Role of Japanese Women in a Competitive World

ROLE OF JAPANESE WOMEN IN A
COMPETITIVE WORLD

Japan, an ancient land of islands with an ancient, highly refined culture, is conversely a dynamically modern, innovative and future oriented society. From ancient times, the land and the people of Japan have met in the morning sun to create a rich and varied culture with their vibrant life styles and fascinating history.

Japan today is a society composed of traditions and customs that is both hundreds of years old and as new as the Microchips in a personal computer.

Japan’s long history of independent development off the coast of East Asia fostered a culture that constitutes one of the greatest civilizations of the world. Early, though limited, contact with Korea and China gave significant stimulus to the existing indigenous culture and was soon assimilated, adopted and refined into something uniquely Japanese.

Many customs that are singular to Japan arose to enhance the smooth workings of society, where harmony and cooperation are preferred to confrontation and self-assertion. Great effort is extended to achieve, as much of a consensus as possible, again to reach the goal of harmony and cooperation.

Japan today is regarded the world over as a unique and great country. In one word, it is an economic miracle. But, surely, it has not become so overnight. Japan’s miraculous economic growth is due to very effective national planning, intense but healthy competition in all spheres, national cohesion and rightful pride, teamwork, positive attitude of the people, solidarity for set national goals and above all, that irrepressible urge of the Japanese to achieve perfection in their work.

All this prelude brings us face to face to an amazing fact that successive generations of Japanese have been born and prepared to a life style which is uniform throughout the country and consistent with the traditions, cultural heritage and national history of Japan.

Applying the famous saying, “Behind every successful man there is a woman”, in the case of Japan, behind the phenomenal success of Japan as a country, there are the Japanese women, who have made this possible through the birth of successive generations of this unique race known to the mankind in recent history of our times.

Historical Perspective - The Past: The position of women in Japanese society is one of the major differences between it and many other developed countries. One important characteristic of early Japan was a definitely matriarchial substratum in society. The Mythical ancestor of the imperial line was a sun goddess. Chinese texts tell us that feminine leadership was common in the third century and there were ruling empresses as late as the eighth. Women had great freedom in Heian courtlife and dominated much of its literature. Even in early feudal days women could inherit property and have a role in the feudal system.

Subsequently however Confucian philosophy and the long feudal experience combined to restrict the freedom of women and force them into complete subordination to men. Women, in the age of swordsmanship were obviously less capable of fighting than men, were gradually pushed out of the feudal structure and into a peripheral and supplementary role to men. Confucianism, which was the product of a patriarchal and strongly male dominated society in china, saw women as important for bearing children and perpetuating the family more than as helpmates or objects of love, Confucianism tended to be puritanical. Most of the features of this social system of late feudal days still persist even in a fast changing Japan.

Before world war II most of the Japanese lived in an extended family of three or more generations. Family relationships were governed by a rigid hierarchical system, and parental authority was strong. Fathers commanded respect and obedience from their children and in turn offered the same to their own parents. Married women were expected to faithfully obey their husbands and parents-in-law. The process of democratization after the war, However, transformed every aspect of Japanese family life. Rapid economic growth has had a large impact on family life too. One of the most conspicuous changes has been the increasing number of people who live in nuclear families of parents and children only, a trend which has been strengthened by urbanization and technological developments.

The present: The status of women in Japanese society improved enormously after world war II. Article 14 of the constitution, which was promulgated in 1946, states “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.” Especially important was the revision of the civil code in 1947, which gave women equal legal status with men in all phases of life, thereby abolishing the old patriarchal character of the family. Thus, the civil code and laws pertaining to elections, education and labour were subsequently revised in accordance with the principle of sexual equality.

By and large, Japanese women today have achieved legal equality with men. This does not mean however that discrimination against women no longer exists in a poll conducted by the prime minister’s office, more than half of the respondents felt that women had not achieved equality in the workplace or in the realm of social attitudes. Many laws also have been enacted to give equal status to women legally reducing the scope for misuse.

