Gender-Politics in Contemporary Japanese Society

Abstract

After the second wave of feminism in the 1960's, international gender politics widely developed. However, among economically developed countries, concerning gender politics, Japan has greatly lagged behind and can be called an exception.
In this paper I will first point out the outline of the postwar Japanese women's issues (gender bias in the labor policy, social policy and social consciousness) and men's issues (Karoshi=death from overwork, increasing suicide-rates of middle-aged men and so on).
In the second place, I will survey the gender politics of the world (problems of unpaid work reproductive health-rights, positive action etc.), referring to the strategy for the involvement of men in the gender politics and to queer(or sexual minority) politics.
Thirdly, I will give an overview of Japanese gender politics in the late 1990's, describing some characteristics of the Japanese governmental process concerning gender issues.
Lastly, I will take notice of "backrush" movement against Japanese gender politics that just began developing in the 21^st century.