DOCSLIB.ORG

The Birth of the Housewife in Contemporary Asia: New Mothers in the Era of Globalization

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Birth of the Housewife in Contemporary Asia: New Mothers in the Era of Globalization M1424 - OCHIAI TEXT.qxp:Andy Q7 13/8/08 13:58 Page 157 8 The Birth of the Housewife in Contemporary Asia: New Mothers in the Era of Globalization EMIKO OCHIAI EMERGENCE OF HOUSEWIVES he goal of our research was to illuminate the transformation of Tgender roles in East and Southeast Asia, areas of strong economic development. Of central concern to us was the question of whether a pattern of gender division of labor, with the husband as the “breadwin- ner” or money-earner and the wife as the homemaker, would emerge in these societies, as it has in other modern societies. In Europe, the United States, Japan, and elsewhere, the process of modernization was accom- panied by the birth of the “modern family.” The modern family has as its precondition the division between a public sphere and a domestic sphere, and is characterized by mutual affection between family members, the gender division of labor, and strong concern and attention paid to a small number of children (Ochiai 1997 and Chapter 5). Our research showed that, in contemporary East and Southeast Asia, there are indeed many societies in which mothers continue to work during their childrearing years, and that enough support exists in such societies to enable both parents to work while raising children. An unex- pected discovery of this investigation, however, was the significant number of “housewives” we encountered in societies of Types 1 and 2 where mothers of small children continue to work. In some of these soci- eties, there is indeed a trend for childrearing support to become less and less adequate, but a movement towards “housewifization” could be found even in societies where there is no obvious inadequacy in childrearing support. Why did women become housewives and will they remain situ- ated in the role of housewife in the future? In this chapter, we will M1424 - OCHIAI TEXT.qxp:Andy Q7 13/8/08 13:58 Page 158 158 Asia’s New Mothers consider “housewifization” in the three Type 1 and 2 societies by paying fresh attention to the cases of housewives we encountered in these regions. HOUSEWIVES IN ASIAN SOCIETIES (1) Housewives in China China, like Thailand, is a Type 1 society in terms of patterns of labor- force participation rates for women. (For a detailed description of Types 1, 2, and 3, see Chapter 1 of this volume.) Like the United States and Sweden, those rates form a reversed U-shaped pattern when graphed against age. However, the causes for this are different in China and Thailand. Presumably, China took on this pattern following the social- ist revolution in the 1950s. As Sechiyama has stated (Sechiyama 1996), women had long taken part in agricultural labor in Southern China but usually had not done so in Northern China. While the definition of “housework” and hence women’s work differs (from that in modern Europe) in that it included caring for domestic animals like pigs and chickens and the cultivation of vegetables to be consumed by the family,1 the fact remains that the gender division of labor, with “men working outside and women working inside,” existed in certain regions before the advent of the modern family. We thus need to modify the preconditions in the theory of the modern family as it was developed in Europe, which had relatively high labor-force participation rates for women before modernization started. It was socialism that uniformly “de-housewived” women in China regardless of regional differences. While some feel that taking on a double burden was excessively hard on women, one woman, ninety-one-years old when interviewed in 2004, described her first experience of leaving home to work at a daycare center as very fulfilling.2 The subjects in Lisa Rofel’s study on the gendered experience of socialist revolution in China cite similar experiences (Rofel 1994). In a survey of attitudes taken for our study, conducted in Wuxi City in 2002, 88 percent of women and 84 percent of men indicated a preference for women to follow the “dual roles” pattern balancing marriage, childbirth, and childcare with work, while only 9 percent and 10 percent, respectively, preferred the pattern of temporary retirement from work followed by reemployment (Miyasaka 2007: 105). China is distinguished by the ample presence of three types of child- care agents other than the mother. Childcare may be described as more the role of the grandparents than of the mother, and quite a few children live in their grandparents’ house during their infant years. The reversed U-shaped pattern of women’s labor-force participation is due to the con- tinuing intergenerational division of labor in the traditional extended family, with older individuals leaving the workforce early to take care of their grandchildren. China’s official retirement age is currently fifty-five for women and sixty for men. With aunts, uncles, and others also com-.