Japanese Woman as Housewife, Mother, and Worker

Abstract

Since this paragraph discusses in part Chapter Six, the word count is above 120.Social-political history in modern and post-modern Japan (1868–2010) reveals cultural changes that depict women’s status in society, especially on the evolving role of motherhood from the late 1890s. This suggests how the social paradigm of woman-as-mother may have contributed to the emotional ties between mother and child and how this sheds light on the impact of child loss in recent decades. Such an image, however, can obscure recognition of how differently individual women pattern their lives to fulfill their roles as mother, wife, and worker. Just as ideological constructions of women's roles vary in modern Japanese history, women's responses are shaped not only by circumstances but by their own choices. They are not only acted upon; they need also to be viewed as actors. To illuminate this material, the chapter utilizes diverse disciplinary approaches, historical perspectives, anthropological materials, demographic and life course studies, literary works, and gender studies.