産・子育て期や壮年期、高齢期等に属する様々な女性
がいる。これらの者が農林水産業・農山漁村に就業・定住す る良さを実感しつつ、多様な生き方ができるように、住みや
すく生き生きと活動しやすい環境づくりを推進する。
Extract 2:
From the Vision:
1. (1), a. The establishment of human rights: A gender-equal society is a graceful society that respects the individual, and is based on the idea of establishing human rights. Without the establishment of human rights, it would be impossible to create a society where women are free from discrimination and violence, where women can have independence in any
352 field of society, and where women can be proud of themselves and are respected as individual beings.
ア人権の確立
男女共同参画社会は個人が尊重される品格ある社会であり、 その基礎にある理念は人権確立である。女性に対する差別や 暴力が根絶され、女性が社会のあらゆる分野で自立し、自ら の存在に誇りを持つ事他できると同時に、一人の人間として 敬意が払われる社会の形成は、人権の確立なくしてはあり得
ない。
From Osawa Report:
Prohibition of gender discrimination, harassment:
It goes without saying that the prohibition of gender discrimination is one of the most important themes in discussing the basic law. (p. 14)
性差別禁止とハラスメント
基本法令を検討するうえで、性差別の禁止が重要な論点の一
つとなることはいうまでもあるまい。(p. 14)
From the Basic Law:
Chapter 1, General Provisions Article 3,
(Respect for the Human Rights of Women and Men):
Formation of a Gender-equal Society shall be promoted based on respect for the human rights of women and men, including: respect for the dignity of men and women as individuals; no gender-based discriminatory treatment of women or men; and the securing of opportunities for men and women to exercise their abilities as individuals.
第一章 総則
（男女の人権の尊重）
353 第三条 男女共同参画社会の形成は、男女の個人としての 尊厳が重んぜられること、男女が性別による差別的取扱いを 受けないこと、男女が個人として能力を発揮する機会が確保 されることその他の男女の人権が尊重されることを旨とし
て、行われなければならない。
Extract 3:
From the Vision:
4. (1) Elimination of Violence against Women
Violence against women infringes upon their human rights and fundamental freedoms. It is not a problem for women as individuals alone: it constitutes a critical social and structural problem that drives them down to more subordinate positions than men.
(1) 女性に対する暴力の撤廃
女性に対する暴力は、女性の人権及び基本的自由の享受を妨
げ、侵害するものである。それは、個人の問題にとどまるも のではなく、女性を男性に比べて従属的な地位に追い込む重
大な社会的・構造的問題の一つである。
From the Basic Plan:
III. 7. Elimination of All Forms of Violence Against Women
[V]iolence against women gives them fear and anxiety, infringes upon their basic rights and restricts their freedom, make them to loose confidence, and drives them to more subordinate positions than men.
女性に対するあらゆる暴力の根絶
女性に対する暴力は、女性の人権及び基本的自由の教授を妨 げ、侵害するものである。それは、個人の問題にとどまるも のではなく、女性を男性に比べて従属的な地位に追い込む重
大な社会的・構造的問題の一つである。
354
Extract 4:
From the Vision:
4.(4) Promotion of Gender Equality to Open the Way for a Diversity of Choices through Enrichment of Education and Learning
Education at home, school, in the community, and at the workplace plays an extremely important role in helping to make gender-equality and respect for human rights take root in the minds of people, and to empower women in every field of society so they can fulfil their responsibilities. … Also, one is required to ever improve his/her knowledge and skills, regardless of gender, … Therefore, it has become even more important to be able to provide a variety of learning opportunities that can meet the needs for people of all age groups.
(4) 男女平等を推進し多様な選択を可能にする教育・学習の 充実
家庭、学校、地域、職場などで行われる教育や学習は、人々
の意識に男女の平等や女性の人権の尊重を根づかせるとと もに、女性が社会のあらゆる分野で力をつけ、その責任を果 たし、また、男性が家庭・地域にも主体的に参画していく上
で、きわめて重要な役割をもつ。… また、… 男女を問わず 知識・技能を絶えず向上させることが求められている。… こ れらのニーズに対応できる多様な学習機会が生涯にわたっ
て確保されることが一層重要となっている。
From the Basic Law:
(Responsibility of Citizens)
Article 10
355 Citizens shall make efforts to contribute to formation of a Gender-equal Society in all areas of society, including workplaces, schools, the local community and the home, pursuant to the basic principles.
（国民の責務)
第十条 国民は、職域、学校、地域、家庭その他の社会のあ らゆる分野において、基本理念にのっとり、男女共同参画社
会の形成に寄与するように努めなければならない。
From the Basic Plan:
10. Enrich education and learning that promote gender equality and facilitate diversity of choice
Education to promote gender equality at home, school, in the community and every area of society should be enhanced in helping to correct the public understanding of stereotyped gender roles and make gender equality take root in the minds of people. … The promotion of lifelong learning holds extremely important significance, and it must be encouraged to enable women to participate in activities in all areas of society in an equal manner as men.
男女共同参画を推進し多様な選択を可能にする教育・学習の
充実
男女共同参画社会を実現するためには、国民一人一人が男女
共同参画についての意識や自立の意識を有することが不可 欠である。このような意識の涵養の為に、学校、家庭、地域 における教育・学習の果たす役割はきわめて重要である。性 別に基づく固定的な役割分担意識を是正し、人権尊重を基盤 にした男女平等観の形成を促進するため、学校、家庭、地域 など社会のあらゆる分野において、男女平等を推進する教 育・学習の充実を図る。また、女性も男性も各人の個性と揚 力を発揮し、社会のあらゆる分野に参画するためには、生涯
学習の振興が極めて重要な意義をもつ。
356 Extract 5:
From the Vision:
The Basic Idea of the Gender-Equal Society
(1) What is a "Gender-Equal Society"? A "gender-equal society" is a society in which both men and women shall be given equal opportunities to participate voluntarily in activities at all levels as equal partners and shall be able to enjoy political, economic, social and cultural benefits as well as to take responsibilities equally. (no emphasis added)
男女共同参画社会の基本的考え方
(1) 男女共同参画社会とは
男女共同参画社会は、男女が、社会の対等な構成員として、 自らの意思によって社会のあらゆる分野における活動に参
画する機会が確保され、もって男女が均等に政治的、経済的、 社会的及び文化的利益を享受することができ、かつ、共に責 任を担うべき社会をいう。
From the Basic Law:
Article 2
(1) Formation of a Gender-equal Society: Formation of a society where both women and men shall be given equal opportunities to participate voluntarily in activities in all fields as equal partners in the society, and shall be able to enjoy political, economic, social and cultural benefits equally as well as to share responsibilities. [emphasis added]
第二条
一 男女共同参画社会の形成 男女が、社会の対等な構成 員として、自らの意思によって社会のあらゆる分野にお ける活動に参画する機会が確保され、もって男女が均等 に政治的、経済的、社会的及び文化的利益を享受するこ
357 とができ、かつ、共に責任を担うべき社会を形成するこ
とをいう。
Extract 6:
From the Vision:
Part I.
