How Foreign Religious Influences Contributed to Discriminatory Practices Against Women in Japan

Abstract

This paper aims to argue how the intermingling between Japanese culture and cultures of other nations resulted in the lesser evaluation of women in Japanese religious circles. By analyzing religious texts and figures from the Jomon period (14,000 BCE–300CE) through to the twentieth century it can be observed that contact with foreign religions diminished the status of women in Japanese society. This highlights the links between the imported values from Buddhism, Confucianism and Christianity and the decrease in the veneration of women in Japanese religious contexts, increase in misogynistic understandings of women and slandering of once respected female rulers. These foreign influences continue to define the manner women in Japan are treated to this day.