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • 1972 FAMILY TAPE CODE Variable Tape Number Location Content ------1 1-3 Study Number 768 (Wave 5) (2401) (4501-4503)
    1972 FAMILY TAPE CODE Variable Tape Number Location Content -------- -------- ------- 1 1-3 Study Number 768 (Wave 5) (2401) (4501-4503) ------------------------- 2 4-7 1972 Interview Number (2402) (4504-4507) --------------------- 3 8-9 *State of Residence at time of 1972 Interview (2403) (4508-4509) --------------------------------------------- 4 10-12 *County of Residence at time of 1972 Interview (2404) (4510-4512) ---------------------------------------------- 5 13-17 *State and County of Residence at time of (2405) (4513-4517) 1972 Interview ----------------------------------------- V3 and V4 combined into one variable 6 18 Size of Largest City in PSU (2406) (4518) --------------------------- 34.2 1. SMSA: largest city 500,000 or more 22.0 2. SMSA: largest city 100,000 - 499,999 11.7 3. SMSA: largest city 50,000 - 99,999 7.2 4. Non-SMSA: largest citv 25,000 - 49,999 9.5 5. Non-SMSA: largest city 10,000 - 24,999 15.1 6. Non-SMSA: largest city under 10,000 0.2 9. N.A.; DU is not in continental U.S.A. ----- 99.9 7 19 Color of Coversheet (2407) (4519) ------------------- 75.0 0. Brown (Main Family) 3.0 1. Yellow (Split-off) 20.0 2. Blue (Main Family) 2.0 3. Pink (Split-off) ----- 100.0 * Detailed State and County Codes will be furnished on request 8 20 Whether Originally Refused in 1972 A variable (2408) (4520) to determine whether or not the respondent at first refused to be interviewed this year --------------------------------------------- 99.8 0. Never refused 0.2 1. Refused at least once 0.0 9. N.A. ----- 100.0 9 21 Whether Telephone Interview in 1972 (2409) (4521) ----------------------------------- 97.2 0.
    [Show full text]
  • Testing the Baseline Hypothesis in South Korea
    A Service of Leibniz-Informationszentrum econstor Wirtschaft Leibniz Information Centre Make Your Publications Visible. zbw for Economics Rudolf, Robert; Kang, Sung-Jin Working Paper Adaptation under Traditional Gender Roles: Testing the Baseline Hypothesis in South Korea Discussion Papers, No. 101 Provided in Cooperation with: Courant Research Centre 'Poverty, Equity and Growth in Developing and Transition Countries', University of Göttingen Suggested Citation: Rudolf, Robert; Kang, Sung-Jin (2011) : Adaptation under Traditional Gender Roles: Testing the Baseline Hypothesis in South Korea, Discussion Papers, No. 101, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Courant Research Centre - Poverty, Equity and Growth (CRC-PEG), Göttingen This Version is available at: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/90495 Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Terms of use: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Documents in EconStor may be saved and copied for your Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. personal and scholarly purposes. Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle You are not to copy documents for public or commercial Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich purposes, to exhibit the documents publicly, to make them machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen. publicly available on the internet, or to distribute or otherwise use the documents in public. Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, If the documents have been made available under an Open gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort Content Licence (especially Creative Commons Licences), you genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. may exercise further usage rights as specified in the indicated licence. www.econstor.eu Courant Research Centre ‘Poverty, Equity and Growth in Developing and Transition Countries: Statistical Methods and Empirical Analysis’ Georg-August-Universität Göttingen (founded in 1737) Discussion Papers No.
