Comparative Perspectives on Gender Equality in Japan and Norway

Same but Different?

Masako Ishii-Kuntz, Guro Korsnes Kristensen, Priscilla Ringrose, Masako Ishii-Kuntz, Guro Korsnes Kristensen, Priscilla Ringrose

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN:
  9781032027968
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781000528497
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Gender Studies
• Index: Social Sciences

This book compares perspectives on gender equality in Norway and Japan, focusing on family, education, media, and sexuality and reproduction as seen through a gendered lens. What can we learn from a comparison between two countries that stand in significant contrast to each other with respect to gender equality? Norway and Japan differ in terms of historical, cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds. Most importantly, Japan lags far behind Norway when it comes to the World Economic Forum's Gender Gap Report. Rather than taking a narrow approachthat takes as its starting point the assumption that Norway has so much 'more' to offer in terms of gender equality, the authors attempt to show that a comparative perspective of two countries in the West and East can be mutually beneficial to both contexts in the advancement of gender equality. The interdisciplinary team of researchers contributing to this book cover a range of contemporary topics in gender equality, includingfatherhood and masculinity, teaching and learning in gender studies education, cultural depictions of gender, trans experiences and feminism. This unique collection is suitable for researchers and students of gender studies, sociology, anthropology, Japan studies and European studies.

1 Introduction: Comparative perspectives on gender in Japan and Norway

Masako Ishii-Kuntz, Guro Korsnes Kristensen, and Priscilla Ringrose

DOI: 10.4324/9781003185222-1

Gender equality in Japan and Norway

Both Japan and Norway are advanced economies with highly developed technological infrastructures. They ranked highly in the United Nation’s 2020 ‘Human Development Index,’ which lists Norway at the top and Japan at 19th out of 189 countries and territories (United Nations, 2020). Japan’s ranking is the second highest (after Hong Kong) among East Asian countries. Most importantly for the focus of this volume, we note that both the Japanese and Norwegian governments have been making concerted and sustained efforts to promote gender equality at all societal levels.

These two nations, however, differ significantly in terms of historical, cultural, geopolitical and socio-economic backgrounds. We cannot ignore the fact that Japan scores much lower than Norway when it comes to achieving gender parity in economic and political participation as evidenced in the WEF’s ‘Gender Gap Report’ (2021). In line with this, Norway is often portrayed as a pioneer nation in gender equality. Indeed, gender equality is also claimed to be at the core of the Norwegian cultural identity (Danielsen et al., 2013; Gullikstad et al., 2016). Japan, on the other hand, is better known for its lack of gender equality and emphasis on separate gendered spheres, as exemplified by the extensive application of gender segregation. This is somewhat surprising, given that it is a wealthy, secular country with a highly educated population. Additionally, the COVID-19 crisis, and the subsequent closure of children’s schools, has widened the gender gap in Japan, accelerating the domestic demands and decreased employment opportunities for women. The pandemic has also had a negative impact on gender equality in the Norwegian context. As Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg declared in her speech about COVID-19 to the Reykjavik Global Forum – Women Leaders 2020, ‘The pandemic’s impact on women has been evident in our own country as well. We see that unpaid care work at home is not evenly distributed between men and women. Women spend more time than their partners on household chores and taking care of their children, no matter how much they work outside the home’ (Thorbecke, 2020).

While Japan and Norway are ranked very differently in WEF’s ‘Gender Gap Report,’ aspects of the Norwegian labour market complicate this polarised picture of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ or ‘pioneer’ and ‘backward’ states in regard to gender equality. For example, the Norwegian labour market is highly gender-segregated along occupational lines (Reisel et al., 2019), and Norway is among the countries with the largest STEM gender gaps in education (Stoet and Geary, 2018). And, while Norway is considered to be a bastion of gender equality, it has a long history of ignoring its problems with domestic racism, including widespread social mistrust of non-Western immigrants, a bias it shares with Japan.

A few words on the definitions of gender and gender equality are in order. Certainly, feminist and queer theory, LGBTQ activism and legal innovations have complicated conventional notions of gender. However, many of the sources explored in this volume, from laws and public policies to the popular culture of TV comedies and advertisements, uphold a normative view of a cisgendered binary. Families tend to be defined as comprised of a male-identified father married to a female-identified mother, who typically raise two children. Nonetheless, our volume strives to include analysis of the experiences, legal challenges and resistances of those who do not conform to this binary.