Be it as it may, the role of present day women in Japan is something unique. It is impossible to visualise a Japanese home without the all pervading presence of the lady of the house. The women in Japan assume different roles at different stages of their lives but the central role remains the same. She is the mother, who takes care of the house and upbringing of the children. How well the women of Japan have performed their roles is for the whole world to see. They have brought up a nation of people who have no parallel in recent world history. It may be difficult to admit and digest the truth for the world but the fact remains that the women of Japan have brought up successive generations of children who have not only made a nation proud and great but prepared it throughly for the changing times in competitive world.

Supreme Sacrifice: The women in Japan are in a very peculiar position. They will complete the high school or the university study and have few years for a job till they marry. Once, they are married, they have to perform the role of a mother with devotion, determination, dedication and above all a spirit of competition to bring the best out of their children. After their role as the mother in the formative years and upto the school/university stage, the women will have a chance to return to employment again. But with the existing job situation in the industry in Japan, the women will not have the necessary exposure, experience and opportunity to compete with men on equal footing because of the gap in the years of employment. Naturally, the opportunities or growth in the organization will be limited for them at that age.

Thus the women in Japan are making an unparalleled sacrifice of their careers, Youth, fun, and frolic for the sake of their children and the nation as a whole. Japan as a nation should be grateful for this sacrifice and introduce measures immediately affording an opportunity to the women to enjoy the best of both the worlds.

The 1947 labour standards law marked an important step forward by introducing the principle of equal pay for equal work. Nevertheless, many companies have continued to implement separate hiring policies for men and women, with different systems for promotion and salary increases. In reality, women have yet to attain true equality, government must take immediate steps to set right such anomalies to enable the women to get their legitimate status in the society. The government is also doing its utmost to improve work opportunities for women by encouraging companies to introduce childcare leave and other systems that enable women to return to work.

Bright future: The status and role of women in Japan have changed greatly for the better during the past century, especially since world war II and it will obviously continue to change. The provisions of the 1947 constitution which is quite explicit about the equality of the sexes, Tip the scales quite definitively toward increased quality and greater prestige for them.

“There shall be no discrimination in political economic or social relations because of sex. Marriage shall be maintained through mutual cooperation with the equal rights of husband and wife as a basis. 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 enacted from the standpoint of individual dignity and the essential equality of the sexes.”

Government should enact suitable legislation to extent suitable leave in employment, pay rise and pay protection and opportunities on par to compete with men. The Japanese women have shown to the world at large what they are capable of and it is for the government of Japan to realise their potential fully and afford all opportunities to put them on equal footing with men in this competitive world. The Japanese government has implemented various measures to improve the situation of working women.

The laws now give women full legal equality. These factors, combined with the postwar legal gains and sweeping social changes, have given women much wider opportunities, which are expanding steadily. The Japanese women must realise that they dominate the home and tend to be psychologically stronger than men. This attitude must play an important part in determining their role in a competitive world. They must know their strengths and consolidate their gains in that direction. They must realise their role as mothers and home-makers who dominate domestic life and supervise the raising of the next generation.

Whatsoever the foreign views may be, the Japanese women do not see themselves as bland products of social conditioning. They regard their inner discipline as a valuable asset that enables them to overcome any emotional. Irrational or anti-social impulses within them as one expert has put it, “social conformity to the Japanese women is no sign of weakness but rather the proud. Tempered product of their inner strength.

The Japanese women are not in fact dull automations, For all their devotion to their children and their nation. The proof is in the miracle they have wrought in the 20th century and especially since world war II, vastly elevating their country’s position in the world and improving their own lives, for Japan, the system works perfectly with the devotion, dedication, determination and above all highly satisfied sense of sacrifice of the Japanese women who are ready to play a more significant role in the competitive world of today and tomorrow. We can very aptly conclude that “In the land of the rising sun, there is always a sun and sun is a woman”.