1. (1) Revision of Systems and Customs which might lead to Gender-related Prejudice
Many social systems and customs are based on the premises of stereotyped gender roles, … we must prepare to adjust the conditions of society which will enable men and women to participate as equal members in not just the family and workplace, but in every field of society. … Furthermore, it is necessary to change the family-oriented views underlying those systems and customs into individual-oriented views, and to establish frameworks of society which will neutrally apply to every citizen, whatever life style each individual may choose.
(1) 性別による偏りにつながる制度・慣行の見直し・検討
社会の様々な制度・慣行の中には、元来女性と男性の固定的
な役割分担を前提とするもの … 家庭や職場のみならず社会 のあらゆる分野に女性と男性が対等な構成員として共同し て参画するための条件を今から整備しておかなければなら
ない。… そのため、女性と男性の固定的な役割分担を前提 とした制度・慣行を男女平等の視点に立って見直すことはも とより、様々な制度・慣行の中に残されている世帯単位の考 え方を個人単位にあらため、個人がどのような生き方を選択 しても、それに対して中立的に働くような社会の枠組みを確
立していくことが必要である。
From the Basic Law:
(Consideration to Social Systems or Practices)
358 Article 4
In consideration that social systems or practices can become factors impeding formation of a Gender-equal Society by reflecting the stereotyped division of roles on the basis of gender, etc., thus having a non-neutral effect on the selection of social activities by women and men, care should be taken so that social systems and practices have as neutral an impact as possible on this selection of social activities.
（社会における制度又は慣行についての配慮）
第四条 男女共同参画社会の形成に当たっては、社会におけ る制度又は慣行が、性別による固定的な役割分担等を反映し て、男女の社会における活動の選択に対して中立でない影響
を及ぼすことにより、男女共同参画社会の形成を阻害する要 因となるおそれがあることにかんがみ、社会における制度又 は慣行が男女の社会における活動の選択に対して及ぼす影
響をできる限り中立なものとするように配慮されなければ
ならない。
From the Basic Plan:
2. Forming a Society with No Gender-Related Prejudice
Revision of Systems and Customs which might lead to Gender-Related Prejudice
[I]t is necessary to review those systems and customs based on stereotyped gender roles, from the viewpoint of gender equality. Furthermore, it is necessary to change the family-oriented views underlying those systems and customs into the individual-oriented views, and to establish frameworks of society which will neutrally apply to every citizen, whatever life style each individual may choose.
２ 男女共同参画の視点に立った社会制度・慣行の見直し、
意識の改革
359 （１） 男女共同参画の視点に立った社会制度・慣行の見直
し
女性も男性も固定的な役割分担にとらわれず、様々な活動に 参画していける条件を整備していくことが必要である。個人 がどのような生き方を選択しても、それに対して中立的に働 くよう、社会制度・慣行について個人単位の考え方に改める
など必要に応じて見直しを行う。
Extract 7:
From the Vision:
Part 1: Prospects for a Gender-equal Society:
It is necessary to forecast the changes which might occur in Japan's socio economic environment so as to take concrete steps on the basis of these ideals and objectives.
1 (1): This Report aims to achieve a society where men and women can jointly participate in activities according to their individual characteristics, without being restricted by "gender", a social and cultural constraint.
第1部 男女共同参画社会への展望
今後、我が国の経済・社会環境にどのような変化が生じるの
かを見通しておくことが不可欠である。
1 (1): この答申は、女性と男性が、社会的・文化的に形成 された性別（ジェンダー）に縛られず、各人の個性に基づい
て共同参画する社会の実演を目指すものである。
From the Osawa Report:
Structure of a basic law: …in light of the emergent need for the realization of a gender equal society socio-economically, it is necessary to establish the basic law as soon as possible. (p. 13-14)
360 基本法制の構成： 男女共同参画社会の実現が経済・社 会的に緊急の課題である点を考えると、基本法令をすみ やかに制定する必要が大きいといえよう。 (p. 13-14)
From the Basic Law:
The Preamble:
Paragraph 2: to respond to the rapid changes occurring in Japan's socio-economic situation … it has become a matter of urgent importance to realize a Gender-equal Society … and every citizen is able to fully exercise their individuality and abilities regardless of gender.
前文
我が国の社会経済情勢の急速な変化に対応していく上で、 … 性別にかかわりなく、その個性と能力を十分に発揮する ことができる男女共同参画社会の実現は、緊要な課題となっ
ている。
Extract 8:
From the Vision:
Part 1. 1. (2):
Greater and deeper awareness of gender-sensitive perspective: When constructing and operating social systems, it is always necessary to analyze how they would affect men and women in practice. … … We must endeavour to achieve equality in reality by raising people's awareness and their sensitivity to the issue.
ウ 社会的・文化的に形成された性別（ジェンダー）に敏感
な視点の定着と深化
あらゆる社会システムの構築とその運営に当たっては、それ らが実質的に女性と男性にどのような影響を与えるかを、常
に検討する必要がある。… … このようなジェンダーに敏感
361 な視点を定着・深化させ、事実上の平等の達成に向けて努力 しなければならない。
From the Osawa Report:
Related organisations:
If we are to establish a basic law that can review the social system or social practices from gender perspectives, it is vital that the national machinery retain the right to review them also … (p. 16).
基本法令を制定することが、不可欠と考えられる。 我 が国において、社会制度・慣行を男女協同参画の視点に たって見直す根拠を、国内本部機構に賦与するような基 本法令を制定できるならば、… (p. 16)。
From the Basic Law:
Chapter 1 General Provisions
Article 4 (Consideration to Social Systems or Practices):
In consideration that social systems or practices can become factors impeding formation of a Gender-equal Society by reflecting the stereotyped division of roles on the basis of gender, etc., thus having a non-neutral effect on the selection of social activities by women and men, care should be taken so that social systems and practices have as neutral an impact as possible on this selection of social activities.
