Journal of Asian Women’s Studies Vol. 22

Unchanged View of the Division of Gender Roles in Marriage:
Interviews with Married Women in Japan
Ayumi SASAGAWA*
Reiko IKEMATSU**
Takako OZEKI***
Lemmin QUITAHALA****

1. Introduction
Japan has made little progress towards the realisation of a gender-equal society inthe past few decades.

The legal system has taken gradual steps towards genderequality, including the 1985 Equal Employment Opportunity Act for Men and Womenand the Basic Act for Gender-Equal Society enacted in 1999.

The latter law aims torealise a society in which every member regardless of gender, is respected as anindividual by breaking down the fixed view of the division of gender roles.

One suchwidely held view is that men should work outside the home while women should do all
the housework.

This view exists not only in the workplace but also within homes andcommunities.

At a glance, such laws suggest that women’s participation in society is

being promoted, and that men’s participation in housework has also been increasing.
In reality however, examination of the World Economic Forum’s gender gap index score,shows that Japan was ranked 104th out of 142 countries in the world (2014).

While thisis an increase from 105th in 2013, actually, Japan still shows little sign of going up
remarkably in ranking.

And it is widely recognised that the main reason for this is

the unchanged view about the gendered division of labour in Japanese society as a whole.
Closely associated with these fixed ideas on the division of gender roles is thecharacteristic Japanese marriage.

The ideal role model for a husband is the“breadwinner” or a “man who works hard to earn money for his family”, while a wife isseen as a “dependent spouse” or a “woman who manages a household.”

While marriage

is now recognised as an option in life and is no longer considered the only option as it
used to be, there has been no fundamental change either in the marriage system itself* Part-time Lecturer, Musashino University, KFAW Visiting Researcher (2014)** Doctoral Degree Course student, Graduate School of Humanities and Sciences, Tokyo Woman’s

Christian University*** DBA Candidate, DBA Course, Graduate School of Social Design Studies, Rikkyo University**** Part-time Lecturer, Otsuma Women's University

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Journal of Asian Women’s Studies Vol. 22

or in the division of gender roles for married couples.
Given this background, the object of this paper is to determine factors that havesustained a marriage system based on the fixed division of gender roles, through aninterview-survey with married women.

In addition, we also explore how womenthemselves consider the Japanese way of marriage which is deeply associated with thegendered division of labour between a couple.
In this survey, we examine mainly the following points: what women think about
the division of gender roles; what they gain from marriage; how they define as well as
what they think about equality between husband and wife.
2. Problems of the Division of Gender Roles between Husband and Wife
In the period of high economic growth from the middle of the 1950s to the early
1970s, a full-time housewife living in an urban area became the object of admiration formany Japanese women.

The majority of women had previously been engaged in bothproductive as well as reproductive work, but during this period, the number of married
women who moved away from productive work increased. The Japanese employment
system promised lifetime employment and a regular pay raise to husbands working inlarge companies.

A full-time housewife was the symbol of a family that was sufficiently

wealthy to enable the wife to have no paid job.
Nevertheless, a questioning of the ideal status of the housewife has gradually
emerged in Japanese society.

In the 1980s, some pieces of non-fiction focusing on

depressed and gloomy housewives were published and sold well. One such well-known
book was entitled, “Housewife Syndrome” (shufu shōkōgun) written by Madoka Yoriko.
In this book, Madoka introduces stories of housewives who suffer with family problems(Madoka 1982).

In it, housewives express their disappointment with their husbands’

self-centred attitudes and way of looking down on women (Ibid.).

In such publications,housewives were depicted as frustrated and despairing because divorce was not an
option, mainly due to financial reasons.

Namely, a wife’s full devotion to domestic

duties often meant total dependence on her husband.

Ochiai points out that themarriage system based on the division of gender roles poses a financial risk in women’slife (Ochiai 2004).

The way in which women may be emancipated from a marriage

system whereby a husband controls his wife with economic superiority and patriarchal
authority continues to be one of the main issues to be addressed from the perspective of2

Journal of Asian Women’s Studies Vol. 22

women’s studies in Japan (Inoue 2009).
In addition, Matsuda points out that the division of gender roles disturbs the good
relationship between husband and wife (Matsuda 2000).

