Women, Education, and Society in Postwar Japan

The Fall of Imperial Japan and the Shock of Occupation

At the end of World War II, Japan was a nation devastated by defeat, psychologically traumatized by the impact of two atomic bombs, and bereft of resources. It would thus be a nation ripe for dramatic reinvention — reinvention that would occur in the image of its Western occupiers. Steeped in the implications, tastes, and peculiarities of Eastern life, Japan is also an example of Western integration at its most thorough, with U.S.-led modernization battling Japanese tradition throughout the postwar era.

The first major blow to Japanese tradition was the surrender of Emperor Hirohito, whose name itself translates to the claim that he was bestowed upon the people by heaven. The Japanese royal legacy was directly correlated to the popular understanding of the Shinto faith, which gave divine sanction to the ruling family. As such, the emperor was generally believed by his subjects to be more than a man — he was a symbol of Japan itself. His radio address to the people on August 14, 1945, admitting defeat and asking all Japanese citizens to follow suit, was therefore inescapably devastating to the psyche of an entire nation. Thousands of years of imperial rule effectively came to an end when Emperor Hirohito advised those loyal to him to accept the terms of the conquerors.

Those terms were nothing short of complete submission to the United States. When the Japanese were forced to accept the radical circumstances of military occupation and realignment in a Western image, the emperor's authority was subverted to little more than an honorary title. A famous photograph depicting Supreme Allied Commander Douglas MacArthur towering over his recently deposed opponent presented the Japanese people with an image that shattered all illusions.

Modernization, Capitalism, and the Emergence of Japanese Feminism

These illusions would continue to be dismantled as the forces of capitalism prompted the modernization of Japanese society. With this came a transition in the role that women had long played as subordinates to male desires and ambitions. Accordingly, a woman born during this period would find the first glimpses of feminism in modern Japan.

It was at this juncture that "a group of women called themselves 'Tatakau Onnatachi' — 'Women Who Fight,' or 'Fighting Women.' They were part of a movement of women's liberationists, disillusioned with the sexism of their male comrades in the 'New Left' and vigilant about threats to their bodily autonomy through proposals to tighten Japan's relatively liberal postwar abortion laws" (Mackie, 1). In Mackie's view, these women had much in common with feminists in other nations coming to embrace the implications of democracy and capitalist modernization. Mackie particularly emphasizes the connection between the forces of modernization and the inherent departure from tradition — in this case, departure from long-standing traditions of patriarchy. These, Mackie indicates, extended from the hierarchical prerogatives of the shoguns who led Japan into war. Accordingly, Mackie defines the transition from feudalism into capitalism as modernization, and connects it with a thrust toward more progressive gender orientation.

Mixed Signals: Women Between Tradition and Modernity

And yet, the experience for a young woman born into postwar Japan was one of mixed signals. Mackie reports that this was a period in which the patriarchal structures of Japanese society were essentially transformed into many of the same imbalances found in industrialized societies elsewhere. The projection of the female as wife, mother, and homemaker became a particular feature of the newly stabilizing, occupied nation. Accordingly, Japanese women struggled to obtain the independence and personal advancement that were key features of the feminist movement throughout the world, without sacrificing their roles within the context of family and community.

In many ways, this dilemma strikes at the heart of Japan's broader postwar predicament. The nation was forced to reexamine itself in search of a balance between the modernity demanded by its headlong entry into a capitalist rebuilding process and its desire to retain identity by preserving core Japanese traditions. There was natural frustration among the Japanese people, who initially viewed MacArthur and the United States as a threat to their way of life — a concern not without some evidentiary basis. But for women, Western influence would help open certain pathways to personal advancement. According to Mackie, "the women's liberation movement developed out of a critique of modern Japanese capitalism, a dissatisfaction with the sexism of the New Left, and the need of women in Japan to theorise their place in East Asia" (p. 4).

Education Reform and the 1947 Fundamental Law of Education

Among the forces that significantly aided women's ability to establish an independent identity was the new set of doors opened by the shift in Japan's educational principles. The goals of modernization and capitalist advancement — which would ultimately call for more opportunities for women to contribute — demanded an emphasis on education in the evolving Japanese state. This was demonstrated concretely by policies that passed into law concurrent with the 1947 ratification of Japan's Constitution. Particularly, the Fundamental Law of Education made education compulsory at all levels leading up to university schooling, and two important aspects of modern Japan emerged from this development.

First, this created a new level of access to education and opportunity previously inaccessible to women. As Mackie reports, "the early liberals challenged Confucian prescriptions which prevented women from receiving an education in anything other than needlework and household tasks. They argued for new forms of education which would train women to be mothers of the nation, capable of training their sons to be loyal subjects and disciplined soldiers" (p. 25). The implication here is that while family roles were largely prescribed in ways reflecting the gendered nature of global politics, modernization would also gradually improve the opportunities available to women and help facilitate the feminist movement that emerged thereafter.

Works Cited

Mackie, V. (2003). Feminism in Modern Japan: Citizenship, Embodiment and Sexuality.

Wikipedia. (2010). Fundamental Law of Education. Wikimedia, Ltd. Inc.