WOMEN'S MARITAL STATUS AND HOUSING TENURE IN THE CONTEXT OF JAPAN'S HOME-OWNING SOCIETY

Abstract

This paper explores the differentiation of housing trajectories among Japanese women with particular reference to their marital status. Japan's home-owning society is explicitly organized around the normative model of male-breadwinner family. However, increasing numbers of married women with considerable incomes tend to facilitate their own home ownership as well as household housing acquisition, while never-married women and those divorced, who are often non-regular workers with low incomes, are largely excluded from the property ownership based society. This implies a decline in the traditional family model of Japan's homeowner society. The paper concludes with an analysis of women's housing stratification with marital status and economic position as key variables.