This volume also shows how definitions of ‘gender equality’ have changed over time in Japan and Norway, both reinforcing and challenging historical beliefs, concerns for national identity and welfare, and individual human rights. The aim of this anthology is to understand how gender is intertwined in the dimensions of family and home, education, media, sexuality and reproduction by comparing these issues across the two countries. In doing so, we take an open approach to the notion of gender equality, noting the changes in its definition in the two contexts and exploring the ways in which gender equality has been inflected globally. This exploration aims to capture cross-cultural similarities and differences, with cultural meaning-making in focus. In this introductory chapter, we start by outlining this comparative approach before contextualising the overall study by looking at broad historical and sociodemographic dimensions around gender in both Japan and Norway. We conclude by introducing the individual chapters.

Exploring gender equality in Japan and Norway: The challenges and opportunities of cross-cultural research

This volume investigates the forms and contents of gender equality from a localised and historicised perspective, taking into account the concept’s complexity and fluidity. Such an approach interrogates universalist assumptions and understandings of gender equality and assumes that gender intersects with other socially differentiating categories such as sexuality and socio-economic class (Cho et al., 2013; Davis, 2008; Manalansan, 2006; Purkayastha, 2012). Writing about the challenge that qualitative researchers face when attempting to reconcile complexity, detail and context, especially when undertaking cross-cultural research, Mangen refers to the crucial importance of ‘reflexivity,’ by which is meant ‘the ability of researchers to take stock of their actions and their role in the research process’ (Mangen, 1999, p. 110). Mangen deferring to Silverman’s recommendations (1993) comments that when undertaking cross-cultural research, where attempts at ‘wide contextualization’ are often insufficient to provide adequate understanding of the phenomena being investigated, researchers should avoid being tempted by ‘polar explanatory opposites’ and be open to multifaceted analysis (1999, 110). In examining gender equality across Japan and Norway, we too strove to be open to comparative perspectives which did not pit both countries as polar opposites in terms of gender equality. Rather, we sought to remain open to the many paradoxes of equality and the challenges common to both countries, whether it comes to areas like work–home balance, restrictions on assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) or the lived experience of trans people.

Salway et al. (2011) point to other potential challenges which cross-national comparative research brings into play including developing meaningful conceptual frameworks adapted to both contexts and avoiding generalised or essentialised categorisations within national contexts in the interest of synchronisation. They also caution against the tendency to produce analyses at the superficial level that reinforce independent country descriptions rather than generating integrated insights. Additionally, we need to remind ourselves that in some chapters due to the fact that the researchers and most of their interview participants, especially in Japan, were able to speak English, our interviewees had experiences of gender that may be distinct from the majority of those in Japan.

At the same time, Salway et al. (2011) assert that there are many ways in which cross-national comparative research can potentially strengthen the rigor and utility of research by researchers engaging in both ideological and methodological reflexivity. They also point to the potential of such research to raise awareness of the social and historical contingency of conceptual and methodological frameworks, as well as direct more attention to the need for research that has to take on board wider geopolitical contexts (Salway et al., 2011). Cross-national research also allows researchers to look at familiar data from new perspectives, questioning fixed groups and categories and engaging in analyses which take into account local, national and global impacts on specific phenomena (Salway et al., 2011). When employing such multi-layered analytical perspectives, cross-national research teams benefit from productive exchanges of ideas and experiences, which often result in conceptual and methodological innovation (Salway et al., 2011).

The starting point of this book occurred through such an exchange of ideas and experiences between two research teams. It is part of an ongoing collaborative project entitled Norway–Japan: Bridging Research and Education in Gender Equality and Diversity, which is funded by the Research Council of Norway (2020). Most of the researchers contributing to this volume are affiliated either with the Center for Gender Studies of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU, Trondheim) or the Institute for Gender Studies (IGS) at Ochanomizu University (Tokyo). These authors have a range of disciplinary backgrounds, including gender studies, sociology, anthropology and film studies. The collaboration has proved productive for several reasons. Namely, the project has increased awareness of the socially and historically embedded nature of gender equality, enhanced our appreciation of the need to take into account both localised perspectives within Japan and Norway as well as wider sociopolitical and geopolitical considerations, and, finally, drawn our attention to critical reflectivity in terms of our methodological choices.