The fixed idea that husband’s

main, if not only, obligation is to earn a living for his family promotes a society which
accepts prolonged working hours for men. This results in a husband’s isolation from his
family, weakening family ties, and in the worst case, death through overwork (Ibid.).
Furthermore, Yoshizumi argues that the marriage system in Japan which assumes ahusband’s superiority over his wife, gives priority in terms of social security and tax
reduction to couples through marriage (Yoshizumi 1997). Moreover, she criticises that
this leads to discrimination against individuals such as single mothers and children bornout of marriage (Ibid.).

Yoshizumi also claims that the expansion of various types ofpartnership and family is necessary to realise a gender-equal society (Ibid.).
Despite such negative indications, the marriage system including the roles andobligation of husband and wife in Japanese society have changed little since the 1980s.
According to Matsuda, neither the number of women continuing their career afterchildbirth, nor the number of husbands participating in household tasks has increased(Matsuda 2013).

Especially during the early parenting period, the majority of married

couples continue to play the traditional husband and wife roles (Ibid.).

In other words,

the traditional form of a married couple, whereby a husband should work outside thehome while a wife should do all the housework, remains almost unshaken.

It is noteworthy that not only men, but also many women have supported the fixedidea of the division of gender roles within the home.

A survey conducted by the National

Institute of Population and Social Security Research in 2013 shows that on average, only
14.9% of household tasks were carried out by husbands while 85.1% was completed by
wives.

Asked if they expect their husbands to do housework, only 31.4% of the wives

answered “Yes”, while 68.6% answered “No.”

Moreover, according to Nakagawa, wives’

strong sense of household responsibility prevents their husbands from participating indomestic duties (Nakagawa 2010).

3. Research Methodology

It is assumed that one of the reasons why the traditional ways of marriage still3

Journal of Asian Women’s Studies Vol. 22

remain deeply rooted in society is that women themselves support them.

Therefore, we

conducted an interview survey with married women for the purpose of finding out thereason why marriages continue to be based on the fixed view of the division of genderroles.

The survey was conducted with 40 married women (4 divorced women included)

through semi-structured face-to-face interviews based on the personal connection
method.

We offered interviewees a rough structure with several questions, but also leftroom for their autonomy, allowing them to speak in ways which are not strictly
structured by the interviewer.

We tried as much as possible to conduct interviews in an

informal atmosphere.

The main questions we asked are as follows: the ideal image of marriage they had
before getting married and the reality after getting married; how they have benefited
from the marriage and what they put up with; and what they think about equal
partnership between husband and wife.

The interviewees ranged from those aged

around thirty to those in their 60s, considering that targets should be married at least
have a certain number of years.

In order to examine whether there is any differencein views of marriage between urban areas and rural areas, and, if any, what thedifference is, we sought cooperation from residents in Tokyo and the Kyushu region(Kitakyushu City and Kumamoto City) as respondents.

We chose the Kyushu because

the region is generally recognised as an area where the consciousness of gender norms
and the predominance of men over women remained strong.

Moreover because of thenumerous bridal magazines in the region, we also assumed that “local people tended totake a more positive stance toward the traditional marriage.” The respondents consistedof 14 women in Tokyo Metropolitan Prefecture, 12 in Kumamoto City and its suburbs,
and 14 in Kitakyushu City and its suburbs.

