Gender power under female leadership: a local women’s association in Japan

Abstract

In this article I examine the major activities of one of Japan's local women's associations (fujinkai),1 On my use of the word ‘joseikai’ instead of ‘fujinkai’, see footnote 31. the Yosugi Women's Association (YWA),2 Yosugi is a pseudonym for a town in Hiroshima Prefecture, population approximately 15,000. This article is based on Chapter 5 of my doctoral thesis Examination of Power and Identity Construction among Japanese Women in a Local Community from a Feminist Perspective and incorporates theoretical arguments on issues of Japanese culture, identity, self, power, and women's voluntary activities from Chapter 1, as well as new research. to demonstrate how women exercise power by utilizing gender roles in voluntary community activities.3 Cora Baldock Baldock, Cora. (1998). ‘Feminist discourses of unwaged work: the case of volunteerism’. Australian Feminist Studies, 13(27): 19–34. [Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar] defines voluntary work as ‘activities which people willingly contribute without wages, and on a regular basis, to a formal organization’. Baldock, ‘Feminist discourses of unwaged work’, 19. Since women's unpaid labor in structured organizations in the public sphere has been a topic of study over the last decade,4 See, for example, Oppenheimer Oppenheimer, Melanie. November 2001). ‘ “We all did voluntary work of some kind”: voluntary work and labour history’. Labour History, 81: 1–11. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar], ‘ “We all did voluntary work of some kind” ’; Scates, ‘The unknown sock knitter’; McCarthy McCarthy Kathleen D Noblesse Oblige: Charity and Cultural Philanthropy in Chicago, 1844–1929 Chicago: University of Chicago Press 1982 [Google Scholar], Noblesse Oblige; Beasley, ‘Soldiers of the federation; Baldock, ‘Feminist discourses of unwaged work’. exploring how the concept of gender has enhanced the significance of women in unpaid community activities is timely. Voluntary work has been underestimated in labor history, women's history, and feminist theories, and is in need of a proper theoretical framework. In addition, I observed characteristics of women in this local voluntary association and show that the patterns of members' behavior challenge longstanding stereotypes.

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