As a result of the exchange of ideas across research teams, most of the chapters are co-authored by both Japanese and Norwegian researchers, while others have been authored by a researcher from one national context with feedback from researchers in the other context. The researchers engaged with a variety of data, including questionnaires, interviews, governmental documents, advertisements and films. We have used different comparative methods, including generating parallel data in both countries, comparing similar types of data (such as policy documents relating to similar thematic areas) and comparing cultural products which shared themes. For example, for Chapter 7 on women in academia, Norwegian researchers interviewed academics in both Japan and Norway on their career trajectories, using the same interview guide. While the research was mostly undertaken by researchers from Norway, Japanese colleagues helped with the recruitment of informants and interpretation of results. In Chapter 10 on trans experiences in Japan and Norway, another interview-based chapter, the Norwegian interviews were conducted alone by the Norway-based author, while in Japan the two authors conducted the majority together.

In the chapters based on documentary or media analysis, language constraints necessitated that Japanese and Norwegian researchers worked on each data set separately. As Mangen (1999) notes, the linguistic dimension of cross-cultural research cannot be disengaged from the cultural context, nor from the specific way the discipline(s) involved have evolved within the national context. Chapter 12 on ARTs for example brought together two specialists in reproduction in both national contexts, who analysed policy and media documents in Japan and Norway, before identifying points of common concern and interest.

Finally, a couple of the chapters discuss cultural phenomena. In Chapter 8, two Norwegian researchers compared two historical comedies that parody modern men’s working and domestic lives in Japan and Norway. A Japanese colleague assisted the authors in their study of the Japanese film by providing an English transcription of the script, details on the historical background, feedback on their interpretations of the films and wider knowledge on the generic antecedents of the Japanese filmic genres involved. Such collegial dialogues across all the chapters were crucial to engendering the new perspectives which cross-cultural research affords.

Gender equality in Japan and Norway: A brief historical review

The year 1970 marks the beginning of Norway’s second wave feminist movement, as it was the year the Norwegian Association for Women’s Rights organised its first large meeting in Oslo (Danielsen et al., 2013). In the following months, many women’s groups formed across Norway, increasingly attracting media attention. These groups discussed various issues, including women’s housing problems and labour force participation. Although the issues were diverse, the second wave feminism increased women’s solidarity across different layers of the population by encouraging women to join forces to realise gender equality. Representing a different sensibility of women, these widespread movements marked a significant departure from the first wave feminism, which had had a limited impact on Norwegian society (Blom et al., 2005).

In 1970, a new women’s liberation movement called ‘Woman Lib’ emerged in Japan from the New Left and radical student movements of the late 1960s. This movement was in sync with radical feminist movements in the United States and elsewhere. The activists forwarded a comprehensive critique of the male-dominated nature of modern Japan, arguing for a fundamental change in the political–economic system and culture of the society. What distinguished them from previous feminist movements was their emphasis on the liberation of women’s sexuality. They did not aim for equality with men, but rather focused on the fact that men should also be liberated from the oppressive aspects of a patriarchal and capitalist system. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1979 was ratified by the Japanese government in 1985.

The brief overview of the history of feminism and the related movements reveals striking similarities between Norway and Japan. In both nations, though gender equality and women’s rights were considered important agendas since the mid-19th century, women’s suffrage was not introduced until the first half of the 20th century. Additionally, in both countries, it was the second wave feminism which fervently pushed for women’s rights and gender equality. These similarities are especially noteworthy given the differences in the degree of gender equality in contemporary Norwegian and Japanese societies.

Structure of the volume

This book is organised according to contributions that address various dimensions of gender-related issues in Japan and Norway. It is divided into five parts, plus an introduction and a concluding chapter. Altogether, there are 14 chapters that focus on issues related to gender in Japan and Norway. These chapters all share the common theme of looking at gender issues from compara...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• List of figures
• List of tables
• List of contributors
• Preface and acknowledgements
• 1 Introduction: Comparative perspectives on gender in Japan and Norway
• Part I: Family and home
• Part II: Education
• Part III: Media
• Part IV: Sexuality and reproduction
• Part V: Dialogue
• Index