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Journal of Asian Women’s Studies Vol. 22

List of interviewees
Tokyo

age

occupation
beforemarriagepresent
occupation

child
ren

Tokyo

age

occupation
beforemarriagecompany
employeespecialist (part1
time)

present
occupation

child
ren

Ａ

30's

specialist

family business

2

Ｈ

40's

Ｂ

30's

company
employeefull-time
housewife

3

Ｉ

50's

company
employeefull-time
housewife

6

Ｃ

30's

specialist

specialist (part3
time)

Ｊ

50's

company
employeedispatchedworker2Ｄ

30's

company
employeespecialist

1

Ｋ

50's

association staff full-timememberhousewife

2

Ｅ

40's

medicalspecialist

medicalspecialist

2

Ｌ

50's

company
employee

part-time work

2

Ｆ

40's

unknown

medical clerk

1

Ｍ

50's

part-time work

full-time
housewife

2

Ｇ

40's

unknown

medical clerk

2

Ｎ

60's

self-employedself-employed

2

Kumam
oto

age

Ａ

30's

Ｂ

30's

Ｃ

occupation
beforemarriagecompany
employeepresent
occupation

child Kumam
ren
oto

age

occupation
beforemarriagecompany
employeecompany
officer1

present
occupation

child
ren

self-employed

1

Ｇ

40's

company
employeeself-employed

3

Ｈ

40's

company
employeefull-time
housewife3

30's

company
employeefull-time
housewife

1

Ｉ

40's

company
employeefull-time
housewife

2

Ｄ

30's

self-employedself-employed

1

Ｊ

40's

company
employeeself-employed

3

Ｅ

30's

medical clerk

instructor

3

Ｋ

40's

medicalspecialist

specialist

2

Ｆ

30's

specialist

specialist

1

Ｌ

50's

instructor

2

Kitakyushu

ageoccupation
beforemarriagepresent
occupation

child Kitaren kyushu

age

company
employeeoccupation
beforemarriagecompany
employeepresent
occupation

child
ren

Ａ

20's

specialist

specialist (part0
time)

Ｈ

40's

Ｂ

30's

company
employeespecialist

1

Ｉ

40's

company
employeeＣ

30's

student

company
employee

0

Ｊ

50's

family business

Ｄ

30's

part-time work

specialist

2

Ｋ

50's

company
employee

part-time work

2

Ｅ

30's

company
employeecompany
employee

1

Ｌ

50's

company
employeefull-time
housewife

2

Ｆ

40's

company
employeefamily business

1

Ｍ

50's

company
employeeassociation staff
2
memberＧ

40's

part-time work

association staff
member (part- 4
time)

Ｎ

60's

teacher

civil servant

5

specialist (part2
time)association staff
member (part- 3
time)association staff
member (part- 2
time)

5

Journal of Asian Women’s Studies Vol. 22

4. Women’s Views towards the Division of Gender Roles

In this section, we show the answers to the question about the ideal image ofmarriage that women had before getting married and the reality after getting married.

Firstly, we found that, on the whole, the women we interviewed did not have clear
image of role-sharing between a couple before marriage. They took it for granted thata wife plays the role of family caretaker.

The following are comments made by ourinterviewees:“My mother was stay-at-home mom, and I never questioned it, and I thought I would be like her
as a matter of course.” (Mrs. F in Tokyo)“My mother-in-law never asked her son to help with housework.

He couldn’t do anything aroundthe house, and I didn’t expect him to do house chores.” (Mrs. G in Kumamoto)

Secondly, after getting married, too, many women did not enthusiastically support
the division of gender roles, but accepted it as a matter of course.

“My husband spends much less time on child-care and housework than I do, but I have nothing tocomplain about.” (Mrs. B in Tokyo)“I am a full-time housewife, and after all, a woman is in charge of household chores.” (Mrs. H in
Kitakyushu)

Even if they were dissatisfied to some extent with their husband’s little contribution
to housework, they seemed to accept it by making allowances for their husbands’ hardwork.

“My husband is working hard from early in the morning to late at night, so I cannot ask him toparticipate in the housework.” (Mrs. L in Tokyo)

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Journal of Asian Women’s Studies Vol. 22“If I had a job, I would ask my husband to share the housework.

But I became a full-timehousewife, and I know how busy he is.” (Mrs. I in Kumamoto)On the other hand, some women clearly expressed dissatisfaction with the fixed ideaof the traditional division of household responsibilities.

“A man may believe that he helps his wife a lot with the housework, but in fact he only does someof it.

I don't think it is fair.” (Mrs. K in Tokyo)“I have a full-time job and earn as much money as my husband does, but my husband doesn’t doanything at home.

