Page 16 RAIN Spring 1986 Women: Carriers of Citizens ’ Movements Women's position in Japan is changing, but not without ample resistance. Mostforeign women I talked with expressed having some difficulty with how women were treated in Japan. But there are trade-offs, too. In at least one way women in Japan are morefree than in America. Because ofthe low crime rate, and an excellent urban transportation system, women (and children) are able to travel about by themselves, and at night. Then there's marriage. Even the mostprogressive people I met with seldom questioned the act ofmarriage. There were exceptions. One couple got married and divorced annually in order that the wife could keep her own name—the only way to beat the controversal Family Registration Law. In one instance a woman who wanted tofollow her career was living in Tokyo while her husband lived 300 miles south in Osaka. But then she, like many others with unorthodox ideas about relationships, had lived many years overseas. Only one couple I met were living together unmarried and with a child. In thefollowing article, Verena Burkolter-Trachsel describes how women play a vital role in grassroots Japan. Most everywhere I went it was women who were, as Verena descibes it, the carriers, ifnot always the leaders. Ms. Burkolter-Trachsel and her husband are resident directors ofthe Swiss operated Kyoto International Student House. She has also been studying Kyoto citizens movement groups with a fellowshipfrom the Truman Foundation. —SJ by Verena Burkolter-Trachsel Carriers of citizens movements in Japan are mostly women, but the leaders are men from the cultural field and universities. In order to explain this phenomenon you need a general background of women's position in Japan. The educational standard of Japanese women has been changing. There is a steady increase in enrollment in four-year universities, although the standard is still the two-year women's university. Participation in the labor force has also increased. Until 30 years ago most women only worked until they got married, but more recently 70 percent of the working women are married. Forty-eight percent of the women over 15 are working, but half of these are only part-time. Women may work, but they may meet with some problems. Only 55 percent of large Japanese companies open the way for promotion of women. Women have a difficult time obtaining managementjobs and their salaries are on the average 54 percent of men's wages. In politics, female representation in the Diet and other legislative bodies is still very low. As of August 1982 both the House of Representatives and the House of Councilors counted only 25 women members, or 3.3 percent of the total membership. The figure is even lower in local assemblies, particularly in the rural areas. A recent survey showed that women in Japan are better informed politically than men. And whereas the range of interest of men is very narrow (job and sports for example), women are socially and politically highly motivated. Traditionally, women are inside the house (managing the budget and all major decisions pertaining to the education of their children), and men are outside the house. Nowadays the outside part means only job and recreation, whereas the inside part includes participation in the wider society, for instance, working in one or several citizen groups, neighborhood groups and so on. Women are thus getting a higher level of education, yet still find limited opportunities in occupational and political worlds. There seems to be two types of reactions to this: to be silent and withdraw, as is the case with older women, or various modes of social protest with younger women. Another factor that leads to women's high level of participation in citizen's movements is the fact that the vast majority of middle-class men (Sarari-men) are reluctant to participate in activities due to their companies' open or hidden policies against such participation. For example, the “Movement Against Fingerprinting” finds mostly women who actively resist the obligatory fingerprinting for foreigners—^mostly Koreans. The women participating in this movement now face the first court-hearings, knowing that in either case, the verdict means a “loss of face” and in practical terms the loss of a job, and maybe even jobs for their children. An interesting example of a movement initiated by women is the Tsukai Suite Jidai O Kanagaeru Kai (“To not throw away”) group. Typically, it grew out of a study group with a very specific aim (food and insecticides) and a small number of participants, at a Christian Community Center in Osaka. Within a year the membership grew to 100 women who, as well as studying, began to do something practical. They bought good and healthful eggs together. They reached out and The Other Japan
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