Institut français de recherche sur le Japon à la Maison franco-japonaise (Umifre 19, MEAE-CNRS)

Japan has an infamously large gender gap, yet Japanese women seem to display less overt anger than their sisters elsewhere, and in surveys they report higher levels of happiness than Japanese men do. This presentation situates the answer to this puzzle in the intersection of social expectations and the Japanese employment system, which simultaneously represses women, provides stability to their families, and makes women’s lot look better by overworking men. Economic, demographic, and political pressures for change are mounting, but until better alternatives are offered, support for the traditional employment system, with all its rigidity and constraints, is likely to remain surprisingly high.

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Speaker
Gregory W. Noble is a professor of politics and public administration in the Institute of Social Science at the University of Tokyo. Among his publications are Collective Action in East Asia: How Ruling Parties Shape Industrial Policy, “Government-Business Relations in Democratizing Asia,” “The Chinese Auto Industry as Challenge, Opportunity and Partner,” “The Decline of Particularism in Japanese Politics,” and “Staffing the [Japanese] State with Women.”

Moderator: Jean-Pascal BASSINO (French Research Institute on Japan - MFJ)
Organization: FRIJ-MFJ
Co-organization: CCI France Japon
Support: French Embassy in Japan