Paste your essay in here…Dating back decades, gender inequality has been a prevalent issue globally. While some nations have come a long way as far as improving upon this issue, other nations seem to have fallen behind. Gender inequality is an issue that will likely never go away and every nation can use some improvement in this area, and we are seeing this happening in many parts of the world. However, the process seems much slower in many Asian nations. Women’s oppression is a long-standing issue in many Asiatic nations, and while mild improvements have been made, it remains a problem to this day.
For decades, it has been clear that, in Indian culture, women are valued more for their child-bearing abilities than anything else. The main function of women is to have children, preferably male children, and take care of the home. However, today some girls are learning how to fight back against their oppressors. In a recent article in the New York Times, Maria Abi-Habib writes about a teacher and a group of girls who are taking a stand against the way men are treating them (“Men Treat Us Like We Aren’t Human. Indian Girls Learn to Fight Back.”). They are taking a stand by learning self-defense, through the New Delhi police. Police Constable Renu and many other female police officers have devoted their time to teaching self-defense classes and camps to the women of New Delhi. The program even includes a class for boys, to teach them how to be more respectful toward women (“Men Treat Us Like We Aren’t Human. Indian Girls Learn to Fight Back.”). The recent desire and initiative to hold these classes stems from the numerous merciless cases of abuses that have taken to the headlines across the country. One that stands out the most, is the rape and murder case of an 8-year old Muslim girl. In January of this year, Asifa Bano, was kidnapped, drugged, gang-raped, and then strangled to death by a group of Hindu men (“An 8-Year-Old’s Rape and Killing Fuels Religious Tensions in India.”). This is hardly the beginning of the rape cases plaguing the nation currently, however (“A Young Girl’s Rape in India Becomes a Crisis for Modi”). In many of these situations, Asifa’s included, men are using these girls simply as political devices to fuel the unofficial religious war that rages in India ((“An 8-Year-Old’s Rape and Killing Fuels Religious Tensions in India.”). This is a concept that isn’t new to Indian culture. During the British partition of India, thousands of women were abducted from their homes. In many cases, these women were considered defiled because they had had sexual relations with someone of the opposite religion, especially in the cases of Hindu women who had been with a Muslim man (“Borders and Bodies: Recovering Women in the Interest of the Nation.”). It goes without saying that these relations weren’t always wanted.
In Japan, women are fighting a slightly different battle. Mari Saito recently wrote an article addressing the labor shortage in Japan. Currently, Japan is experiencing the worst labor shortage in a while and lack of willingness to open up to immigrant work has left them with nowhere to turn; except to women (“Japan Wants More Women in Construction. Pink Toilets May Not Be Helping.”). With this in mind, the Japanese government has set out to recruit women for work and while recruiting women seems to be working, improving the actual working conditions seems to be lacking. Sexism within the work place is a thriving issue. Junko Komorite is quoted as saying “There are still plenty of men who don’t want to take orders from women” (“Japan Wants More Women in Construction. Pink Toilets May Not Be Helping.”). This is a common philosophy across the board for Japan’s industrial sector, but it is much more prominent in the construction industry. Along with this issue, wages present themselves as problematic with female workers making, on average, 30% less than male workers in the same industry (“Japan Wants More Women in Construction. Pink Toilets May Not Be Helping.”).
In a recent study conducted by Shugo Sinohara, Yahong Zhang, and Norma Riccucci it was found that general awareness of gender inequality could be the underlying issue behind inequality in the workforce in Japan (“What Prevents Public and Private Workers in Japan from Recognizing Gender Inequality?”). Their study set out to analyze the difference between private and public sectors and how they individually view gender inequality. Although the study found little evidence of a divide between how the public and private sectors view gender inequality, it did show that gender plays a major role in employment in all sectors (“What Prevents Public and Private Workers in Japan from Recognizing Gender Inequality?”). It also found that men in the workforce are less likely to view treatment based on gender as unfair. This shows a problem that is deeply imbedded in the culture in Japan, and it doesn’t appear to be getting better through passing generations. This study also found that younger generations are seemingly less conscious of the issue of gender inequality than older generations (“What Prevents Public and Private Workers in Japan from Recognizing Gender Inequality?”).
The divide between men and women in Japan was truly shown during a recent Sumo wrestling match, in which the mayor of a city in the Kyoto prefecture collapsed during a speech prior to the match. Upon his collapse, a local nurse rushed to aid in helping the man but she, along with a few others who rushed to help, was quickly reprimanded and asked to leave the ring immediately (“Women Barred from Sumo Ring, Even to Save a Man’s Life.”). One key rule in Sumo wrestling is that a woman shall never enter the ring, regardless of the circumstances, and this was made apparent at this event. Motoko Rich, author of the New York Times article regarding the event, wrote “Women in Japan face myriad obstacles to equality” (“Women Barred from Sumo Ring, Even to Save a Man’s Life.”). One could speculate why gender inequality runs so deep in Japanese culture, many deem it simply as tradition, but some see it as a serious issue.