第一章 総則
（社会における制度又は慣行についての配慮） 第四 条
男女共同参画社会の形成に当たっては、社会における 制度又は慣行が、性別による固定的な役割分担等を反 映して、男女の社会における活動の選択に対して中立 でない影響を及ぼすことにより、男女共同参画社会の 形成を阻害する要因となるおそれがあることにかんが
362 み、社会における制度又は慣行が男女の社会における 活動の選択に対して及ぼす影響をできる限り中立なも のとするように配慮されなければならない。
Chapter 7, p. 210
Article 10 (Responsibility of Citizens)
Citizens shall make efforts to contribute to the formation of a Gender-equal Society in all areas of society, including workplaces, schools, the local community and the home, pursuant to the basic principles. [emphasis added]
（国民の責務） 第十条
国民は、職域、学校、地域、家庭その他の社会のあらゆる分 野において、基本理念にのっとり、男女共同参画社会の形成
に寄与するように努めなければならない。
363
Chapter Seven
Table 7.1: Extract 1—Comparison of the wording of Article 10 of the two Basic Plans
the Basic Plan (2000) the revised Basic Plan (2005)
10. Promoting Gender Equality to Open 10. Enrich education and learning that the Way for a Diversity of Choices through promote gender equality and facilitate Enrichment of Education and Learning diversity of choice (1) Education and learning to promote (1) Education and learning systems to gender equality encourage the principles of gender equality Education at schools must increase It is necessary to further improve education awareness of equality between women and systems to encourage the principles of and men in line with the spirit of the gender equality. In schools, in line with the Constitution of Japan and the spirit of the Constitution of Japan and the Fundamental Law of Education, and must Fundamental Law of Education, the education be based on the current task of creating a system should be improved to teach the gender-equal society. … the results of principles of individual dignity and gender education up to that education level should equality to students, specific to their stages of be reinforced and an awareness of equality development. To do so, it is necessary to between women and men should be improve upon the ways in which respect for further enhanced…. human rights is taught, and to emphasize the importance of mutual understanding and cooperation between men and women, and their home life…. [emphasis added]
男女共同参画基本計画（2000） 男女共同参画基本計画（2005） １０ 男女共同参画を推進し多様な選 １０ 男女共同参画を推進し多様な選択を 択を可能にする教育・学習の充実 可能にする教育・学習の充実 (1)男女平を推進する教育・学習 (1) 男女平等を推進する教育・学習 学校教育及び社会教育において、自立 学校教育及び家庭教育や職場、地域におけ の意識を育み、男女平等の理念を推進 る教育を含めた社会教育において、思いや する教育・学習の一層の充実を図る。 りと自立の意識を育み、男女平等の理念を 学校教育においては、日本国憲法及 推進する教育・学習の一層の充実を図る。 び教育基本法の精神にのっとり、発達 学校教育においては、日本国憲法及び基本 段階に応じ、個人の尊厳、男女平等に 法の精神にのっとり、発達段階に応じ、個 関する教育の充実に努める。… また、 人の尊厳、男女平等に関する教育の充実に これらの教育に携わる者が男女共同 努める。このため、人権の尊重、男女の相 参画の理念を理解するよう、意識啓発 互理解と協力の重要性、家庭生活の大切さ 等に努める などについて指導の充実を図る。
364 Table 7.2: Extract 2—Comparison of the wording of Article 10 of the two Basic Plans
the Basic Plan (2000) the Second Basic Plan (2005)
B. Promoting gender equality in institutions of B. Improvement of higher education higher learning Higher educational institutions should make Along with the efforts to incorporate a efforts to carry out their educational and gender-sensitive perspective into educational research activities based on the principles and research activities in higher education, to of gender equality, and encourage women further promote women’s participation in to participate in a variety of disciplines. various academic disciplines. E. Studies and research contributing to the E. Enrich the investigation and research on establishment of a gender-equal society women’s studies and gender. (joseigaku, (danjo kyoodosankaku shakai no keisei ni jenda) shisuru chosa kennkyu nadono jujitsu) Promote women’s studies and etc. in higher In higher educational institutions, studies education and social education. To further and research that contribute to the building promotion of women’s studies and gender of a society based on the principles of studies in higher education institutions. Widely gender equality should be enriched and utilise the achievements of these women's improved so that people can have an studies and gender research in the program accurate understanding of gender equality. development of community education, etc., [emphasis added] and promote corresponding feedback to the communities. In social education, to promote women’s studies by holding women’s studies and gender studies in social education sphere. [emphasis added]
男女共同参画基本計画（2000） 男女共同参画基本計画（2005） イ高等教育機関における男女共同参画 イ高等教育機関における男女共同参画の の推進 推進 高等教育機関における教育・研究活動に 高等教育機関における教育・研究活動が おいて、ジェンダーに敏感な視点が組み 男女共同参画の理念を踏まえて行われる 込まれるよう努めるとともに、様々な学 よう努めるとともに、様々な学問分野へ 問分野への女性の参画を促進する。 の女性の参画を促進する。 オ 女性学・ジェンダーに関する調査・ ォ男女共同参画社会の形成に資する調 研究等の充実 査・研究等の充実 ・ 高等教育及び社会教育における女性学 高等教育機関において、男女共同参画の 等の振興 性格な理解の浸透を図るため、男女共同 高等教育機関等における女性学・ジェ 参画社会の形成に資する調査・研究の充 ンダー研究の一層の振興を図るととも 実を促す。 に、研究成果を女性教育施策や社会教育 の場におけるプログラム開発などへ幅 広く活用し、社会への還元を促進する。 また、社会教育の場においても女性学・ ジェンダー研究に関する講座を開設す るなど、女性学等の振興に努める。
365 Table 7.3: Extract 3—Comparison of the wording of Article 10 of the two Basic Plans
the Basic Plan (2000) the Second Basic Plan (2005)
D. Foster a gender equality perspective D. Awareness for educators among educators. - To eliminate the misunderstanding that the - To promote the understanding of gender biological differences between men and equality among teachers and people women are denied in the gender-equal related. society, measures should be taken to ensure that people such as those involved in education have an accurate understanding of gender equality. [emphasis added]
男女共同参画基本計画（2000） 男女共同参画基本計画（2005） エ教職員の男女共同参画に関する理解 エ教育関係者の男女共同参画に関する正 の促進 確な理解の促進 教員養成課程における男女平等などの 男女共同参画社会は男女の生物学的な違 人権教育を促進するとともに、学校に いを否定するものであるなどの誤解を払 おける男女共同参画の推進等を図るた 拭するためにも、教育関係者に対し男女共 め、学校長を始めとする教職員が男女 同参画に対する正確な理解の浸透を図る。 共同参画の理念を理解し、男女共同参 画意識を高めることができるよう、
366 Chapter Eight
Table 8.1: Suggestions by the Japan Association of National Universities: In order to promote gender equality in national universities
Report by the Working Group regarding Gender Equality in the Japan Association of National Universities (JANU) in May, 2000 Suggestions: In order to promote Gender Equality in national universities
13. Articulation of intention and guideline for the improvement of gender equality in a university 14. Enhancement of gender studies in curriculums and research 15. Improvements in investigation for understanding circumstances of female employees and educational affairs 16. Applying positive actions for establishing open recruitment system for increasing female academics (Aiming at increasing female academics up to 20 % by 2010) 17. Promoting female participation in the field of science and technology where the number of females is low 18. Improvement of working conditions including research environment of part-time teachers 19. Promotion of gender equality in research and improvement of research environment of female researchers 20. Introduction of complaints system 21. Prevention and measures against sexual harassment 22. Support for child rearing and compatibility of caring patients 23. Regarding the use of alias or a maiden name in research career 24. and others
Source: (Kanazawa University, 2009; Kokuritsu Daigaku Kyokai (The Japan Association of National
Universities), 2000)
367 H１２．５ 国立大学協会「男女共同参画に関するＷＧ」報告 「国立大学における男女共同参画を推進するために」 提言
１．大学における男女共同参画推進のための姿勢と方針の明確な表明 ２．カリキュラムおよび研究におけるジェンダー学の拡大充実 ３．大学における女性の雇用および教育関連の実情把握のための調査資料の整備 ４．女性教員増加のための，教員公募システムの確立とポジティブ・アクションの採用 (２０１０年度までに女性教員比率２０％を目標 ) ５．理工系，その他特に女性の少ない分野への女性の参画の推進 ６．非常勤講師の処遇および研究環境の改善 ７．研究における男女共同参画の推進，女性研究者の研究環境の改善 ８．不服申立制度の導入 ９．セクシュアル・ハラスメントの防止と問題への対処 １０．育児環境の整備，介護との両立支援について １１．研究遂行における通称（ないしは旧姓）の使用について １２．その他
From the Basic Plan (2000):
B. Promoting gender equality in institutions of higher learning
Based on the suggestions in order to promote gender equality in national universities, conducted by the working group on gender equality in the Japan Association of National Universities (JANU), to promote women’s participation in arena of science / research.