    [Show full text]
  • Division of Domestic Labour and Lowest-Low Fertility in South Korea
    DEMOGRAPHIC RESEARCH VOLUME 37, ARTICLE 24, PAGES 743-768 PUBLISHED 26 SEPTEMBER 2017 http://www.demographic-research.org/Volumes/Vol37/24/ DOI: 10.4054/DemRes.2017.37.24 Research Article Division of domestic labour and lowest-low fertility in South Korea Erin Hye-Won Kim This publication is part of the Special Collection on “Domestic Division of Labour and Fertility Choice in East Asia,” organized by Guest Editors Ekaterina Hertog and Man-Yee Kan. © 2017 Erin Hye-Won Kim This open-access work is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial License 2.0 Germany, which permits use, reproduction, and distribution in any medium for noncommercial purposes, provided the original author(s) and source are given credit. See http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/de/ Contents 1 Introduction 744 2 Current knowledge and gaps in the literature 745 2.1 Husbands’ contribution 745 2.2 Help from parents and parents-in-law 746 2.3 Formal childcare 747 3 The Korean context 748 4 Data, variables, and the research design 749 4.1 Data 749 4.2 Fertility intentions and fertility behaviour 750 4.3 Division of domestic labour 750 4.4 Regression analysis of fertility intentions and behaviour on help 751 with domestic labour 5 Results 753 5.1 Description of fertility intentions and fertility behaviour 753 5.2 Women’s domestic labour, informal and formal help received, and 755 related factors 5.3 Regression analysis of fertility on help with domestic labour 757 6 Conclusion 760 7 Acknowledgements 763 References 764 Demographic Research: Volume 37, Article 24 Research Article Division of domestic labour and lowest-low fertility in South Korea Erin Hye-Won Kim1 Abstract BACKGROUND One explanation offered for very low fertility has been the gap between improvements in women’s socioeconomic status outside the home and gender inequality in the home.
    [Show full text]
  • War, Women, Vietnam: the Mobilization of Female Images, 1954-1978
    War, Women, Vietnam: The Mobilization of Female Images, 1954-1978 Julie Annette Riggs Osborn A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Washington 2013 Reading Committee: William J. Rorabaugh, Chair Susan Glenn Christoph Giebel Program Authorized to Offer Degree: History ©Copyright 2013 Julie Annette Riggs Osborn University of Washington Abstract War, Women, Vietnam: The Mobilization of Female Images, 1954-1978 Julie Annette Riggs Osborn Chair of the Supervisory Committee: William J. Rorabaugh, History This dissertation proceeds with two profoundly interwoven goals in mind: mapping the experience of women in the Vietnam War and evaluating the ways that ideas about women and gender influenced the course of American involvement in Vietnam. I argue that between 1954 and 1978, ideas about women and femininity did crucial work in impelling, sustaining, and later restraining the American mission in Vietnam. This project evaluates literal images such as photographs, film and television footage as well as images evoked by texts in the form of news reports, magazine articles, and fiction, focusing specifically on images that reveal deeply gendered ways of seeing and representing the conflict for Americans. Some of the images I consider include a French nurse known as the Angel of Dien Bien Phu, refugees fleeing for southern Vietnam in 1954, the first lady of the Republic of Vietnam Madame Nhu, and female members of the National Liberation Front. Juxtaposing images of American women, I also focus on the figure of the housewife protesting American atrocities in Vietnam and the use of napalm, and images wrought by American women intellectuals that shifted focus away from the military and toward the larger social and psychological impact of the war.
