Marriage and Employment Are Two Aspects of a Woman's Life - Essay Example

Marriage and employment are two aspects in a women’s life that has got to be balanced in a strange and often impossible way. So these two aspects arenot to be considered as two different aspects of a womens life but as two sides of a single aspect. Gender had been an important factor in creating the social strata in any society and Japan is no exception. In twelfth century Japan women enjoyed high status in the social hierarchy. During the Heian period Japanese women were allowed to inherit property in their own names and were allowed to manage these properties by themselves. But later in Shogunate or Tokugawa period women lost all these status. Tokugawa period was a feudal period in the history of Japan. The society was very conservative with very prominent social class divisions. The Tokugawa society was a closed one. This closed social system cut them completely off from the outside world. It was the period of Meiji restoration that opened the door of Japan to the West and enabled the country to catch up with the western developments. The concept of the modern family came into the Japanese society only after Japan opened itself up to the international diplomacy, to the world outside. This happened in 1868 under the Emperor Meaiji. Until then only the marriages of the higher strata of society, like the aristocrats and landlords had legal validity. The rest of the marriages were left unregistered with the State. During this period, industrialization and urbanization was so rapid in Japan that the male dominance in the society got reduced. Fathers and husbands became less dominant. But even then the Meiji Civil Code didn’t give the women right to inherit property. It was after world war two, that the legal position of women in society was redefined. Women were given right to vote in 1946. A constitution amendment in 1947 included a clause for equal gender rights and in 1948 the civil code was revised to give priority of individual rights to women, over obligations to family. Equal pay for equal work norm was implemented when Equal Employment Opportunity Law came into effect in 1986. Thus in legal terms, in Japan, women are equal to men, with equal opportunities and equal rights, though under the democratic constitution father still is the head of the family. But polygamy very widely prevalent in Japan in pre historic times was banned. Marriage was made an institution with equal rights for man and woman. But (it is a big ‘but’!) in reality, gender inequality persists in every field of life in Japan; that’s in Family life, in the places of work, and in the prevalent social and popular value system. Women are still expected to perform the role of the “good wife”, who is a “wise mother” too. On the other side women’s educational opportunities have increased. According to the statistics of 1989 regarding the new work force in Japan, 37% of women had received education beyond upper secondary school compared to 43% of men. The social values that expect women to be just house wives and mothers and the increase in the rate of educated among women lead to the conflict among women regarding the choice between marriage and profession. To add on to this conflict, the concept of marriage is very “conservative (of course by Western standards) in Japanese society. There is the so-called “Arranged marriages” as well as the “love marriages”. Arranged marriages, arranged by the parents were dominant earlier but of late women and men prefer love marriages. But in majority of cases they ensure the consent of their parents to the marriage. In the Western concept of marriage love is the dominant motivation for marriage. When the love disappears couples separate too very easily in the Western culture, though not without pain, which they try to hide away as far as possible. But in Japan as in many Asian cultures children are the main motif of marriage. (In 1930s and 40s high fertility and motherhood were considered as patriotic duty of women to the nation or to the Japanese empire) According to Rindfuss et al children became the most important and integral part of Japanese marriage as it was based on Confucianism. (The Changing Institutional Context of Low Fertility, Population Research and Policy Review, 22:411-438) For philosophy Confucius, marriage is not just a union between man and woman. It is an institution that carries the paternal line and maintains the family line and inheritance of properties. More over the transition from marriage to parenthood takes place fast in Japan, with in two years in almost 70% of marriages. So marriage in Japanese society is related more to procreation than love and sex. When children become the main motif of marriage, the fading out of the love for each other doesn’t make the couple separate that easily, as they will stay together for the sake of the children. In Western culture, if one wants children, one can have it outside marriage. But in Japan as well as in many Asian cultures, a child out of marriage is not a preference at all. The marriage rate of parents in Japan is almost 100%. Because of this child oriented attitude to marriage, every married woman, when she begets a child is considered just a mother and no more a woman or wife. This applies even to the love marriages. The father in many families prefers to have a special room for him self when his wife has become a mother. Thus even the sexual life of the couples gets restricted because of this child-centric marriage concepts and attitudes. As the mother, by convention prefers to sleep with the child, sex becomes almost an impossible thing and women start losing interest in sex when once they become mothers, for spatial as well as psychological reasons. There is even an unwritten understanding between the man and wife that after say almost ten years of married life with children, the husband is free to satisfy his male libido somewhere else as the wife has no more time for satisfying him sexually as she is so busy with his children. That’s supposed to be or pointed out to be one of the reasons why the sex industry is so spread out and prosperous in Japan. As Gregory M Pflugfelder points out in his study about the male sexuality in Japan, “Upon marriage, if not sooner, a man was expected to fully embark upon a carrier of Joshoku, Although Nanshoku liaisons in the role of Nenja were still permissible, and the sanctioned range of female partners included not only wives but concubines and prostitutes. (Cartographies of Desire, PP38) The working women in Japan usually quit their jobs when once they become mothers. In 1998, Revised Equal Employment Opportunity Law made available parental leave for one year for both fathers and mothers. But by convention, mothers avail this parental leave and quit the job while this one year leave is over. Fathers rarely take parental leave. A research done in 1998 showed that only 0.16% men took paternity leave. Women, because of the value system that goes on telling them how to behave as a mother, consider themselves as responsible for the children. They consider it their social duty to take care of the growing child. More over the nursery school system is very expensive and is not supportive of the mothers. Thus if a woman decides to work even after becoming a mother she may be forced to spend all the money she earns as a working woman in the nursery school system to take care of her child. Baby sitters cost about $18 an hour according to some unofficial statistics available. If women decide to work part time after taking care of their children, they are paid less than half of what a full time worker is paid. Japan ranks lower down at 38 in a U N measure which monitors female wages and public power. This is a low rank when compared to the general economic prosperity that country achieved in the last few centuries, up to the extend of challenging the most economically powerful nations in the world , including United States. This social situation might be the major reason for the phenomenon of Bankoka –‘postponement of marriage’ – which was found to be wide spread in modern Japan. Women’s social advancement, especially the options available for them in the field of higher education and the chances of getting high professional status are mainly responsible for this trend. So women generally choose modern freedom instead of traditional values and life style. According to Japanese Govt. figures, the portion of unmarried women between the ages of 25 to 29 has increased from 40 percent to 54 percent with in the last decade. The percentage of women in between the age of 30 to 34 has increased from 14 percent to 27 percent. In the age group of 25-29, the percentage of unmarried woman in United States is 40 %.and between 30 to 34 age group 23%.As a result the birth rate in Japan has also dipped. The birth rate of children per woman in Japan is 1.29. This is one of the lowest in the developed world from 1.54 in 1990. Last year many Japanese companies made a campaign for more babies in Japan. But the recent recession is bringing more pleasant news for the family front of Japan. Recession has led to pay cuts and lay offs. This had made women workers less secure in their work place. Sociologists point out that this insecure professional ambience would lead to a situation where more and more women would start opting for the security of home and motherhood. So the trend of marriages is on the verge of a reversal in Japan, according to these sociologists. ============================== Sources cited: 1) Pflugfelder Gregory M ,Cartographies of Desire, University of California press, 1st Edition, February 2000 2) Rindfuss , Ronald R, Guzzo, Karen, Benjamin &Morgan S. Philip : The Changing Institutional Context of Low Fertility, Population Research and Policy Review, 22:411-438 Read More