高等教育機関における男女共同参画の推進
国立大学協会の男女共同参画に関するワーキング・グ ループが行った、国立大学における男女共同参画を推 進するための提言等も踏まえ、学術・研究の分野にお ける女性の参画の促進に努める。
368 Appendix E: Published article on electronic journal of contemporary Japanese studies/September 20, 2009 (http://www.japanesestudies.org.uk/articles/2009/Kawana.html)
Abstract
Using strategies learned from the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995, a Japanese feminist group took actions that influenced national policy. At a time before the common use of ICT (Information Communication Technology), the movement (named the Group Thinking about Education from Gender Perspectives — Jendā no Shiten Kara Kyōiku wo Kangaeru Kai) enlisted the involvement of teachers from all over Japan within only a few months, and successfully pushed for their desired outcome. The qualitative research reported in this paper used case study methodology to elucidate the communication strategies of the Group. Data examined included archived and previously forgotten records of the movement and interviews with the ex-members. This is the first study to document the Group's actions; it shows how feminist teachers in Japan gained empowerment through the movement, and also suggests some guidelines for such action through the consistent alignment of strategies around a central goal.
Key Words
Japan; feminism; gender equality; teacher education; government policy; The United Nations World Conference on Women.
369 Acknowledgments
Special thanks go to the key persons of the former Group Thinking about Education from Gender Perspectives for their kind cooperation in collecting data.
Introduction
A few years before Japan's 1999 enactment of the Basic Law for a Gender-equal Society—the most influential law in laying the foundations for achieving gender-equal society in Japan (Osawa et al., 2000)—there was a radical but short-lived feminist teachers' movement in Japan.
Using strategies learned from the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995, a Japanese feminist group took actions that influenced national policy. At a time before the common use of ICT, the movement (named the Group Thinking about Education from Gender Perspectives—Jendā no Shiten Kara Kyōiku wo Kangaeru Kai) enlisted the involvement of teachers from all over Japan within only a few months, and pushed for their desired outcome successfully. Despite the movement's impact, it has not yet been written into Japanese educational history. The aim of this paper is to use a qualitative approach based on data such as interviews with key players, minutes of meetings and letters, to document their aspirations and strategies in educational history and indicate the group's lasting influence on Japanese education.
At a time when information exchange by facsimile (fax) was much more common than e-mail communication, the movement gathered more than 500 members from all over Japan within two months, and accomplished its goal of making a mark on national educational policy within one year. While this energetic and effective movement has remained in the minds of participants, it appears not to have been mentioned in any documentation over the ensuing ten years. It is clear however, that this movement was one of the seeds of Japanese feminist activities in higher education in Japan, with ex-members of the movement networking to produce some significant study groups and other influential activities in Japanese higher education, especially in Teacher Education: Kyōin Yōsei Katei or Kyōshoku Katei.
As in western countries (Collins et al., 1996), some features of gender discrimination in education in Japan have been documented by several researchers (Sato, 1977; Kimura, 1999; Mori, 2005). However, very few institutions provided gender-related classes in curricula in teacher education (Kameda, 1995). Uchiumizaki (1999) argues that it is a problem that gender studies is not a key component in teacher training courses, and suggests that it is important to select gender-sensitive teachers who will introduce gender-related subjects to teacher education, and to consider ways to include such subjects within the syllabus. But it seems to be difficult to change the situation easily unless the Schoolteacher's Licensing System (Kyōin Menkyo Seido) is changed, because the Teacher Education curriculum is too tight to introduce a gender related subject as a new core subject (Kameda et al., 1998). Nevertheless, it seemed to be
370 understood among educators in schools that there was an urgent need for students in Teacher Education to have opportunities to develop or enhance gender awareness (Kameda, 1995).
This paper reports on a study that investigated the meaning of this group's activities for Teacher Education in higher education in Japan. Using a case study methodology (Yin, 1994), data collected comprised first-hand documents and records of the group's activities, including memoranda, brochures, articles, and speeches, and key player interviews. The study elucidated how group members put into practice strategies learned at the UN Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing 1995, and how they embodied such strategies to enable the accomplishment of their goals within several months. All the names of people that appear in this article have been changed to protect informants' anonymity.
The Beginning Was Like a Ripple
In an interview with me at her university office, Takeda explained that everything started with a telephone call from Tomita, a university colleague, one day in September 1996. Tomita had called after reading a journal article by Takeda, and said: 'if you think that gender studies should be included in the curricula of Teacher Education, we have to take action right away, because there is at present a real opportunity to do so'. Tomita pointed out that it was a good time to take action, because the Minister of Education had instigated consultation for the first time in ten years with the Educational Personnel Training Council—Kyōiku Shokuin Yōsei Shingikai (EPTC)[1] to discuss 'reforming Teacher Education for the new age' (Jōjima, 1996). The consultation included improvement of Teacher Education curricula in universities and, therefore, the report of the Council was expected to influence Teacher Education curricula, as well as education in universities as a whole (Jōjima, 1996). As a result of the Minister's offer, and with the partial amendment of the law for teacher's licensing (proposed for 2000) in mind, the EPTC actively began a series of meetings to gather submissions and submit its report to the Minister. A high-ranking member of EPTC at that time was the president of Takeda and Tomita's university. Takeda and Tomita were ready to take action due to the factors listed above.
One month after their initial discussion, Takeda and Tomita organised the movement's first meeting in a coffee shop in Tokyo. Six female teachers from local schools gathered and confirmed their goal of preparing a submission to the EPTC. Their strategy started with the naming of the group. Takeda recalled that they 'considered that the name of the group should not appear aggressive, because the male-dominated EPTC might refuse to listen to such a group; so the name needed to be something soft that the Ministry of Education[2] [at that time] might like'. Hence, they named the fledgling group, Group Thinking about Education from Gender Perspectives—Jendā no Shiten Kara Kyōiku wo Kangaeru Kai. Takeda's comment also reveals another important dimension of the story; the national policy at that time appeared to be more geared towards a gender equal society than is the case at present; the word gender itself is now a target of the backlash movement (Wakakuwa, 2006, Sōfusha Fensūbu, 2006). Takeda herself noted in the interview that in 2007 the name of the group might be thought radical and would prompt a backlash. But, in 1996, the women had the wind at their backs. First, the national government had just issued its Vision for Gender Equality in July and Plan for Gender Equality 2000 in December. Second, the Report
371 of The Central Education Council (CEC)—Chūō Kyōiku Shingikai[3], which was issued in July 1996, had stressed the significance of gender equality (Chūō Kyōiku Shingikai, 1996). And finally, the Group recognised some familiar names on the EPTC. In this sense, the time appeared to present what Tomita called a 'heaven-sent opportunity'.
