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Women in Progress and the Power of Patriarchy: a Transnational Comparison Of, Japan, Mexico, and Britain

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Women in Progress and the Power of Patriarchy: a Transnational Comparison Of, Japan, Mexico, and Britain Copyright By Alyson Lindsey Moss 2019 Women in Progress and the Power of Patriarchy: A Transnational Comparison of, Japan, Mexico, and Britain By Alyson Lindsey Moss A Thesis Submitted to the Department of California State University Bakersfield In Partial Fulfillment for the Degree of Master of Arts in History 2019 Committee Members: Dr. Marie Stango Dr. Cliona Murphy Dr. Christopher Tang Women in Progress and the Power of Patriarchy: A Transnational Comparison of Japan, Mexico, and Britain By Alyson Lindsey Moss This thesis has been accepted on behalf of the Department of History by their supervisory committee: C~;tshrist ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This project - this tim e consuming, mentally arduous, and three country com parative project - would not have been possible without the support of many wonderful people. If I sound verbose, it is because I have much to say about all those who have helped me write, think, revise, and relax in moments of need. First, to my partner in life and in love, Jeffrey Newby - who read numerous drafts and revisions, and whose own st udying was interrupted with questions from me trying to make sense in my tim es of disorder: thank you, my love. To Dr. Marie Stango, who read each chapter as I finished, and set tim e aside to help me conceptualize terms, comparisons, and context: thank you so much for helping me each step of the way; I could not have continued without your guidance and encour agement. And thank you for challenging m e to do m ore – I have grown so much because of you. I want to acknowledge and thank Dr. Christopher Tang and Dr. Stephen Allen as well. Tha nk you both so much for your insi ght and support. To Dr. Cliona Murphy – thank you for inspiring m e to write this thesis. You have motivated me in more ways than you could know, from undergraduate to gr aduate research. Thank you for your support, advice, and wisdom. I would also like to than k Dr. Constance Orliski who guided m e years before I even knew I would be tackling this thes is. Finally, to my parents and family, thank you for all the love, support, and wine you ga ve me in this process. To you all – Kanpai! ABSTRACT The late nineteenth to mid-twentieth centuries witnessed the modernization of patriarchal norms that often intersected with em erging feminist identities and ideas of equality. Looking specifically at the connections betw een Japan, Mexico, and Britain, this project exam ines how these countries negotiated their m odernity and their patriarchal principles through changing middle class women’s roles in society. Particu larly emphasized are the ways in which fem inist women positioned themselves in relation to growing m odern paternalistic national policies. Many of the wom en chosen here e xhibited fluctuating fem inist identities that reveal d ifferent philosophical ideas on wom en’s liberation. Moreover, this flexibil ity was often represented in historically significant female archetypes such as the New Woman, and the Modern Girl. Making this argument, I show that during moderniza tion middle class wom en in Japan, Mexico, and Britain endeavored to map out their own versions of what equality looked like. For som e, this included equal education for m en and women. For others, it meant the complete reformation of gendered politics. The influence of this forced the patriarchal state to transform as well; thos e who exercised patriarchal power had to sim ultaneously progress and attempt to maintain gender hierarchy. Ultimately, this thesis uncovers sim ilarities between patriarchal natio ns that cloak their modernity in progressive rhetoric. TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction…………………………………………………………………..…………..……...1 Chapter One: Male Responses to ‘The Woman Question:’ Negotiating Women’s Roles in a Modernizing Nineteenth Century World……………………………………………………………………….17 Chapter Two: Exploring the Transnational New Woman of the Nineteenth Century: Multivalent Identities and Powerful Patriarchies…………………………………………………………………….………44 Chapter Three: A Path That Has No End: Cultivating Feminist Consciousness in Early Twentieth Century Print Culture…………………………………………………………………………………….……...72 Chapter Four: From Woman to Girl: Exploring the Construction of the Modern Girl in Japan and Mexico………………………………………………………………………………………..….99 Chapter Five: The Promise of Patriarchy: “The Great Interruption” and (In)Equality Through Suffrage………………………………………………………………………………….……...114 Epilogue: The Myth of Suffrage……………………………………………………..