    [Show full text]
  • Consequences of Japan's Occupation of Korea: Document Based Question
    1 CONSEQUENCES OF JAPAN’S OCCUPATION OF KOREA: DOCUMENT BASED QUESTION GRADES: 10th AUTHOR: Brian S. Hussey SUBJECT: AP World History TIME REQUIRED: Two 45 minute Class Periods BACKGROUND: From 1910 – 1945, the Korean peninsula fell under the domination of Japan; first as a protectorate and later as a colony. This era of Korean history is typically divided into three time periods: Subjugation (1910 – 1919): During this time Korean subjugation was brought about by ruthless beatings and violence. The Japanese military was ever-present on the peninsula; enforcing Japan’s colonial claims. As a response to the brutality Koreans organized mass protests, culminating in the March 1st Movement. Accommodation (1920 – 1931): In the wake of the March 1st Movement the Japanese eased their persecution of Koreans. Koreans were allowed freedoms of expression and assembly. Assimilation (1931 – 1945): As the world began building toward World War II the Japanese began compelling Koreans to participate in the war effort. First with Manchuria and China and then with the overall war in the Pacific, Koreans were used as both laborers and soldiers. It is also during this time period that Koreans were forced to take Japanese names, forgo the Korean language, and begin worshiping in Shinto shrines. As a result of Japanese rule, great change came to Korea. Japanese engineers built roads and bridges; Japanese schools brought education to children of both sexes. While Korea’s contact with the outside world had begun in the century leading up to Japan’s domination, Japan accelerated the Hermit Kingdom’s interactions and helped modernize Korea.
    [Show full text]
  • Being a Woman in China Today: a Demography of Gender
    Special feature China perspectives Being a Woman in China Today: A Demography of Gender ISABELLE ATTANÉ ABSTRACT: The aim of this article is on the one hand, to draw up a socio-demographic inventory of the situation of Chinese women in the prevailing early twenty-first century context of demographic, economic, and social transition, and on the other hand, to draw attention to the paradoxical effects of these transitions whilst taking into account the diversity of the realities women are experiencing. In conclusion, it raises the possibility of changes in gender relationships in China, where there are, and will continue to be, fewer women than men, particularly in adulthood. KEYWORDS: China, demography, gender, status of women, education, employment, demographic masculinity, discrimination against women. I do not think that men and women are on an equal footing. I live in favourable to them, thereby testifying to an unquestionable deterioration a world dominated by men, and I sense this impalpable pressure in certain aspects of their situation. every day. It’s not that men don’t respect us. My husband cooks for The aim of this article is to draw up a socio-demographic inventory of the me and does a lot around the house, but I still feel male chauvinism situation of Chinese women in the prevailing early twenty-first century con- in the air. In truth, men do not really consider us to be their intellec- text of demographic, economic, and social transition on the one hand, and tual equals. on the other hand, to draw attention to the paradoxical effects of these Cao Chenhong, senior manager in a Beijing company.
    [Show full text]
  • WOMEN in WORLD WAR II ADVERTISEMENTS by Caroline Cornell
    THE HOUSEWIFE’S BATTLE ON THE HOME FRONT: WOMEN IN WORLD WAR II ADVERTISEMENTS By Caroline Cornell A 1944 advertisement for Swift’s Beef in Good Housekeeping boldly proclaimed, “Her SEVEN jobs all help win the war!”1 The seven “jobs” were tasks that the Swift Company—as well as the U.S. government— believed that women on the home front should perform in order to aid their country during World War II. Among the tasks promoted by the advertisement were rationing, the growing of “victory gardens,” salvag­ ing and recycling, and the purchasing of war bonds. Though the advertisement claimed that these responsibilities “all help win the war,” each of the jobs described centered around household activities. Despite the fact that the Swift’s Beef advertisement gave agency to American women by claiming they could impact the success of the war, it still emphasized their femininity by giving primacy to the roles of wife and mother and by utilizing an image of a Red Cross volunteer as their “war worker,” not a woman working in the war industry. 1 “Her Seven Jobs Help Win the War,” Swift’s Brands of Beef, Advertisement, Good Housekeeping, January 1944, 15. 28 Caroline Cornell The Good Housekeeping advertisement exemplifies how World War II advertisements not only frequently targeted American women to aid the war effort, but also placed the responsibility of obtaining vic­ tory in the hands of the housewife. To some, this may appear as a surprising contrast to the popular image of “Rosie the Riveter” that tends to dominate modern-day conceptions of the representation of American women during World War II.
