Woman's_Talk_Isn't_Limited_to_the_Village

Woman’s Talk Isn't Limited to the Village ‘Women's wisdom is as long as their nose,’ is just one of many translated Japanese proverbs about the inferiority of women in the Eastern culture (Ajita-Sinde, 1). Others mention a woman’s lack of knowledge of the outside world besides their village or even warns a man not to smile at a girl in fear of being taken advantage of. Old proverbs like these date back to times when the women in the Japanese culture were strictly child-bearers who were subservient to their husbands. In more recent years, the society has tried to hold onto their traditions, but since westernization has had an impact in society women’s roles have begun to change. Traditional gender roles of Japan have ultimately changed forever due to westernization, women’s rights and political modernization. Westernization has inspired Japanese women begin to erase the gender roles from modern society. But even today they “ hold only 10 percent of the seats in Japan's parliament and account for only 10 percent of senior management in Japanese business” (Hall). Employers are untrusting of the female populous because they believe that the women in their workforce are there for part-time work until they become pregnant. That’s why women are not promoted to higher positions. Japan isn’t the only country that still holds on to traditions; America also expects women to be the stay-at-home parent while the man is the breadwinner. Westernization in this aspect has both helped and hurt their society. On one hand, women are able to freely express themselves, but they’re also chained down by the gender stereotypes even in the Modern day. Traditionally, the Japanese household was strictly run by the male figure while the female did her expected duties like raising children, cooking, and cleaning for the family. Women weren’t allowed to speak freely, or vote before the Constitution of Japan was enacted postwar on May 3rd, 1947. Now women are able to make an impact in their society. OneWomen stated, “During the simultaneous local elections held in April 1999, women’s vote rate exceeded that of men in most of the constituencies, which had a great influence on the election results” (1). Women are running for office and slowly but surely gaining a foot-hold in Japanese government. Workforces now have a greater percentage of women but are still having trouble receiving equal pay. If gender roles keep changing for the better, women will be able to be seen as equals not only in politics, but also in the household. In the past, Japan has only had eight empresses and it’s believed that they were only kept because “..Their successors always went back to a male of the paternal Imperial bloodline, which is why some conservative scholars argue that the women's reigns were temporary and that male-only succession tradition must be maintained.” (Yoshida) They were not important, and in more recent empirical rule, women we’re allowed to rule. Just like in America, there hasn’t been a woman who has been head of the government. Fortunately though, women are now allowed to participate in the politics of Japan and there’s a record breaking total of 2,400 candidates that were put into office around the country (OneWomen, 1). Even if there hasn’t been a female prime minister doesn’t mean there won’t be one eventually. Gender roles are unfortunate, but unavoidable. Society has made us all expect women to be lower than men, not just in Japan but in America too. Thankfully there has been progress in the past 100 years of Japan’s history. The roles of women have changed a little but not enough to where they’re not expected to just have children. Hopefully in the future their society will become completely accepting of the fact that women are on the same level as men.