抄録
The elimination of child labor is an important policy concern in many developing countries.
In today's era of globalization, the child labor problem is not necessarily perceived as one that is unique to developing countries; advanced countries must also share concern for this issue.
Advanced countries have also once undergone the struggle against child labor on their path to advancement. Their experience may serve as a guide to its eradication in developing countries.
In this paper, the author examines the history of child labor in Japan, taking into considerations gender differences. Japan is rather different from other advanced countries in terms of how its economic development has taken place and the changes in family structure and gender relations. The historical lessons of Japan may be able to provide some policy implications for some Asian countries whose child labor problems can be considered as relating to gender bias.
In Japan, there is a typical view of children according to which “children are treasures”, as seen in the Japanese poetry of Yamanoue no Okura. Some researchers indicate that Japan's industrialization did not lead to extensive use of child labor, in contrast with the British cotton-spinning industry, because of such unique family values. There are extremely few studies purely focused on child labor itself in Japan.
However, we cannot overlook the fact that there seems to be a gender gap. In the Edo era, destitute families were officially permitted to sell their daughters as prostitutes to licensed brothels. Many girls went out and worked as nursemaids (komori) to support their families and to reduce the number of mouths to feed at home. In the Meiji era, many girls from poor peasant families became cheap laborers in factories of industries such as silk reeling and spinning. Despite rapid modernization, their employment conditions remained primitive and their recruitment was no more than a form of human trafficking. Thus, the girls in particular, have been involved in child labor throughout history. We stress that the child labor problem in Japan could be considered as one of gender.
In fact, although the twenty-first century has arrived, problems of child labor are still persist in Japan. The problems are particularly noticeable in terms of the commercial exploitation of sex. The Japanese example will show that the consideration of the gender perspective is essential when formulating policies for the eradication of child labor.