Of course, such disregard for women hasn’t just recently presented itself. In the accounts written during the Sino-Japanese war, one woman, Ozaki Junko, writes about a memory from middle school. It occurred right after Japan’s surrender, when she stayed the night in a lodging house. She recalls hearing a group of men recant their experiences during the war. “It was unbearable to listen to them,” she said (“Chapter 3: The China War”). They bragged about the number of Chinese women they took advantage of during their time in the war. This was in the 1940s (“Chapter 3: The China War”).
Alternately, in China, awareness of gender inequality may be growing. Twenty years after the rape and suicide of college student Gao Yan, people are gathering to demand governmental change to stand up to sexual harassment (“China’s #MeToo: How a 20-Year-Old Rape Case Became a Rallying Cry.”). The #MeToo movement has been growing here in the US for months and women in China are starting to catch on to it as well. In 1998, Yang was raped by a professor at Peking University and she took her own life shortly after. The accusations were denied on her professor’s part and the case never had any real effect on the role that gender plays in Chinese culture (“China’s #MeToo: How a 20-Year-Old Rape Case Became a Rallying Cry.”). The girls who stand by Yang’s side twenty years later are pushing for her justice and are appreciative that the movement has resonated the way it has. However, they are still pushing for more women’s rights in a male-dominated society (“China’s #MeToo: How a 20-Year-Old Rape Case Became a Rallying Cry.”). This hasn’t always been the case in China, though. For example, we learned about Miss Han, who was the leader of the Big Knife Society; because of her role in attempting a revolution, her own father and brother beat her to death with a rake (“10.6 Four Accounts of the Fate of Miss Han (Han Guniang).”). Simply for taking a stand, she was killed by her own family. It’s good to see that progress, even if minute, is being made today.
Perhaps the best encapsulated view of the current state of the gender inequality issue in China, Japan, and India is shown in a recent study conducted by Sucharita Sinha Mukherjee. In this study, Mukherjee aimed to analyze the relationship between education and employment in these three Asian nations (“More Educated and More Equal? A Comparative Analysis of Female Education and Employment in Japan, China and India.”). The study found that although educational opportunities for women seem to be growing in these nations, the same doesn’t follow for employment opportunities. It also showed many reasons why women don’t often obtain higher paying employment, even after obtaining higher education. To name a few, it was found that women are often discouraged from getting higher education or higher paying jobs because they already know that it won’t help them get a good paying job, simply because they are women (“More Educated and More Equal? A Comparative Analysis of Female Education and Employment in Japan, China and India.”). As we know, women are the primary caretakers of the children and of the home, so the burden of having to manage both also contributes to some women’s lack of motivation to join the workforce. Lastly, the study showed that even women who do obtain a higher education and join the workforce are generally more likely to leave because of discrimination (“More Educated and More Equal? A Comparative Analysis of Female Education and Employment in Japan, China and India.”).
All in all, gender inequality in these Asian nations has a long history of prominence and it still seems to linger over the population there, be it because of tradition or fear of speaking out. One can only hope that the conditions improve for the women of these countries. Many of these places seem to be working on getting on the right track to equality, which is an inspiring thing to see. Sources:
• Abi-Habib, Maria. “Men Treat Us Like We Aren’t Human. Indian Girls Learn to Fight Back.” The New York Times, 16 Apr. 2018.
• Gettleman, Jeffrey. “An 8-Year-Old’s Rape and Killing Fuels Religious Tensions in India.” The New York Times, 11 Apr. 2018.
• Gettleman, Jeffrey. “A Young Girl’s Rape in India Becomes a Crisis for Modi.” The New York Times, 14 Apr. 2018.
• Gibney, Frank. “Chapter 3: The China War.” Senso: The Japanese Remember the Pacific War, Routeledge, 2015, p. 59–81.
• Hernández, Javier C. “China’s #MeToo: How a 20-Year-Old Rape Case Became a Rallying Cry.” The New York Times, 9 Apr. 2018.
• Menon, Ritu, and Kamila Bhasin. “Borders and Bodies: Recovering Women in the Interest of the Nation.” Borders and Boundaries: How Women Experienced the Partition of India, Kali for Women, 1998, p. 65–98.
• Mukherjee, Sucharita S. “More Educated and More Equal? A Comparative Analysis of Female Education and Employment in Japan, China and India.” Gender and Education, vol. 27, no. 7, Nov. 2015, p. 846–870.
• Rich, Motoko. “Women Barred from Sumo Ring, Even to Save a Man’s Life.” The New York Times, 5 Apr. 2018.
• Saito, Mari. “Japan Wants More Women in Construction. Pink Toilets May Not Be Helping.” The New York Times, 8 Mar. 2018.
• Shinohara, Shugo, et al. “What Prevents Public and Private Workers in Japan from Recognizing Gender Inequality?” International Review of Administrative Sciences, Oct. 2016, p. 1–18.
• Spence, Johnathan D. “10.6 Four Accounts of the Fate of Miss Han (Han Guniang).” The Search For Modern China, W.W. Norton & Company Inc., 1990, p. 187–189.