Japanese Women and the Transnational Feminist Movement Before World War II

This book traces the development of feminist consciousness in Japan from 1871 to 1941. Taeko Shibahara uncovers some fascinating histories as she examines how middle-class women navigated between domestic and international influences to form ideologies and strategies for reform. They negotiated a humanitarian space as Japan expanded its nationalist, militarist, imperialist, and patriarchal power. 
 
Focusing on these women's political awakening and activism, Shibahara shows how Japanese feminists channeled and adapted ideas selected from international movements and from interactions with mainly American social activists. 
 
Japanese Women and the Transnational Feminist Movement before World War II also connects the development of international contacts with the particular contributions of Ichikawa Fusae to the suffrage movement, Ishimoto Shidzue to the birth control movement, and Gauntlett Tsune to the peace movement by touching on issues of poverty, prostitution, and temperance. The result provides a window through which to view the Japanese women's rights movement with a broader perspective.

Sommario

Acknowledgments

Abbreviations

Chronology

 

Introduction

 

1  Laying the Foundations for an International Feminist Perspective: Challenging the Discourses of Civilization 

   Women's Situation in Modernizing Japan

   Christian Social Activism and the Notion of the Women's Rights Movement

   Social Questions and Socialist Women

 

2  "Carrying with Her New Ideals and a New Outlook": The Development of Cross-cultural Contacts, 1902-1930

   Awakening International Feminist Discourse and the IWSA, 1902-1920

   Different Perceptions about Women's Roles in Society: The IWSA Dialogue with Japanese Educators

   Propagating Western Knowledge about Women's Social Activism in the 1910s

   The Problem of Unity in the Women's Rights Movement in Early 1920s Japan

   From Social Reform Work to the Unified Suffrage Movement

   The First Pan-Pacific Women's Conference in Honolulu in 1928

 

3  Generating a Feminist Movement through Peace Activism, 1915-1941

   No Peace without Equality

   The Buildup to the Foundation of the Women's Peace Association in Japan

   In Japanese Women's Own Image 

   Women Pacifists in International Politics

   Expanding Spaces for Peace Activism

   Combining a Nuanced Strategy with a Middle Way

 

4  From Private to Public: Ishimoto Shidzue and the Birth Control Movement up to 1941

   Ishimoto Shidzue and the Development of Feminist Consciousness

   Ishimoto's Encounter with the Discourse of the Birth Control Movement

   From the Private to the Public 

   Ishimoto Shidzue in America, 1924 

   Linking Birth Control with Suffrage 

   Broadening Feminist Consciousness

 

5  Using Their Initiative at Home and Beyond: Suffragists'  Wartime Activism, 1931-1941

   The Women's Rights Movement in the Aftermath of the Manchurian Incident

   Women's Initiative in Wartime Social Activism during the Second Sino-Japanese War

   Writing for Japanese Women

   The Gap between American and Japanese Women Widens

   The Suspension of Suffragist Activism

 

Conclusion

Epilogue: Postwar Continuity

 

Appendix A: Notable People 

Appendix B: Notable Organizations 

Notes

Bibliography 

Index

Info autore

Taeko Shibahara is an independent scholar who teaches part time at Doshisha University and Ryukoku University. She is a co-translator of Ellen Carol DuBois and Lynn Dumenil's Through Women's Eyes: An American History with Documents.

Riassunto

Traces the development of feminist consciousness in Japan from 1871 to 1941. This book uncovers some histories as it examines how middle-class women navigated between domestic and international influences to form ideologies and strategies for reform.

Dettagli sul prodotto

• Autori: Taeko Shibahara
• Editore: Temple University Press
• Lingue: Inglese
• Formato: Copertina rigida
• Pubblicazione: 31.12.2020
• EAN: 9781439910382
• ISBN: 978-1-4399-1038-2
• Pagine: 222
• Dimensioni: 155 mm x 229 mm x 20 mm
• Peso: 440 g
• Categorie: Saggistica > Storia > Altro; Scienze sociali, diritto, economia > Sociologia > Analisi delle strutture sociali