Women and Politics in Comparative Perspective—

E-SYMPOSIUM An Open Boundaries Workshop: Women and Politics in Comparative Perspective—Introduction he American Political Science Associa- Ttion and Women’s Studies at the University of Delaware co-sponsored the The 2004 E-Symposium Third Japanese American Women’s Sympo- The papers presented here, a sium (JAWS) at the University of Delaware result of the extremely successful from August 24 to August 26, 2003. The Japanese American Women’s Sympo- program was supported by a grant from the sium, focus a fascinating lens on the Japan-United States Friendship Commis- study of women and politics both in sion and the University of Delaware’s the United States and in Japan. More College of Arts and Science, Office of so, the lens casts the light of compari- International Programs, Department of son on the very different, and very Political Science, and Women’s Studies. similar, issues affecting women in The seven Japanese and seven American politics in both countries. scholars of women and politics who To better present current research participated in this symposium spent three in the timeliest of fashions, PS brings days considering similarities and differ- its readership the e-symposium. This ences in political participation and the format provides our readers with the effects of this participation on public most current research on women and policy decision making in the U.S. and in politics in the United States and Japan. This is the group’s third meeting. Japan, research that, due to typical The first meeting was publication deadlines for the tradi- held in August 2000 at by tional journal format, would other- American University in wise not be available to the scholarly Marian Lief Palley, conjunction with the community for several more months. University of Delaware APSA’s Annual Meeting The following abstracted articles in Washington D.C. and can be accessed whole at the APSA was coordinated by web site, www.apsanet.org/Jan04/. Karen O’Connor. In August 2002, the scholars reconvened in Japan where they met and lectured to community groups in Tokyo, Tsu City, and Sapporo. This year, the program was held in conjunction with the APSA’s Annual Meeting in Philadelphia and was coordinated by Marian Lief Palley, professor of political science and director of Women’s Studies at the University of Delaware. The grant from the Japan-United States Friendship Commission was facilitated by the APSA, especially by Deputy Director Robert J-P. Hauck. Chieko Kitagawa Otsuru, Tokuku Ogai, M. Margaret Conway, Michele Swers, and Melissa Deckman wrote papers that focus on women’s political participation in local venues in Japan and the United States. Masako Aiuchi, Yoshie Kobyashi, Julie Dolan, Barbara Palmer, and Dennis Simon contributed papers that focus more directly on non- local elections in both nations. Misako Iwamoto, Hiromi Tanaka, Chiharu Takenaka, Joyce Gelb, and Marian Lief Palley each considered a public policy that had a specific impact on women in their respective nations. PSOnline www.apsanet.org 57 Online Article Abstracts Incorporating Gender essential distinction between mascu- tempts to implement genuine social Equality at Local Politics: linity and femininity are inconsistent change through the enactment of gen- with the spirit of gender equality. The der-equal ordinances could be futile. A Case of Toyonaka Japanese public’s low level of interest The fundamental task, it seems, is to —Chieko Kitagawa Otsuru in, and understanding of, issues con- make the concept of gender more Kansai University cerning gender created an opportunity widely understood among the popula- for conservatives to dilute the effec- tion at large, not just among certain his paper examines the develop tiveness of gender-equal ordinances by interested individuals, and to redefine Tment of gender-equality policy in inserting gender-specific language. women’s issues as issues critical to ev- https://doi.org/10.1017/S1049096504003658 . the City of Toyonaka and compares it Not only is the concept confusing to ery member of society. to policy development at the national the general public, but the basic struc- and prefectural levels to illustrate how ture of society is still based on uncon- the concept of gender is being incor- scious assumptions about rigid gender porated into local politics. My analy- roles that are accepted by a large por- Advance of Japanese sis reveals the importance of focusing tion of the population, including on the local political process to under- women. Furthermore, conservatives Women in Politics: The stand and promote gender equality in have successfully used the tactic of General Local Election of Japan. dividing women into opposing camps 2003 The national government passed the and encouraging one group to contest