On the other side women’s educational opportunities have increased. According to the statistics of 1989 regarding the new work force in Japan, 37% of women had received education beyond upper secondary school compared to 43% of men. The social values that expect women to be just house wives and mothers and the increase in the rate of educated among women lead to the conflict among women regarding the choice between marriage and profession. To add on to this conflict, the concept of marriage is very “conservative (of course by Western standards) in Japanese society.

There is the so-called “Arranged marriages” as well as the “love marriages”. Arranged marriages, arranged by the parents were dominant earlier but of late women and men prefer love marriages. But in majority of cases they ensure the consent of their parents to the marriage. In the Western concept of marriage love is the dominant motivation for marriage. When the love disappears couples separate too very easily in the Western culture, though not without pain, which they try to hide away as far as possible.

But in Japan as in many Asian cultures children are the main motif of marriage. (In 1930s and 40s high fertility and motherhood were considered as patriotic duty of women to the nation or to the Japanese empire) According to Rindfuss et al children became the most important and integral part of Japanese marriage as it was based on Confucianism. (The Changing Institutional Context of Low Fertility, Population Research and Policy Review, 22:411-438) For philosophy Confucius, marriage is not just a union between man and woman.

It is an institution that carries the paternal line and maintains the family line and inheritance of properties. More over the transition from marriage to parenthood takes place fast in Japan, with in two years in almost 70% of marriages. So marriage in Japanese society is related more to procreation than love and sex. When children become the main motif of marriage, the fading out of the love for each other doesn’t make the couple separate that easily, as they will stay together for the sake of the children.

In Western culture, if one wants children, one can have it outside marriage. But in Japan as well as in many Asian cultures, a child out of marriage is not a preference at all. The marriage rate of parents in Japan is almost 100%. Because of this child oriented attitude to marriage, every married woman, when she begets a child is considered just a mother and no more a woman or wife. This applies even to the love marriages. The father in many families prefers to have a special room for him self when his wife has become a mother.

Thus even the sexual life of the couples gets restricted because of this child-centric marriage concepts and attitudes. As the mother, by convention prefers to sleep with the child, sex becomes almost an impossible thing and women start losing interest in sex when once they become mothers, for spatial as well as psychological reasons. There is even an unwritten understanding between the man and wife that after say almost ten years of married life with children, the husband is free to satisfy his male libido somewhere else as the wife has no more time for satisfying him sexually as she is so busy with his children.

That’s supposed to be or pointed out to be one of the reasons why the sex industry is so spread out and prosperous in Japan. As Gregory M Pflugfelder points out in his study about the male sexuality in Japan, “Upon marriage, if not sooner, a man was expected to fully embark upon a carrier of Joshoku, Although Nanshoku liaisons in the role of Nenja were still permissible, and the sanctioned range of female partners included not only wives but concubines and prostitutes. (Cartographies of Desire, PP38) The working women in Japan usually quit their jobs when once they become mothers.

In 1998, Revised Equal Employment Opportunity Law made available parental leave for one year for both fathers and mothers.

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