The influence of the British women’s suffrage movement upon the emergence and development of the Japanese women’s movement

Abstract

While 2018 celebrated the centenary of some British women’s being granted the parliamentary vote, Japanese women did not obtain voting rights until 1945 when the allied commander of the post-war occupation of Japan, Douglas MacArthur, directed to enact a democratic constitution including women’s franchise. Consequently, Japanese women’s suffrage was called ‘MacArthur’s gift’, which gives one an impression that there was no women’s suffrage activity before 1945. However, in the Taisho and early Showa periods some women’s enfranchisement campaigns were conducted by Japanese feminists such as Raicho Hiratsuka, Fusae Ichikawa and Mumeo Oku. They were fully aware of the active women’s suffrage movement led by the Pankhursts and Mrs Fawcett. Although some English publications have covered the development of the Japanese women’s suffrage movement, existing work hardly attempted to establish a link between the British and the Japanese women’s franchise movements, and to discuss the former’s influence upon the latter. This chapter traces when and how the campaigns of the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) and the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies were reported in the Japanese press. What impact did the press coverage have on the emergence and further development of Japanese women’s movement? Had some of the Japanese activists, who were inspired by the WSPU, ever considered using militancy to promote their campaigns? What were the major characteristics of the Japanese women’s movements, especially regarding women’s franchise? To what extent had they succeeded before 1945? These key questions are answered. Moreover, the major activities and achievements of Fusae Ichikawa, the figurehead of the Japanese women’s suffrage movement, is examined in comparison with British equivalents such as Emmeline Pankhurst and Mrs Fawcett.