Gendered power relations in the digital age: an analysis of Japanese women’s media choice and use within a global context

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study investigates the persistence of gendered choice and use of media, particularly in Japanese domestic settings. It shows how women’s significant presence in the digital media environment does not necessarily translate into substantial changes in gendered power dynamics in choosing and using particular media for certain purposes at home. This project’s authors, researchers from Argentina, Finland, Israel, Japan, and the US, analyzed interview data from Japan by drawing on the Foucauldian concept of micro-level power, which is categorized into three main types: personal authority, media affordances, and space-time constellations. Through this process, we interviewed 77 individuals, revealing that persistent gendered media choices and use exist in Japan. The project team also looked for similar cases in other countries for further theoretical implications. As a result of this investigation, we argue that the patriarchy continues to influence women’s choice and use of media at home even in this media-saturated digital age. Our interview data show that “old media” such as radio, television, newspaper, and magazines not only mediate information and entertainment contents at home, but also structure people’s quotidian use of media, both old and new, and sustains existing gendered assumptions and values.