Basic Law for a Gender-Equal Society gender-free policies by portraying —Tokuko Ogai, https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms in 1999. Corresponding to this devel- them as threatening to female identity Ochanomizu University opment, and reflecting the general and family life. trend in Japanese politics to promote The outcome of local debates over fter Japan held the Fifteenth bottom-up local initiatives, prefectural the use of gender-free language de- AGeneral Local Election on April and local governments were encour- pends partly on how well women’s per- 13 and 27, 2003, the percentage of aged to develop their own ordinances spectives were represented on the lo- women in local assemblies increased to reflect the spirit of this act accord- cal councils responsible for writing the from 5.4% to 8.8%. Although young ing to the conditions of each local com- ordinances. The lack of women’s rep- male candidates also increased their munity. To date, 142 local governments resentation in the conservative parties political representation in this elec- and all but five prefectural govern- is quite striking at the local political tion, this paper focuses on the women ments have enacted ordinances, some level, and even when local ordinances who ran as Independent candidates. In- of which were in effect as early as April were passed without including a mas- dependents make up the largest group 2000. culine-feminine clause, the pro-inclu- of women elected to local assemblies A close examination of a gender- sion arguments attracted little criticism in the 2003 election. equal society was influential in the during the sessions. Survey results in- My research indicates that there , subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at implementation of gender-equal poli- dicate that women and men differ in were three distinct pools of women can- cies at the local level. Those prefec- their perceptions of women’s slow ad- didates—the political group, tures that developed policies early on, vancement in the political arena. Al- Seikatsusha Nettowaaku, or Consum- such as Saitama and Yamaguchi, closely though women are more sensitive than ers’ Network (Netto hereafter); partici- followed the language of the national men to the effect of gender role atti- pants from the political training pro- Basic Law; however, latecomers were tudes on women’s low representation, grams known as “Back-up Schools”; more likely to either specifically ac- women also report that women are and the relatively new local govern- 06 Nov 2017 at 22:13:29 knowledge manhood and womanhood poorly represented because they are ment program designed to raise , on in the ordinance language, or to have “no positive enough.” This self-criti- women’s political interest and involve- the whole process of enactment delayed cism may be a product of exposure to ment, the Simulation Women’s Assem- due to disputes over language. Many the gendered image of women as fol- bly (SWA). The SWA is of particular 73.14.13.212 local councils have responded to po- lowers. interest because it appears to be an litical pressure imposed on them be a Given the slow speed at which per- important new mechanism for promot- national movement opposed to the ba- ceptions of dichotomous gender role ing women’s election to local assem- sic idea of gender equality. This con- change, it seems more, rather than less, blies in rural towns and villages, where . IP address: servative movement regards the Basic important to work toward embracing women’s representation is considerably Law for a Gender Equal Society as a gender-free ideology. Attempts by con- lower than in cities. radical attempt to d-gender Japanese servatives to reverse the trend toward Netto, which was founded in Tokyo society. women’s advancement in society in the in 1977, originated from the COOP If we accept the definition of gender name of Japanese tradition and culture collective purchase consumer move- as the imposition of socially con- have resulted in considerable backlash ment, or Seikatsu Club Cooperative. By structed differences on individuals, against the gender-equality movement. April 2003, Netto had produced 144 rather than as an immutable character- Because advocates for gender-equal female local assembly members. Ac- istic inherently attached to biological policies lack adequate resources to cording to Netto’s basic philosophy, https://www.cambridge.org/core sex, then clauses acknowledging an counter conservative activities, at- elected representatives are there by 58 PS January 2004 Downloaded from “proxy of the citizens”; thus, each seat assembly hall, select a chairperson, and the large number of open seats due to belongs to the citizens, not to indi- conduct a mock session. In the 2003 redistricting and congressional retire-

Load more