It really irritates me.” (Mrs. J in Kumamoto)

Only four women told us that their husbands perform household tasks fifty-fifty or
more.

Other eight women reported “my husband often helps me with the housework”,

whereas the rest of women reported “my husband does not participate in housework.”

Most of them seemed to accept the role of housekeeper without hesitation, but some
women felt frustrated by the fact that they had to take charge of almost all householdchores.

Although there were some variations in terms of attitudes toward domestic

work, as a whole they agreed that housework remains their responsibility.

Even if ahusband does not oppose his wife having a job, it does not mean he is going to participate
in housework and child-care.

Whether a husband takes part in housework or not, andwhether a wife is satisfied with their arrangement or not, she is not able to get awayfrom a role of the main housekeeper.

Why do women end up accepting the division of gender roles, even if they feel it is
not fair? For one thing, it appeared that the respondents were more focused on a childcentred family life, rather than a husband-centred family life.

“I don’t want to be a full-time housewife, but I want to be at home when my child comes back fromschool.” (Mrs. E in Tokyo)

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Journal of Asian Women’s Studies Vol. 22“I think a mother should stay at home until her child grows up.” (Mrs. I in Kumamoto)“I understand some women want to continue their career after childbirth, but a baby needs his/hermother to stay with it, not a father.” (Mrs. A in Kitakyushu)

We found that their acceptance of a full burden of domestic work was related to theirstrong sense of obligation associated with a maternal role.

In other words, women

accepted a gender role more as a mother rather than as a wife.

5. Women’s Views towards the Advantages and Disadvantages of Marriage

The next section shows what women think about how they have benefited frommarriage and what they put up with. Firstly, for the question about what they havebenefited, the number who answered “having a child” was the highest.

Subsequent

benefits given were “economic stability”, “family”, “husband” and “mental stability”.

“Before marriage, I was not interested in children, but now I am very happy to have children.”(Mrs. N in Tokyo)“The happiest thing in my marriage life is that I gained children.” (Mrs. L in Kitakyushu)

Women who answered “having a child” agreed that having a child is the essential
part of their married life. This thinking is linked to the answer “economic stability” inthe sense that women considered legal marriage as a precondition for having a child.

Inother words, marriage is an institution which provides a woman with an environment
where she can raise her child without having serious financial difficulty.

“If you don’t want to have a child, you have no reason to get married.” (Mrs. I in Tokyo)“I know that a single mother who has to earn her living to raise a child alone may face serious
difficulties in her life.

I think it’s good to raise a child within a legal framework of the marriage

system.” (Mrs. J in Tokyo)

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Journal of Asian Women’s Studies Vol. 22“I don’t care much about a husband, but I wanted to have a child. That’s why I needed to getmarried.” (Mrs. M in Tokyo)

On the other hand, women who answered “husband” tended to refer to “a good
relationship with husband”, not just to “having a husband,” as an advantage of marriage
as follows:“Although we are married for 26 years, there was a time we did not even want to speak to eachother.

However, as we overcame this difficult time, it was good that we came to understand eachother.” (Mrs. I in Tokyo)“Unfortunately we lost our child, but this painful experience helped us develop strong ties and a
deeper relationship.” (Mrs. I in Kitakyushu)

The presence of a “child” itself may bring a sense of well-being to women.
Compared to that, a “husband” may be considered to be beneficial if the couple gets alongwell with each other and if he provides “economic stability” and “mental stability” for his
wife and children.

Secondly, when asked what they put up with in the marriage, women’s answers
focused on a husband’s attitudes, especially on a “husband’s control over me” and on a“husband’s non-participation in housework and child-care”.

Following these answers

came, “no time for my own affairs”, “being forced to quit/ change my job.” Examples of a“husband’s control” are shown as below:“I got slapped by my husband once or twice when we quarrelled.

I was wondering if I should get

divorce.” (Mrs. H in Kitakyushu)“My husband doesn’t want me to go out when his friends visit our house.
stay at home.” (Mrs. N in Kitakyushu)

9

I am often forced toJournal of Asian Women’s Studies Vol. 22

Although the former example is a sign of domestic violence, the respondent stopped shortof getting divorce because she was pregnant at that time.