One of the founders of the Group, Nakaya, remarked that action was made possible because of the adoption of the Platform for Action at the UN Fourth World Conference on Women (UNWCW) in 1995. Some key words featured in the Platform for Action, such as empowerment, gender mainstreaming, and gender sensitive perspectives, became the raison d'être of the Group. In the UNWCW in Beijing, more than 5,000 people and NGOs from Japan had participated (Sawai, 1995; Matsui, 1996; Furuhashi, 2004). A number of Japanese participants in the conference were influenced to the extent that they organised a group working for the implementation of resolutions from the conference, and feminist groups actively lobbied and pressured the government on gender equality policy implementation (Matsui, 1996). As was the case in many countries at the time, feminists in Japan united under the name of the UN World Conferences on Women and were empowered to take action to push the government toward realising a gender equal society.
Nakaya added that it was obvious that the members of the Group shared the common feelings that they experienced in the UNWCW in Beijing and they were keen to create a gender sensitive-educational system as stated in the Platform of Action. Some academics, including Nakaya, were thinking that they had to do something in education to bring about social change and they answered Takeda and Tomita's call to organise the group. Nakaya insisted that teachers who were concerned with gender issues were ready for such a movement.
Strategies to Expand the Movement
The Group members adopted three approaches to influence the EPTC. First, they gathered information and collected supporters. Second, they wrote a position paper submission to the EPTC and let the Council know that they were watching how their paper was treated. Third, the Group directly lobbied members of the Council. These three actions happened simultaneously over a short period of around six months.
1. Building support
Using faxes, the Group Thinking about Education from Gender Perspectives attracted hundreds of supporters within a few months. On November 5th, 1996, the Group distributed forms for collecting supporters' signatures. The Group intended to include the list of names with their submission to the EPTC meeting on November 12th. By November 7th, they had 138 signatories from all over Japan. Nakaya said, 'within an hour of sending the form, responses from all over Japan began to be sent to my home facsimile. I thought the fax machine would break'.
The Group wrote to people who were concerned about Teacher Education and indicated in the form that there were no items concerning gender in inquiries from the Minister of Education to the EPTC (hence, the Group's decision to submit a position paper to the EPTC). The Group asked the fax receivers to express their agreement with
372 the proposed paper and to let others who were involved in women's studies and/or gender studies know about the proposal and the Group (Jendā no Shiten Kara Kyōiku wo Kangaeru Kai, 1996b).
Among the responses, an academic teaching the pedagogy of home economics in a university said:
In order to eliminate gender bias in school education, it is most important to nurture gender sensitivity among students during the process of Teacher Education (Personal Communication).
With the agreement of the Group, she sent the Group an article on gender she had written and information on her specialty. Another academic offered the Group the prospect of exchanging some academic activities or research and reported some cases of sexual harassment (Personal Communication). These examples of the fax exchanges showed that the Group began to strengthen personal connections and the academic network through this activity.
The Group's first submission to the Council, in November 1996, included the names of 154 people gathered from the first call for support. After a second call, the Group submitted 376 names (including the names already submitted) to the EPTC. The Group had watched the Council, but it was obvious that nothing from their submission had been mentioned in either the November or December meetings of the Council (Jendā no Shiten Kara Kyōiku wo Kangaeru Kai, 1996a). Thus, in order to raise its profile, the Group organised a symposium for January 26th, 1997. In an invitation, dated December 18th, the Group articulated their goals, including that of submitting the position paper, for the first time:
Hereafter, we will continue to go forward in this movement so that the Council will take up this issue, give the movement a hearing, and include the issue in the report that will be written next summer. We will also continue to take action so that the Ministry of Education will embody the content of the report in its policy: As one of these measures, we have organised the symposium mentioned in the attachment. (Jendā no Shiten Kara Kyōiku wo Kangaeru Kai, 1996a)
Calls for supporters were sent out three times. After the last call on January 19th, 1997, the Group counted 511 supporters from various academic fields, teachers' labor unions, women's groups, and others from all over Japan. The list showed the members were mainly teachers (in universities, elementary schools, middle schools and high schools) or lawyers, activists, and the like. The Group was helped in this drive for supporters by a news organisation called JJ Net News with a network of subscribers published by Josei seisaku Jōhō Nettowāku (JJ Net) – Women's policies Information Network, launched from August 1996. The Network's mission was to send information on policies regarding women by facsimile to its members, and JJ Net continuously published the news several times a month until June 2004 (Zaidan Hōjin Nihon Josei Gakushū Zaidan, 2009). Help from JJ Net News enabled the speedy exchange of information, assisting the Group to help women empower themselves (Kameda, 1997). This network of JJ Net was one of the successful outcomes for Japanese women of the Beijing Conference, where empowerment was one of the key
373 words.
The Group also held two symposia. The first was held on January 26th, 1997, and was attended by more than 150 people from all over Japan. Three panelists reported hands–on activities to bring about change within universities and an elementary school. It was striking that journals and newspapers from various regions (including Tokyo, and the eastern and northern parts of Japan) picked up and ran the story for some months, reporting on the symposium and also on the activities of the Group. Each wrote differently about the necessity for gender perspectives in education (Asahi Shimbun, 1997; Chugoku Shinbun, 1997; Irie, 1997; Kahoku Shinpo, 1997; Mainichi Shinbun, 1997; Morio, 1997; Muramatsu, 1997b; Nihon Kyōiku Shinbun, 1997; Nishimura, 1997; Yuasa, 1997). The Group had invited many education reporters to the symposium, because they knew they should utilise this very significant occasion to publicise the issue (Kameda, 1997). On the occasion of the second symposium, held on November 30th, 1997, they invited film crews from The Open University of Japan-Hōsō Daigaku, and made a video lecture on gender and education. Nakaya added that the symposium also intended to confirm the current circumstances of school education at that time and to show the practices of the Platform for Action from the Fourth World Conference on Women at school sites by reporting the cases of local schools. Although the two symposia were held in Tokyo, some group members in other areas held other symposia as part of the synchronised series of Group actions (Nihon Kyōiku Shinbun, 1997). The measures taken by the Group expanded from what had began as a ripple limited to collecting supporters, to also include holding symposia, which developed as a key driving force for the Group.
