The Role of Women During The Meiji Restoration Essay Example

Before the Meiji Restoration, women in Japanese society were deprived of their rights to work, instead, they were considered more useful as a housewife. With the few women that did work, they were treated poorly and often suffered serious mental and physical health risks. During the Meiji Restoration, many job opportunities opened up allowing for the need for women workers. Through this, women gained some work opportunities, but ultimately, they were underpaid and worked in terrible conditions. Today, there have been occurrences where people are committing suicide from overworking, known as “karoshi”; and this issue has yet to spark a change in the Japanese work system. These ongoing negative representations with regard to working in Japan have sparked fear in women giving them no motivation to work. Although it is believed that many women are not allowed to work in Japanese society, is this issue necessarily true, or are women making decisions on whether or not they want to work?

Japanese women are extremely important in making household decisions, especially in financial situations. The cultural norm in Japanese families is for the husband to work to support their family and the wife to make all family decisions, including taking care of their children. In the Japanese culture, there is no such thing as a “stay-at-home dad” establishing how dominant males are in supporting their own family (Kincaid ❡8). Kincaid in his article “Gender Roles of Men in Japanese Society” suggests how a stay-at-home job is seen as “women’s work” and by a father doing so, “society’s expectations [are] frowned upon them” (Kincaid ❡8).  This inserts how women being housewives is a norm in Japanese society leaving women to do no work outside the home. To feel involved in society, women made financial decisions and were in control of their household finances. In the book “36 Views` of Mount Fuji: Typical Japanese Women,” Cathy N. Davidson inserts her opinion about how she had her doubt in regards to women making most of the financial decisions in Japanese society. Furthermore, she goes on to state, “I doubt that very many Japanese women would buy a house without some input from a husband, but everything I’ve seen and read suggests that women do make many of the major and minor purchases for the family” (Davidson pg. 73). Davidson suggests that Japanese women make most of the financial decisions in regards to their households, ultimately being in control of how money is used and how it is distributed. This application of control, especially through women, in Japanese society would not be possible if women were to work outside the home. Davidson asserts “Many Japanese women don’t want to work the long hours required of the sarariiman (salaryman)” implying that women’s opinions in the workplace were not even acknowledged as they did not have a say on how long they would work for (Davidson pg. 79). Generally, a woman must give herself up in a Japanese working environment, while not having a say in what is to happen. The power that is used over women suggests that they would have more of an opinion by working in their own home as a housewife. Therefore, having power creates no motivation for women to work, no matter if jobs were to be offered. 

The Meiji Restoration allowed for the opening of many jobs in Japanese society, regardless of gender. Although Japanese women were now influenced to work outside of the home, the working conditions and pay grade of these jobs were undeserving. In the journal article, “Women in Meiji Japan: Exploring the Underclass of Japanese Industrialization,” Saarang Narayan demonstrates how Japanese women were mistreated in the workplace leading to conclude that women would be in a much better sense to work at home. Narayan states, “The girls worked for long shifts that lasted well over 12 hours. The factories were, like all other, loud and the workers were subject to damp air and heat” demonstrating the toxic and harmful environment Japanese women worked in for a long time (Narayan ❡17). Having to work in a toxic environment allowed for women to recognize that they were to be better off working in their own homes. Since women would be able to control their working environment, as well as when they work, this establishment of control allowed for women to want to work from home. She continues to state “These were mainly underpaid, underage, impoverished rural girls. They were seen as ‘docile’ and ‘obedient’ and thus could be paid low and controlled easily” which leads to the understanding that women were treated poorly in the workplace and that going to work causes a hardship mentally and physically (Narayan ❡13). Since women in the workplace were seen as “docile” and “obedient” they were easily taken advantage of. When deciding between a less controlled scenario and a scenario that would present hardships, these Japanese women would be motivated to choose the scenario that involves fewer long-term effects. Narayan creates a picture of the effects of these working conditions that Japanese women faced when she states “Washing and sanitary amenities were insufficient and bedbugs and lice marred their rooms. This, in turn, made the spread of diseases very quick and easy” (Narayan ❡19). Beyond the idea of horrible working conditions that women faced, diseases were also in effect and played a pivotal role in health. The increase of TB was seen in Japanese workplaces in which caused 40% of deaths in factories as evident when Narayan explicitly states, “TB caused about 40% deaths at the factory” (Narayan ❡20). The health conditions of these Japanese women do not come close to the conditions that these women would have if they were housewives. This replays how the typical working conditions of women in Japan offer toward the assumption of women taking themselves out of work. The treatment of women in the workplace and what a woman got out of work, ultimately was not enough for them to sacrifice their well-being. 

The depreciation of a Japanese women’s mental and physical health due to work led to an increase in suicide rates. Today, Japanese women still face these horrible working conditions and are underpaid, in fact, the term “karoshi” is derived right from the overworking of Japanese women that comes before suicide. Women would attempt to escape these horrible conditions, but due to the Japanese working systems, this resulted in drastic repercussions. This is evident when Narayan states, “But quoting Misiko Hane, a darker picture appears, ‘At least those who tried to run away had the will to fight an oppressive system, but many others lost hope and committed suicide’” demonstrating how Japanese women would fight this work system but would end up committing suicide in the end (Narayan ❡22). In addition, the Japanese caste system was authoritative with male leaders causing women to lose hope about equality leading to committing suicide. As hinted at earlier, the term “karoshi” is derived from the Japanese culture, meaning “overwork death”. In the USA Today article, “Japan struggles with 'karoshi,' or death by overwork, after deaths of 2 young women,” Brett Molina introduces this concept of “karoshi” and how overworking to death is such a thing, as evident when he states, “It's such a problem in Japan that they have a word for it: Karoshi” (Molina ❡3). This term alters the views that women have on working, especially in this life vs. death scenario. When women work at home on financial investments, they don’t face this concept of death, whereas working long hours in a dreadful workplace may bring death upon them. Molina gives an example of karoshi in today’s era when he explains, “In the case of Dentsu employee Matsuri Takahashi, 24, she worked more than 100 hours of overtime in the month leading up to her suicide in 2015, when she leaped to her death” (Molina ❡5). This life vs. death scenario inserts fears amongst these women in Japanese society. Karoshi has been an ongoing occurrence, especially in women, due to the inequality that they have compared to men. This inequality poses less hope and leads to the deprivation of mental and physical health resulting in suicide. Women in Japanese society would rather maintain the best mental and physical health; and to do so, the workplace is not a suitable environment. 

Overall, Japanese women have no motivation to work outside the home. With the ongoing mistreatment of women in the workplace, the harsh reality is that Japanese women are better off as being housewives. Although progress has been made in regards to more opportunities for women in the workplace, the number of hardships Japanese women would face is not worthy enough. In fact, due to the long work hours and the inability to work in a reasonable environment, women face physical and mental hardships, which lead to suicide. Karoshi has installed fear in Japanese women in terms of working outside the home, since being a housewife is less of a stress. This portrays a life vs. death situation, in which living would be as a housewife and death would be in a workplace. Therefore, Japanese women decide whether or not to work in a workplace as the fear of death is portrayed.