Moreover, a “husband’s non-participation in housework and child-care” indicatesfrustration caused by the fact that a wife handles most of the household work as well as
child care and that her husband does not question that arrangement at all.

“After my husband had changed his jobs from office worker to self-employed, he said that he hadno time left for housework. Then, I gave up asking him to help me.” (Mrs. A in Tokyo)“My husband never lifts a finger at home. I got frustrated, so I left home with children for a while.
But he didn’t really care much, and we did the same thing again and again.

Eventually, I gave

up expecting him to change.” (Mrs. I in Kumamoto)

Wives’ dissatisfaction and frustration may cause tension between a couple, but it
seems that they have gradually reconciled themselves to the division of gender roles,
rather than making an effort to change husbands’ attitudes.

Similarly, theirdissatisfaction in terms of “being forced to quit/ change my job” also became acceptable
to them.

“I felt regret that I quit my job after childbirth, but in fact, after quitting, I felt comfortable withbeing away from work.” (Mrs. K in Tokyo)“Every time I remember quitting my job, I felt I shouldn’t have got married.

But recently I

realised that I should be at home when my family needs me.” (Mrs. N in Kitakyushu)

6. Women’s Views towards Equal Partnership between Husband and Wife

As shown earlier, the marriage system which is based on the superior-subordinate
relationship between husband and wife has been the main issue in question from theperspective of women’s studies in Japan.

In order to establish an equal relationshipamong a couple, feminists agree that this fixed division of gender roles should be broken

10Journal of Asian Women’s Studies Vol. 22

up.

However, do women in general agree with such an idea? Do they consider that equal

partnership is necessary to a successful married life?

The views of women in our study on the definition of equal partnership varied greatly,
and were broadly divided into three separate perspectives.

The first definition was“being economically equal”:“After spending many years as a full-time housewife, I began to work and get some income, so now
I am equal with my husband.” (Mrs. N in Tokyo)“My image of equal partnership is not only the husband but also the wife has economic power.”(Mrs. L in Kitakyushu)

The second definition was “saying to each other anything they want to say/ arguingwith each other/ discussing with each other.”“I think if neither I nor my husband hesitates to say what we really want to say each other, itmeans that we have an equal relationship.” (Mrs. B in Tokyo)“We can discuss openly and decide anything together, if we are equal partners.” (Mrs. C in
Kumamoto)

The third definition was “helping each other with compassion/ respecting each other.”“I think if a couple achieves a caring relationship, it means they are equal.” (Mrs. I in Tokyo)“The most ideal couple would be a couple in which husband and wife convey respect and gratitude
for each other.” (Mrs. A in Kitakyushu)

In addition, some expressed the view that the division of gender roles could help
build an equal partnership.

In line with this thinking, some respondents insisted thata husband and a wife were equal from a human relations perspective because they played

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Journal of Asian Women’s Studies Vol. 22

different roles, making use of respective gender-specific characteristics.

Under existing circumstances where the average wage of women is only 70% of thatof men, if a husband and a wife try to share the financial burden equally, the wife must
work longer hours.

Additionally, if she accepts the conventional notion that womenshould take responsibility for managing a household including child-rearing, she has tobear a heavier burden. This might explain why roughly one third of our respondents
referred to a good quality of relationships with husbands, not to economic contribution,
to define equal partnership.

Next, we asked women if they wanted to have an “equal” relationship with theirhusbands: if they care about whether their relationship is equal or not and whether they
think equality is necessary for successful partnership.

Women’s perspectives areroughly divided into three groups. The first group consists of women who consideredthat they had achieved an “equal” partnership as a result of their intentions and efforts.

“We often had a heated discussion because we say too much to each other.

But we can keep being

equal in the end. If one of us restrains a feeling too much, our equal relationship won’t last long.”(Mrs. D in Kitakyushu)“We’ve been equal for years, even during the time I was a full-time housewife.