2. Developing a position paper
The Group finished writing its submission to the EPTC one month after their first meeting, on November 8th, 1996. Representatives of the Group preparing the position paper comprised sixteen people from all over Japan. The submission's introduction reflected a key idea from the first report of the Central Education Council in Japan issued several months earlier, Zest for Living—Ikiru Chikara (Chūō Kyōiku Shingikai, 1996). That report insisted that education from a gender sensitive perspective was indispensable in nurturing children who had a zest for living. In Teacher Education, the report repeatedly emphasised the necessity of reinforcing the reform of the modality of education in the vision for the 21st century—21 Seiki wo Tenbōshita Wagakuni no Kyōiku no Arikata, which was the title of the report. However, there were only two parts of the report that were clearly concerned with gender equality. The sentences were found in the first chapter, titled 'The Way of Future Education' —Kongo ni okeru Kyōiku no Arikata. One sentence was in a section titled 'The Present Condition of Family' —Katei no Genjō; the other was titled, 'Vision of the Society to Come' —Korekara no Shakai no Tenbō. Those sections dealt not with school education, but with social education including family or community (Chūō Kyōiku Shingikai, 1996). The inclusion reinforcing gender equitable education in the report was not strong enough to have any short-or long-term influence on Teacher Education. For example, in 2009, the Gender Equality section in the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) is still situated in the social education department, and not in a school education department (Monbu Kagaku Shō, 2009). The attention of the Ministry on gender equality has not been
374 directed to school education from 1996 to the present.
The Group's submission claimed that the hidden curriculum (Sato, 1977; Sadker and Sadker, 1996) in classrooms reproduced gender inequality (Muramatsu, 1997a). The paper therefore indicated that teachers' roles in schools were significant for educating children who would establish a gender equal society in the 21st century. The submission's three main requests were:
1. To clarify the perspective of education aiming at a gender-equal society,
2. To improve the curriculum to achieve request 1 as follows:
• to place course elements, which introduce gender perspectives, into mandatory subjects in courses of basic Teacher Education. • to include gender studies and/or women's studies as an elective subject in Teacher Education. • to include gender studies and/or women's studies as a subject in liberal arts education in relation to Teacher Education.
3. To convene a hearing with experts in the field of gender studies about the relationship between education and gender, or education and a gender-equal society. Such concepts regarding the way teachers are trained had rarely been discussed during the EPTC meetings (from a submitted position paper, dated November 8th, 1996).
As well as these three requests, the paper particularly emphasised that gender related subjects should be established systematically within the subjects related to Teacher Education.
3. Lobbying key policy makers and committees
In organising the Group, Takeda claimed that she was influenced by the agenda of the Fourth UN World Conference on Women, Beijing 1995:
It was after the World Women's Conference in Beijing and the announcement of Vision for Gender Equality 2000 in Japan, that Japanese women, including us, began to become aware of the idea that we needed to empower ourselves and take practical and comprehensive actions like lobbying. Tomita and I thought that we had to do something in the field of education, too…
Like Takeda, after the World Conference on Women, many Japanese women were influenced by the agenda of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, including that of women's empowerment. They shared know-how by exchanging their practices and empowering each other. For example, Takeda contributed an article regarding the group activities to a newsletter of one prominent organisation—Japan Accountability Caucus for the Beijing Conference: Pekin JAC—which regards lobbying as a pillar of their activities. The Pekin JAC discusses the motivation for its foundation on their web page as follows:
Although many women from Japan participated in the Fourth World
375 Conference for Women in Beijing, then, we were keenly aware of our failure to ask the relevant ministries for explanations about practical policies or to exchange information or undertake negotiations to reflect the opinions of NGOs, compared with foreign countries (Pekin JAC, 2006).
The Pekin JAC was organised by Japanese NGO delegates who had participated in the Beijing Conference. The organisation was established in November, 1995, in the same year as the conference, and aimed to lobby the national government, local governments, politicians, and political parties, and also to propose policies in various fields. The Pekin JAC has continued its activities up to the present, and currently has an extensive network across Japan, with its head office located in Tokyo.
The first target for lobbying by the Group was the high-ranking member of the Educational Personnel Training Council (EPTC), who had formerly been the president of the university where Takeda worked. Next, the Group found two familiar names among the members of the EPTC, and approached one, Manabe. Manabe promised her full cooperation. At first, she told the Group that:
[I] am not a specialist on gender matters, so I do not know what to say in the meetings … I also do not need the minutes or data documents that I get in the meetings. I will give them all to you.
Takeda recalled that Manabe was an outdoor sports instructor, but stated her job as housewife on official forms. One Group member was able to convince Manabe to identify herself publicly as an outdoor sports instructor; Manabe too was learning about gender perspectives, little by little.
In those days, the Ministry of Education did not publish the minutes of meetings on their web site, as they do now. With Manabe's full cooperation, however, the Group was able to get information immediately after the meetings, as the Group received all the material and documents from the meetings from her. The Group members examined the content carefully and, also, they advised Manabe, and asked her to express the Group's views.
At one point, the Group obtained a document that was a tentative draft [of the EPTC report] as a basis for discussion. The Group members thoroughly examined each line of the draft, and found that the words gender equality, which had been included in the report of the Central Education Council (CEC) to the Minister of Education, had been dropped. Takeda recalled her own careful reading of the documents, and commented:
From this point in time, I also began to examine the governmental documents thoroughly or closely for the first time … Again, I think this was because of the great influence of the Beijing Conference.
She added that she made up her mind again that the words gender equality—danjo kyōdōsankaku should be included in the report of the EPTC, and that this—at least—would be one of the goals of the Group.
Takeda sent a letter, dated April 9th 1997, to nine members of the Group, to share her deep concern about Teacher Education courses. The letter was sent to solicit
376 comments regarding the tentative draft as a basis for discussion used in the ad hoc EPTC committee meetings. As she noted in her letter, the Council had held a meeting on April 8th, and would hold another on 15th, to discuss the tentative draft. In her letter, Takeda pointed out that the words gender equality —danjo no kyōdōsankaku appeared just once in the draft, (line 12 on page 18), and that the draft did not fully articulate that a gender perspective was necessary in the process of Teacher Education in higher education. Takeda encouraged those members to send their comments on the tentative draft to the Group, so that the Group can ask Manabe to reflect their ideas in the ad hoc committee meeting.
The table of contents of the tentative draft was divided into six sections:
1. the process of discussion of the ad hoc committee, 2. the qualities needed to be teachers, 3. roles of Teacher Education in universities, 4. improvement of the curricula in Teacher Education, 5. flexibility of the teacher's license system (except curricula), and 6. other points to consider.
The expression gender equality – danjo kyōdōsankaku appeared in section 4, in the discussion of what was needed to improve qualities at present:
In order to give an opportunity to teacher candidates to think about how we are of the Earth or human beings, firstly it is necessary to let them understand deeply by discussing current themes like the environment of the Earth, cross cultural understandings, regional conflicts and refugees, population and food, aging of society and social welfare, and gender equality in society. Then, [by discussing those themes], it is necessary to develop classes that require university students to think about the way to themselves teach content regarding those themes to school children depending on the level of their growth. [emphasis added] (Monbu Shō, 1997).