    [Show full text]
  • North Korea, Preview Chapter 2
    2 Perils of Refugee Life As we argued in the introduction, our interest in the North Korean refu- gees is twofold: We are concerned about their material and psychological well-being—their experiences as refugees—as well as interested in the insights they might provide with respect to life in North Korea itself. This chapter takes up the fi rst question, drawing primarily on the results of the China survey of 2004–05. We fi rst consider the reasons why refugees left North Korea and their living conditions in China. Despite the precariousness of their status and their preference for a decent life in North Korea, few plan on returning. Most envision themselves as temporarily residing in China before moving on to a third country. Yet there is evidence of considerable movement back and forth across the border, mostly people carrying money and food back to their extended family members in North Korea. The refugee community in China is exposed to multiple sources of vulnerability, including not only fear of arrest but also the uncertainty of their work circumstances. We highlight the particular vulnerability of women to forms of abuse such as traffi cking, which has recently received increasing attention (Hawk 2003, K. Lee 2006, Sheridan 2006, Committee for Human Rights in North Korea 2009, National Human Rights Commis- sion of Korea 2010). In the third section we extend this analysis of objective conditions to a consideration of the psychology of the refugees. A key fi nding, confi rmed by more detailed clinical work in South Korea (Jeon 2000, Y.
    [Show full text]
  • The Roles of Woman As Leader and Housewife Niniek Fariati Lantara* Indonesian Moslem University, Urip Sumoharjo Street Km 5, Makassar–Indonesia
    ense ef Ma f D n o a l g a e m Lantara, J Def Manag 2015, 5:1 n r e u n o t J Journal of Defense Management DOI: 10.4172/2167-0374.1000125 ISSN: 2167-0374 MiniResearch Review Article OpenOpen Access Access The Roles of Woman as Leader and Housewife Niniek Fariati Lantara* Indonesian Moslem University, Urip Sumoharjo Street km 5, Makassar–Indonesia Abstract Emancipation of woman in various areas of life has been discussed lately. Achievement and skill pointed out by woman nowadays make us consider that women and men are not differ much. It is seen by leadership and roles of women in various areas. Power of being stiff, tough, and accurate in making decision are characteristics of women for which they are required by a leader. Burden and responsibility of a female leader is more than responsibility of man as woman has double play either for being a mother in the household or a woman in the other womanly responsibilities. Equality between men and women will not be a waste of time effort if women act upon her ability to be competitive with men to their womanhood. Keywords: Female leader; Household of sympathy; it is a matter of struggle with no gender discrimination or distinction. Greenstein [5], suggests that women themselves shall Introduction work hard in cooperation to let their voice be heard and to reveal their When time goes by, point of view toward women, from which perspective on conference table while making decision. Woman have women deserved to keep the house only and stayed at home all the to be ready to meet the new challenge including making decision by her time while men had to work outside to the current development when own consideration.