…………………….143 LIST OF FIGURES Image 2.1 “The Parliamentary Female” by John Leech, Punch, 1853 page 65 Image 2.2 “The Coming Race” by George du Maurier, Punch, 1874 66 Image 3.1 “Tipsy” by Kobayakawa Kiyoshi, 1930 107 Image 3.2 “Walking through Ginza” by Hekoten Shimokawa, Tokyo Puck, 1829 109 1 INTRODUCTION Women have too often been represented as the passive victims of patriarchy . but one still needs to be weary of overreacting to this and making it appear as if they were/are not victims at all. Nor should one forget that some women were/are happy to create and further systems based on the oppression of women. 1 Helen Bowen Raddeker On December 10, 1910, Kanno Sugako was sentenced to death for orchestrating the conspiracy to assassinate Emperor Meiji, known as ‘The Great Treason Incident.’ Kanno’s radicalism had grown from earlier attempts to rectify social and political problems via socialism. In fact, she began participating in reform-minded movements in the first few years of the twentieth century, a recognized period of increased leftist politics in Japan. As an activist, Kanno edited magazines and published articles that reflected her ideologies. Many of her publications, however, were banned because of their leftist-inspired critiques of the government, especially those that suggested revolution. Kanno also published essays on the status of Japanese women, and many of her feminist solutions to gender questions reflected back to socialism and engaged with anarchism. When Kanno was convicted of treason in 1910, the Japanese public was less concerned with her death sentence and more with character – often questioning her devotion to Japanese women as her anarchist act placed her on the periphery of “acceptable” leftist thinking.2 Nevertheless, as a feminist, a socialist, and an anarchist, she exemplified the flexible ideological inclinations of modern women in Japan during this time. For Kanno, Emperor Meiji was a representation of not only the divine line from the sun goddess Amatarasu, but also the patriarch 1 Helen Bowen Raddeker, Treacherous Women of Imperial Japan: Patriarchal Fictions Patricidal Fantasies ( Nissan Institute/Routledge Japanese Studies, 1997), 26. 2 Mikaso Hane, Reflections on the Way to the Gallows: Rebel Women in Prewar Japan (University of California Press and Pantheon Books, 1988), 55. Perhaps, however, this disaffection stemmed from the fact that she was a woman carrying out such radical views. Another anarchist feminist who was sentenced to death, Kaneko Fumiko, was also relatively ignored by the Japanese public. For more on these women see Mikaso Hane’s Reflections on the Way to the Gallows or Helen Bowen Raddeker’s Treacherous Women of Imperial Japan. 2 of Japan – the father that was symbolically responsible for people’s oppression and inequality.3 According to Kanno, imperial paternalism reflected “a kind of outrageous legal system and despotic political authority.”4 She spent the latter half of her life protesting this tyrannical reign. The apex of her dissent was in her plot of assassination. Her death sentence, and its indifferent reactions from the public, ultimately, point to the strength of patriarchal influence in modern Japanese society: “Because all too obviously, [despite being a period of liberalization] many found convincing the patriarchal-nationalist fiction of the fatherly benevolence of (the emperor’s) officialdom.”5 As Kanno sat in her cell, she reflected on her risks and efforts that opposed oppression: “Another day spent guarding the shadows created by the sunlight that comes through the barred window. I know that the cliff drops one thousand fathoms, yet I rush down the path without turning back.”6 Man’s work is from sun to sun, But woman’s work is never done – This thesis is an examination of the global triumvirate of women, progress, and patriarchy in modern history. In the late nineteenth century, Japan, Mexico, and Britain experienced exceptional transformation. From economic growth to social change, these countries grappled with ideas of modernity. As both a historical period and an analytic, modernity encompassed a change from previous ways of thinking, acting, or interacting. In Britain, Japan, and Mexico, philosophical and epochal shifts in the social relationships between men and women (particularly those in the middle class) were especially significant. In examining these contextual moments of change, this thesis looks at how newly cultivated ideas of gender (and racial) 3 For more on this see Helen Bowen Raddeker, Treacherous Women of Imperial Japan. 4 Kanno Sugako, “Reflections on the Way to the Gallows,” January 18, 1911. In Mikaso Hane, Reflections on the Way to the Gallows: Rebel Women in Prewar Japan (University of California Press and Pantheon Books, 1988), 60. 5 Bowen Raddeker, Treacherous Women, 235. 6 Kanno Sugako, Reflections, 63. 3 equality both combated and conserved conventional social norms. Therefore, a focus on the connections between these specific countries will reveal the intersection of an emerging feminist activism with a progressing
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