As Takeda indicated in her letter, it was true that the theme of gender equality in society might have become a subject of discussion on organising future classes when thinking about current themes for school children. However, it was also clear that studying gender perspectives was not mentioned as being necessary in Teacher Education.
In addition to a submission of the paper to EPTC, on January 30th, 1997, the Group visited the Ministry of Education to submit its paper for the attention of the Curriculum Council (CC)—Kyōiku Katei Shingikai.[4] Based on their ability to collect more than 500 supporters and host a successful symposium, and the statements that emphasised the importance of gender equality in the first report of the Central Education Council issued in July in 1996, the Group expressed the following four opinions to the Curriculum Council:
1. the need for well-developed teaching in order to improve gender equality through education, learning, and/or school education as a whole; 2. the assurance of opportunities for learning about gender equality in Teacher Education;
377 3. the need for well-developed career guidance or counseling on choice of college; and 4. the need for well-developed learning and counseling regarding gender, including reproductive health rights.
Regarding this paper, it is particularly noteworthy that the Group suggested the establishment of a system to implement educational policy smoothly and in cooperation with national government, educational administrative machinery, women's administrative machinery, educational institutions and schools. Applying the case of the UK and other countries (from an opinion paper to the Curriculum Council—Kyōiku Katei Shingikai dated January 30, 1997), the Group also recommended the proactive implementation of educational policies based on the Plan for Gender Equality 2000 issued in 1996 in Japan.
On March 5th, 1997, some members of the Group visited a project general manager in the Ministry, who also served as a member of the ad hoc Curriculum Committee—Karikyuramu nado Tokubetsu Iinkai in ETPC, and they exchanged opinions. Then, on March 7th, 1997, the Group made a concrete and detailed plan of suggested curricula regarding gender related subjects. The resulting paper, titled Measures to Introduce Gender Perspectives in Teacher Training Courses—Kyōinyōseikatei ni Jendā no Shiten wo Dōnyū Surutameno Kaizensaku, and a list of the Group's supporters were sent directly to each of the members of the Education Personnel Training Committee. The Group took this action after their discussion with the Ministry project general manager two days before, because they understood that a big change could not be expected and that a concrete proposal for the content of the current teacher's license law was needed (Jendā no Shiten Kara Kyōiku wo Kangaeru Kai, 1997a).
On April 14th, 1997, the Group visited a member of the ad hoc Curriculum Committee in ETPC in order to relay to them the Group's opinion on the tentative draft of the report (Jendā no Shiten Kara Kyōiku wo Kangaeru Kai, 1997b). Although the Group seemed to be successful in lobbying members, no opportunity arose for them to explain the content of their paper. Kameda (1997) indicated that the Ministry of Education, at that time, was a somewhat closed organisation. The Ministry did not collect information from the general public, but only from specialists. This closed culture, in turn, made schools rigid (Kameda, 1997) .
Further developments
Meanwhile, on March 6th, 1997, the Group held a meeting to arrange a workshop at the National Women's Education Center on the occasion of the Women's Studies, Gender Studies Forum held from August 1st–3rd. Their aim for the workshop was to develop a broader network.
During the movement's active period, the Group initiated some sub-groups based on individual interests. First, on March 14th, 1997, 14 members established a sub-group called the All Japan Educational Network for Implementing Gender Equality—Danjo Byōdō wo Susumeru Kyōiku Zenkoku Nettowāku. This NGO group formed by-laws of the group and collected 57 members from their first call to organise the network. Then, in the same month, some members of the Group also held several meetings to organise
378 a second sub-group named Make Schools Gender Free, All Japan Network—Gakkō wo Jendā Furī ni, Zenkoku Netto. Their goal was to take steps to improve gender equal education by changing the traditional Japanese attendance roll, in which boys' names are listed first, to a new roll on which names are listed alphabetically, regardless of gender. In this way, the Group continued to give rise to other sub-groups.
On the other hand, for the purpose of strengthening the movement, the Group organised a workshop in the Spring Conference of the Women's Studies Association of Japan, held on June 7h and 8th, 1997. The Group intended to explore ways to further improve the movement by exchanging information or ideas in this workshop (Jendā no Shiten Kara Kyōiku wo Kangaeru Kai, 1997d).
Within the EPTC, on January 30th, 1997, in the 7th ad hoc Curriculum Committee in EPTC, Manabe stated that:
Gender equality is argued about; this shows that this society is one in which women can not participate… I think that there are circumstances where schools inherit male-dominant social attitudes. For this reason, subjects regarding gender equality should be included in education programs, especially in Teacher Education Programs.
In addition to the ad hoc Curriculum Committee, there was a section of the minutes of the General Assembly of EPTC that might reflect her opinions, stated in the ad hoc committee. Closely examining the executive summary of the minutes of meetings, it was possible to find a section that mentioned gender for the first time in the minutes of the ninth meeting (dated March 28, 1997). In discussion of the content of the curriculum, the minutes reported that one member said:
Although I do not think that gender studies are established academically, I think it is important to have knowledge about gender equal society (Kyōiku Shokuin Yōsei Shingikai, 1997c).
There was no other mention of men, women, or gender at all, except this description, although words related to hot topics such as Earth, environment, aging society and social welfare, internationalisation, computerisation, which had appeared in the July 1996 report of the Central Education Council (CEC), occurred repeatedly. Further, only one sentence mentioning human rights education was located in the summary minutes of the thirteenth meeting on June 20th, 1997. It stated that: 'it is necessary to fulfil the content regarding comprehensive issues such as human rights education' (Kyōiku Shokuin Yōsei Shingikai, 1997d, unpaged). However, in Japan, the issue of human rights tends to focus on people in specific communities that experience discrimination—Dōwa mondai[5], and disabled persons.
According to an executive summary of the minutes of the eighth General Assembly of EPTC, the Group's position paper was finally submitted to the Council on February 26th, 1997, along with five other submissions (Kyōiku Shokuin Yōsei Shingikai, 1997b). This was despite the fact that the Group had never been invited to an EPTC meeting for a hearing.
In the minutes of the sixteenth general meeting, dated July 11th, 1997, the discussion
379 focused on the topic of multidiscipline practices—sōgō enshū, a newly established curriculum in Teacher Education. Many members spoke about how Teacher Education could contribute to the improvement of the quality of teachers. Despite this, it was not possible to find any mention of gender within this discussion. In the seventeenth general meeting, dated July 28th, 1997, the EPTC minuted the submission of their first report to the Minister of Education, Takashi Kosugi. In this meeting, members of the Group found that there was a positive outcome, as the report mentioned gender equality in two places. The statements were included in a section discussing improvements to the content of education in Teacher Education courses:
1. spirit of gender equality—danjo byōdō no seishin—as requirements in teachers, and 2. gender equal participation in society—shakai e no danjo no kyōdō sankaku (Kyōiku Shokuin Yōsei Shingikai , 1997a).
Nakaya claimed that, with such a statement contained within the report, educators should easily be able to provide gender (related) subjects within their courses.
