User:Cognitura/Gender inequality in Japan

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Lead
Even in the modern era, gender inequality remains an issue in Japan''. In the 2019 Gender Inequality Index report, it was ranked 17th out of the participating 162 countries, ahead of Germany, the UK and the US, performing especially well on the reproductive health and higher education attainment indices. Despite this, gender inequality still exists in Japan due to the persistence of gender norms in Japanese society rooted in traditional religious values and government reforms. Gender-based inequality manifests in various aspects from the family, or ' ie,'  to political representation, to education, playing particular roles in employment opportunities and income, and occurs largely as a result of defined roles in traditional and modern Japanese society. Inequality also lies within divorce of heterosexual couples and the marriage of same sex couples due to both a lack of protective divorce laws and the presence of restrictive marriage laws.'' In consequence to these traditional gender roles, self-rated health surveys show variances in reported poor health, population decline, reinforced gendered education and social expectations, and inequalities in the LGBTQ+ community.

Women in Politics OR The Equal Employment Opportunity Law
According to the Inter-parliamentary Union (5, 183), female representation within Japanese politics fell from 79th out of 177 countries in 1997 to 165th out of 193 countries in 2019. This comes in spite of a call from the United Nations to increase female representation in politics and a successful election of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) where more women were elected to office. However, the DPJ made no reforms for further election or the prioritization of women in office, and due to poor performance, the party dissolved in 2017. "In 2014, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe placed five women into political roles within his cabinet. Of these, only three kept their positions due to scandals related to workplace sexism. (with citation)" [copied from Gender inequality in Japan]

Meiji Japan
Between 1878 and 1883, when the Meiji government restructured the state, Japanese women's political and legal rights were significantly reduced. This restructure paved the way for solidifying Japan's legal structure, but introduced new laws and terms regarding kōmin, "citizens or subjects," and kōken/ri, "public rights." Following additional laws regarding male-only succession, women were excluded from these classifications. As such, they were barred from voting and participation in politics. These restructures were influenced by France and other European countries, which were visited by hōsei kanryō, "young legislative bureaucrats," elite young men who would meld European law and theory with traditional Tokugawa samurai teachings, which were paternalistic. These laws would remain in place until WWII, with a few exceptions.

Family Values
[Japan's family dynamics...]

"Following World War II, the "professional housewife" or sengyō shufu, arose. The idea of professionalism regarding this type of domestic labor is similar to any other profession, as it requires significant knowledge, skill, and at least partial autonomy." The primary role for a professional housewife is childrearing, which remains a highly stigmatized topic for women and married couples, wherein only 2% of children are born out of wedlock, and women who do not marry or have children after marriage are met with social "hostility." In a 2013 poll, over 50% of twenty-year-old participants confirmed the traditional gendered labor division of men working outside the home and women within, which is even further enforced through tax policies regarding primary and secondary income sources.

[...]

Religion
The “Feminism, Religion, and Peace Group” (フェミニズム・宗教・平和の会) was founded in 1986 and led by the late Okuda Akiko 奥田暁子 and Okano Haruko 岡野治子. It began with the publication of the journal Womanspirit. This group was patroned by women of Christian and Buddhist religions, who gathered to discuss traditional androcentric Buddhist teachings in connection with their own experiences in an effort to realign tradition and contemporary feminist theology, and "overcome traditional gender discrimination in Judeo-Christian religions."

["Gender roles in Japan...]

Gender inequality in education
(reordering and combining sections)

[In Japanese society...]

Contrarily [in 2018...]

Higher education comes with different social expectations for men and women. While a college-educated man might have an advantage with marriage, the same cannot be said for women. Additionally, nearly 76% of parents expected some form of financial support from their sons, while only 6% had similar expectations from their daughters. This stems from the labor gap between men and women, as the financial return is likely to be higher for men.

LGBTQ+ marriage rights and violence in law
[Same sex marriage...]

LGBTQ+ people report lower wages and lower work satisfaction compared to the heterosexual colleagues. Only very few companies have antidiscrimination policies, thus derogatory comments about LGBTQ+ people are fairly common, and as such, many keep their identities and preferences a secret to avoid discrimination and harassment. Due to the perceived social importance of marriage, single men are often passed for promotions as they are seen lacking leadership and managerial skills, while women in their 30s also become stagnant, as that is the age where women typically marry and start a family. This social view on marriage perpetuates career inequalities for LGBTQ+ individuals.

Self-Rated Health
The United Nations Development Programme correlates the Human Development Index with the Gender Empowerment measure. That is, the lower women's social status, the lower overall social health, which includes men. However, Japan and South Korea are outliers.

While there was almost no gender gap in poor SRH in Japan, men reported a higher prevalence of poor SRH in late-middle age to old age (50-70 years). There are two notable social implications that may explain the difference in rates. First, it may be a product of Japanese "masculinity" and the social norms surrounding poor health, i.e. smoking, drinking, poor diet, and delaying medical attention when needed. Secondly, many of men's social relations revolve around work, and at retirement these relationships disappear, which may impact their mental health.