    [Show full text]
  • Gender Equality in the Technology Industry Technology Equality in the Gender
    The Future is Equal: Gender Equality in the Technology Industry The Future is Equal: Gender Equality in the Technology Industry The shaded areas of the map indicate ESCAP members and associate members.* The shadedThe shaded areas areas of the of themap map indicate indicate ESCAP ESCAP membersmembers and and associate associate members members.*.* The Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) is the most inclusive intergovernmental platform in the Asia-Pacific region. The Commission promotes cooperation The EconomicEcomomic and and Social Social Commission Commission for for Asia Asia and and the the Pacific Pacific (ESCAP) (ESCAP) is isthe the most most inclusive inclusive among its 53 member States and 9 associate members in pursuit of solutions to sustainable intergovernmental platform in the Asia-Pacific region. The Commission promotes cooperation intergovernmentaldevelopment challenges. platform ESCAPin the Asia-Pacific is one of the region. five regionalThe Commission commissions promotes of thecooperation United Nations.among its among its 53 member States and 9 associate members in pursuit of solutions to sustainable 53development member States challenges. and 9 associate ESCAP members is one of in thepursuit five of regional solutions commissions to sustainable ofdevelopment the United challenges. Nations. The ESCAP secretariat supports inclusive, resilient and sustainable development in the region by generating action-oriented knowledge, and by providing technical assistance and ESCAPThe ESCAP is one secretariatof the five regional supports commissions inclusive, ofresilient the United and Nations. sustainable development in the region capacity-building services in support of national development objectives, regional agreements by generating action-oriented knowledge, and by providing technical assistance and and the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
    [Show full text]
  • The North Korean Economy: Leverage and Policy Analysis
    Order Code RL32493 The North Korean Economy: Leverage and Policy Analysis Updated August 26, 2008 Dick K. Nanto Specialist in Industry and Trade Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division Emma Chanlett-Avery Analyst in Asian Affairs Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division The North Korean Economy: Leverage and Policy Analysis Summary North Korea’s dire economic straits provides one of the few levers to move the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK) or North Korea to cooperate in attempts by the United States, China, South Korea, Japan, and Russia to halt and dismantle its nuclear program. These five countries plus North Korea comprise the “six parties” who are engaged in talks, currently restarted, to resolve issues raised by the DPRK’s development of a nuclear weapon. This report provides an overview of the North Korean economy, its external economic relations, reforms, and U.S. policy options. In June 2008, the Bush Administration announced that it was lifting restrictions under the Trading with the Enemy Act and was starting the process to remove the DPRK from the list of State Sponsors of Terrorism. Other sanctions, including U.N. sanctions imposed following North Korea’s nuclear test, still remain in place. The economy of North Korea is of interest to Congress because it provides the financial and industrial resources for the Kim Jong-il regime to develop its military and to remain in power, constitutes an important “push factor” for potential refugees seeking to flee the country, creates pressures for the country to trade in arms or engage in illicit economic activity, is a rationale for humanitarian assistance, and creates instability that affects South Korea and China in particular.
    [Show full text]
  • Rosie the Riveter Vs. Helen the Homemaker : Advertising and the Role of Women in America After World War II Christina Pfaff
    University of Richmond UR Scholarship Repository Honors Theses Student Research 2011 Rosie the Riveter vs. Helen the Homemaker : advertising and the role of women in America after World War II Christina Pfaff Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.richmond.edu/honors-theses Part of the Leadership Studies Commons Recommended Citation Pfaff, Christina, "Rosie the Riveter vs. Helen the Homemaker : advertising and the role of women in America after World War II" (2011). Honors Theses. 1265. https://scholarship.richmond.edu/honors-theses/1265 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Research at UR Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of UR Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. UNIVERSITYOF RICHMONDLIBRARIES 1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111 3 3082 01083 6897 Rosie the Riveter vs. Helen the Homemaker: Advertising and the Role of Women in America afier World War II by Christina Pfaff Honors Thesis in Leadership Studies University of Richmond Richmond, VA April 27, 2011 Advisor: Dr. Donelson Forsyth Rosie the Riveter vs. Helen the Homemaker: Advertising and the Role of Women in America afier World War II by Christina Pfaff Honors Thesis in Leadership Studies University of Richmond Richmond, VA April 27, 2011 Advisor: Dr. Donelson Fon,yth Signature Page for Leadership Studies Honors Thesis Rosie the Riveter vs. Helen the Homemaker: Advertising and the Role of Women in America after World War II Thesis presented by Christina Pfaff This is to certify that the thesis prepared by Christina Pfaff has been approved by her committee as satisfactory completion of the thesis requirement to earn honors in leadership studies.
    [Show full text]