I’ve been doing

my best to support my husband as a wife and as a mother.” (Mrs. M in Kitakyushu)

The second group supports an idea that a married couple does not need to be “equal”.

“I think we don’t need to be equal. I have a bit of a dominating character, so I should restrain
myself and put my husband before myself to keep a good relationship.” (Mrs. B in Tokyo)“A wife should pay due respect to her husband and put him a higher position in family (otto wotateru), because a man has a mental weakness and his wife should cover it. If she does so,everything is running smoothly at home.” (Mrs. F in Tokyo)

12

Journal of Asian Women’s Studies Vol. 22“As a woman, I want to depend psychologically and financially on my husband.

I wonder if it’s

unfair.” (Mrs. H in Kitakyushu)

It is worth noting that these women did not regard an “unequal” relationship as amaster-subordinate relationship.

In contrast, they consider that their “unequal”

relationship functions well to keep their family running smoothly.

The third group consists of women who have mixed feelings.

They want to have an“equal” relationship with their husband, but in fact, they restrain themselves and comply
with their husbands’ decision preferentially.

“We are equal in the sense that I earn as much money as my husband does.
at all in the home.

But we are not equal

He is relaxed and watching a TV while I am cooking, cleaning, taking care of

our children.” (Mrs. J in Kumamoto)“I want to have an equal relationship, but my husband believes that a man and a woman havedifferent roles.

When I have difficulty in balancing work and housework, he suggests that I leave

the office earlier, but never offers to help with housework.” (Mrs. C in Kitakyushu)

Although these women did not strongly oppose housewifely and maternal roles
played, they did feel conflict or uncertainty with regard to their relationship with theirhusbands.

We found that some of the women, especially who had a full-time job, felt

uncomfortable or dissatisfied with their husbands who had no doubts about their wives
bearing the full burden of household affairs.

These women sought some sort of change

in the fixed division of gender roles and the unequal relationship associated with it.

7. Conclusion

Principally, our findings demonstrate that women tended to internalise a strong
awareness of their maternal roles and to a greater or lesser extent, to accept the divisionof gender roles voluntarily.

Many women found the greatest meaning of marriage is tobear a child and secure an environment where they were able to raise a child.

13

Even if

Journal of Asian Women’s Studies Vol. 22

they felt dissatisfied with their married life and roles in some respects, it was likely thatwomen’s strong sense of responsibility toward their family and home led to theiraccommodation to traditional housewifery and maternal roles after all.

The division of gender roles between a husband and a wife was no longer recognised
as a system to strongly suppress and constrain women.

Instead, women thought thatthe division of gender roles could be compatible with equal partnership between ahusband and a wife.

Even if a woman answered that husband and wife should not be“equal”, it does not necessarily mean that she agreed with the superior-subordinate
relationship between husband and wife. To put it differently, they thought that theyskillfully managed to maintain a well-balanced relationship by putting their husband
before themselves.

Thus, in our study, the relationship between husband and wife based on the
traditional view of the gendered division of labour was seen as a system in which many
women were able to gain economic as well as mental stability.

In most cases, it seems

difficult at the moment to find any persuasive reason for destroying the system.

Nevertheless, this paper also shows a sign of change in the traditional relationshipbetween married couples in Japanese society.

Although most women basically accepted

the division of gender roles, it does not mean that they did not expect their husbands toparticipate in housework and child-rearing at all.

The mother-centred family system

has remained firm, but the idea that fathers need to participate in child-rearing has
become commonplace. Presently, it is normal for married women to have a job.

At thesame time, earning money may give wives some confidence that they can establish a
fifty-fifty relationship with their husbands.

This kind of thinking applied to some

respondents to this survey.

Consequently, in order to achieve a gender equal society, what may be needed next
is a solution to issues regarding husbands, namely, the realisation of their responsibility
toward their family life as well as more active participation in housework and childrearing.

Moreover, it is important that society accepts men’s greater involvement in14

Journal of Asian Women’s Studies Vol. 22

family life.

Finally, the results obtained from the survey did not indicate as many regional
differences as we had expected in views about the division of gender roles and equal
partnership at least in this survey.

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Madoka,Y.
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