Gender Studies in Theory and Practice

Beverley Anne YAMAMOTO (Graduate School of Human Sciences)

Objective
   • To develop an understanding and awareness of gender as an analytical tool.
   • To encourage an understanding of key concepts.
   • To explore the construction of gender (masculinities and femininities) within contemporary Japanese society.
   • To develop an understanding of the roots and limits of gender equality policy within the Japanese context.

Expected Learning Outcomes
   By the end of the course, with reasonable confidence students should be able to:
   • Discuss and explore social issues from a gender perspective and employ key concepts
   • Outline briefly key issues concerning the operation of gender in the workplace, family, education system, media and political system in Japan
   • Understand the background to and development of gender equality policies in Japan

Course Outline
   When we study human relations or social institutions, gender emerges as an extremely important analytical category along with socioeconomic status, socially perceived categories of race or ethnicity, age and disability. At the same time, while gender equality is considered a desirable goal by policy makers in many societies, policy measures to realize this ideal often fall short. Indeed, even the principle of gender equality is highly contested by some conservative groups in many societies, including Japan. In addition, there is a tendency to use �egender�f as a euphemism for �ewomen�f, especially in policy making, resulting in the relational aspect of gender as a concept being ignored or under utilized.
In this course we will begin by taking a theoretical approach to gender as a relational category of analysis, drawing largely on sociology and anthropology, and then move on to look at how gender operates in social institutions and human relationships. Finally, we will explore gender equality policy in a Japanese society within the wider context of transnational feminism and an expanding concept of human rights. A key question raised in the course is how has gender been constructed in modern/contemporary Japan.

Course Schedule
  1. Orientation: What is gender and why does it matter?
  2. Exploring gender, sex, and sexuality I
  3. Exploring gender, sex, and sexuality II
  4. The gendered person
  5. Gendered organizations and institutions
  6. Men�fs studies - exploring masculinities
  7. Women�fs studies ? exploring Japanese feminism
  8. Midterm presentations and discussion
  9. Gender as a global issue
  10. Gender equality policies in Japan
  11. Gender and families
  12. Gender and the workplace
  13. Gender issues in education
  14. Gender and politics
  15. Gender in the media

Class text
   The Sociology of Gender by Amy Wharton (2005) Blackwell Publishing.

Assessment
   Mid-term power point presentation or written assignment (1,500 words) : 30 percent
   Final report/essay (2,000-3,000 words) : 50 percent
   Class participation : 20 percent

Required readings
  Required readings will include, but are not limited to, chapters from the following texts:
   Week 1
   Connell, R.W. (2002) Gender, Polity Press. Chapter 1 �eThe Question of Gender�f, Polity.
   Wharton, Amy (2005) The Sociology of Gender, Chapter 1 �eIntroduction to the Sociology of Gender�f, Blackwell Publishing.
   Week 2
   Whitehead Harriet, (1981) �eThe Bow and the Burdenstrap: A new Look at Institutionalized Homosexuality In Native North America�f, in Sherry Ortner and Harriet Whitehead, eds., Sexual meanings: The Cultural Construction of Gender and Sexuality. Pages 80-115.
   Week 3
   McLelland, Mark (2005) Queer Japan from the Pacific War to the Internet Age, Chapter 1 �eHeteronormativity on the Road to War�f, Rowman and Littlefield.
   Week 4
   Wharton, Amy (2005) The Sociology of Gender, Chapter 2 �eThe Gendered Person�f, Blackwell.
   Week 5
   Wharton, Amy(2005) The Sociology of Gender, Chapter 3 �eGender in Interactions and Institutions�f, Blackwell.
   Week 6
   Roberson, James and Suzuki, Nobue �eIntroduction�f and Roberson, James �eJapanese Working-Class Masculinities�f both in Roberson, James and Suzuki, Nobue (2003) Men and Masculinities in Contemporary Japan: Dislocating the Salaryman Doxa,RoutledgeCurzon.
   Week 7
   Mackie, Vera (2003) Feminism in Modern Japan, Chapters 1 & 3 �eIntroduction�f and The New Women, University of California Press.
   Week 8
   Nagata,Yuriko and Sullivan Kristen (2005) �eHegemonic Gender in Japan as a Foreign Language Education�f, in Genders, McLelland, Mark and Dasgupta Romit (eds) Transgenders and Sexualities in Japan, Routledge.
   Week 9
   Gaer, Felice (2001) �eMainstreaming a Concern for the Human Rights of Women�f, in Agosin, Marjorie ed Women, Gender, and Human Rights: A Global Perspective, Rutgers University Press.
   Week 10
   Osawa, Mari (2000) �eGovernment Approaches to Gender Equality in the Mid-1990s�f, Social Science Japan Journal, 3(1):3-19.
   Week 11
   Wharton, Amy(2005) The Sociology of Gender, Chapter 4 �eWork and Family as Gendered Institutions�f, Blackwell Publishing.
   Week 12
   Ogasawara, Yuko (1998) Office Ladies and Salaried Men: Power, Gender and Work in Japanese Companies, Chapters 1 & 2.
   Week 13
   M Kimmel (2000) The Gendered Society, Oxford University Press. Chapter 7
   Week 14
   Cynthia Enloe (1990) Bananas, Beaches and Bases: Making Feminist Sense of International Politics, University of California Press. Chapter 1.
   Week 15
   Kilbourne, Jean (1999) Can�ft Buy me Love: How Advertising Changes the Way we Think and Feel, Introduction and Chapter 1 NB: Students must read the required material each week and be prepared to discuss it as assigned.