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Backlash and Impasse: Confucian Democracy and the Dilemma of Gender Equality in Japan

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Despite being one of the world’s most advanced economies and established democracies, Japan has been known to fall behind when it comes to gender equality. How can we characterize the aversion to promote gender equality in a mature democracy? What explains the coexistence of Japan’s democratic governance and the low salience of women’s agency or women’s issues? Drawing upon the theory of Confucian democracy, this article argues that modern democracy’s call for gender equality reveals the fundamental tension between traditional Confucian norms and the formal democratic principles, and this tension leads to backlash and impasse in women’s political empowerment. To support the argument, I illustrate three cases that showcase backlash and impasse: sexual harassment, parity law, and social movement for separate surnames for married couple.

Abstract

Despite being one of the world’s most advanced economies and established democracies, Japan has been known to fall behind when it comes to gender equality. How can we characterize the aversion to promote gender equality in a mature democracy? What explains the coexistence of Japan’s democratic governance and the low salience of women’s agency or women’s issues? Drawing upon the theory of Confucian democracy, this article argues that modern democracy’s call for gender equality reveals the fundamental tension between traditional Confucian norms and the formal democratic principles, and this tension leads to backlash and impasse in women’s political empowerment. To support the argument, I illustrate three cases that showcase backlash and impasse: sexual harassment, parity law, and social movement for separate surnames for married couple.

참고문헌 (41)

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