The Mainstreaming of Feminism and the Politics of Backlash in Twenty-First-Century Japan

Bibliographic Data

ID23194486
AuthorsT Yamaguchi (0000-0002-3267-3782, corresponding author)
Year2017
Publication date2017-12-31
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeCHAPTER
VenueRethinking Japanese Feminisms (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherUniversity of Hawai'i Press (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.21313/hawaii/9780824866693.003.0005
OpenAlexW2804778782
ISBN9780824866693
LanguageEN
Citations received6

Japan’s Gender Equality Law was introduced in 1999, followed by the passage of municipal gender equality ordinances throughout the country. A backlash against feminism then occurred as a reaction to the perceived “invasion” of feminism in the local political arena. Based on the author’s long-term fieldwork with anti-feminist conservatives, the chapter discusses the conflicts between feminists and conservatives in local communities, particularly concerning gender equality ordinances in Ube City in Yamaguchi prefecture and Miyakonojō City in Miyazaki Prefecture. These examples demonstrate that the way that gender equality ordinances were introduced and imposed from the center to the periphery, as well as questions of sexual orientation, were the anti-feminists’ prime concerns. The chapter also addresses the recent state of feminism, especially under the ultra-conservative Abe administration, in power since 2012. Both feminist and anti-feminist movements were at a crossroads in the changing landscape of a politically charged Japan since the early 2000s.

Backlash · Feminism · Gender equality · Gender mainstreaming · Mainstreaming · Political science · Politics · Power (physics) · Sociology · State (computer science) · Engineering · Gender Politics and Representation · Gender Studies · Japanese History and Culture · Law · Social Policy and Reform Studies

Tools

Open DOILibgen