Although the presence of the word gender in the report seemed to be a successful result, the Group still was not satisfied. The Group called for its members to watch the process of revision of the curriculum so that the content of the report would be realised (Jendā no Shiten Kara Kyōiku wo Kangaeru Kai, 1997b). As part of this process, the Group organised its second symposium on November 30th, 1997. In an invitation letter, the Group mentions that:
… at the present stage, it is not enough, but recognisable changes were included in the words of the report. However, the movement should not be stopped here … We will hold a symposium again at this point; by thinking together and exchanging information of practical activities, our movement is expected to develop further for the gender equal educational practices …(Jendā no Shiten Kara Kyōiku wo Kangaeru Kai, 1997c) .
The Group did not highly value the result, but at least noted that the report had enabled curriculum designers to introduce women's studies or gender studies as one of the officially designated subjects in a unit of multidisciplinary practice in Teacher Education; however, actual practice was dependent on each university and teachers in universities (Kagaya, 1998). At the beginning of 1998, the Group expressed its goal for the year as proceeding with reformation in education with the cooperation of the Make Schools Gender Free, All Japan Network (Kagaya, 1998). This group was established by some members of the Group in an attempt to broaden the usage of the alphabetical class attendance roll, as discussed earlier. Some members joined the activities of another sub-group the All Japan Educational Network Implementing Gender Equality. Gradually, Group members began to spread their efforts across a number of groups, which had been newly organised by members of the Group (Jendā no Shiten Kara Kyōiku wo Kangaeru Kai, 1997a). In this way, the ripples caused by the Group spread wider. It is important to note, however, that the Group was no longer at the centre, as it was not possible to locate any subsequent chronological evidence of the existence of the Group after the document dated early 1998.
380 The decline of the Group
There are a number of reasons the Group Thinking about Education from Gender Perspectives did not retain its initial high levels of activity over time. First, like many feminist groups, the Group lacked a formal group structure. From the time of its formation, the Group had no official representative, no office, and no by-laws with approximately ten people within the Group sharing the administrative tasks as required (Kagaya, 1998). When asked why the Group stopped its activities, Takeda stated that:
Our goal was to lobby the EPTC. I don't think we had the idea that the group would continue permanent activities … [It was our way to do it] without having a by-law, or a leader … Feminist scholars do not place a leader [in a group] …
Supported by feminist thought directed against hierarchal systems (Tong, 1989), Takeda, in the interview, justified the group not having a structure by highlighting equal and horizontal relationships among members. However, unlike an electronic network where a website itself can serve as a place to exchange information and opinions, it is clear that any network using merely a facsimile requires someone at the centre to integrate and facilitate the communication exchanges. Thus, it is possible to suggest that the group was extremely fragile due to the fact it had no clear division of responsibility or structure.
Nevertheless, Tanaka added that they used their network effectively. Although they did not get together and they did not take any action as a group after the breakup, they published articles and books. Tanaka continued, 'not to waste this network, we did some research', and she also added an unexpected outcome that:
Later, I found the high-ranking member of EPTC became a member of a certain gender related academic research group. He said to me, with a broad grin, 'I have finally understood what you meant at that time'.
Another factor that contributed to the group's demise was due to the declining energy of the movement as a collective force. Takeda stressed in the interview that she thought that the EPTC's report to the Minister of Education showed a successful outcome that resulted from the Group's activities. Nonetheless, to exerting an influence on the EPTC's report was not the only motivation behind organising the Group. Hence, having accomplished the primary goal of introducing gender perspectives into education, the Group began to seek new goals. As mentioned earlier in this paper, the Group aligned their priorities with the activities of the Make Schools Gender Free, All Japan Network—Gakkō wo Jendā Furī ni, Zenkoku Netto. This merger was representative of both the evolution and yet subsequent demise of the group.
Third, although the Group insisted they would monitor the Ministry until the content of the report was reflected in a policy, they did not take concrete actions for this purpose. In addition, their strategies were not sophisticated enough to involve those feminist government officials, who could influence the policy directly (as observed in the feminist teachers' movements in Canada or Australia) (Tanaka, 1998; Gaskell and
381 Taylor, 2003).
Nonetheless, the network developed by the Group left several productive outcomes with the principal effect being that the Group's activities resulted in the sharing of knowledge concerning the relationship between gender and education. Importantly, the group published several papers related to research on gender and education (Kameda et al., 1998, Kameda and Tachi, 2001), and also were fundamental in the formation of the All Japan Educational Network Implementing Gender Equality—Danjo Byōdō wo Susumeru Kyōiku Zenkoku Nettowāku. Ten years after its establishment, this NGO still continues its activities with approximately 300 members, and it is clear that the legacy of the Group Thinking about Education from Gender Perspectives is retained among members of this NGO as it was referred to in this NGO's newsletter (Danjo Byōdō wo Susumeru Kyōiku Zenkoku Nettowāku, 2005).
In 1999, the Basic Law for Gender-equal Society was enacted. In the Basic Plan for Gender Equality, as an action plan of the Basic Law for Gender-equal Society, approved in the same year, it was claimed that human rights education such as gender equality should be promoted in Teacher Education. In addition, the Group's impact is found in various activities. About ten years after the launch of this movement, and led by national universities, universities across Japan have begun to establish the institutional administrative structures for implementing policies of gender equality. It is easy to find familiar names from the Group in those key members who currently promote gender equality policies in higher education. The network of feminist teachers united through the activities still exists and continues to promote education for a gender equal society in Japan.
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Notes
[1] The Educational Personnel Training Council (EPTC) — Kyōiku Shokuin Yōsei Shingikai is an advisory council to the Minister of Education. The council discussed the system and the content of Teacher Education in Japan. As part of the reformation of the central government, in January 2001 the Council was integrated in the Central Education Council with seven other educational councils including the Curriculum Council.
[2] Ministry of Education — Monbushō was an element of the former central government. It has since been reformed as the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT)— Monbu kagakushō or Monkashō, in 2001 because of central government reformation in Japan.
[3] The Central Education Council (CEC) — Chūō Kyōiku Shingikai is one of the advisory councils to the Minister of Education, along with the Educational Personnel Training Council and the Curriculum Council under the Ministry of Education. CCE was reorganised to integrate seven other educational councils in January, 2001 due to central government reformation.
382 [4] The Curriculum Council (CC) — Kyōiku Katei Shingikai is an advisory council to Minister of Education. The council discussed the system of the content of education in Japan. Like the EPTC, the Council was integrated with other seven educational councils within the The Central Education Council in January, 2001 as part of the central government reformation.
[5] Dōwa mondai (Dowa issues) refers to Japanese citizens who are discriminated against on the basis of their (or their ancestor's) occupations.
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About the Author
Sanae Kawana is a PhD Candidate, Faculty of Education, Queensland University of Technology in Australia. She is doing her PhD course as an external student. She is interested in the fields of communication, feminist critical policy analysis, and critical discourse analysis. She is currently an instructor at several universities in Japan.
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