Dissertations and Theses @ UNI
Availability
Open Access Thesis
Keywords
Women--Japan--Attitudes; Sex role--Japan; Women--Education--Japan; Women--Employment--Japan; Sex role; Women--Attitudes; Women--Education; Women--Employment; Japan; Academic theses;
Abstract
Japanese women and men are getting married later in life than before and the number of Japanese choosing to live a single person's lifestyle has increased since the 1980's. In the 1970's, the number of women working outside the home was lower than now and most of those who did work, did so only to supplement their husband's income. Today, many Japanese women obtain college degrees and have a paid job, the same as men do. Yet, based on my personal experience and those of others I know, Japanese women often remain the primary caretakers in the home. They are responsible for doing two jobs, not just one. This led me to the research question: What are Japanese women's attitudes today toward marriage, parenting and work outside the home? To find out how women feel about their lives qualitative in-depth interviews were warranted. I traveled to Japan in the summer of 2009 and used a convenience sample to interview 12 Japanese women, ages 27-35, from a variety of backgrounds. I translated and transcribed the interviews and used a triangulation of methods to conduct a thematic analysis. I found there was a range of women in the sample from those happily married and staying at home full time to care for their families, to those happily married who were working and doing the primary care for their families, to those who were doing both and very stressed, to others who were choosing to remain single and not date, and finally women who described themselves as happily dating and in no hurry to marry. However, across these diverse life styles I found a common overall theme: they felt society expected them to be the primary caretakers of their families and they tried to make choices in their lives according to what would make them happy given this expectation. The findings suggest if there are men in their lives, they often help with housework and child-care, but the participants tend to bear the burden whether they work outside the home or not. Consequently, finding relative happiness is a complex process.
Year of Submission
2010
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Department
Department of Communication Studies
First Advisor
Victoria Defrancisco
Second Advisor
April Chatham-Carpenter
Third Advisor
Catherine Helen Palczewski
Date Original
2010
Object Description
1 PDF file (121 leaves)
Copyright
©2010 Shiho Hosokawa
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Hosokawa, Shiho, "A Study of Japanese Women Today: Changing Gender Roles and Attitudes Toward Marriage" (2010). Dissertations and Theses @ UNI. 2983.
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/etd/2983
Comments
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