OSAKA UNIVERSITY SHORT-TERM STUDENT EXCHANGE PROGRAM _

Gender Theory

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 'gender' as a euphemism for 'women', 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. We will explore the relationship between gender, sex and sexuality. We will 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's studies - exploring masculinities
   7 Women's studies ? exploring Japanese feminism
   8 Student presentations and discussion
   9 Gender in the media
   10 Gender and families
   11 Gender and the workplace
   12 Gender issues in education
   13 Gender and violence
   14 Gender equality policies in Japan
   15 Gender as a global issue

Assessment
   Mid-term power point presentation or written assignment (1,500 words) 40 percent
   Final report/essay (2,000~3,000 words) 50 percent
   Class participation 10 percent

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 'The Question of Gender', Polity; Wharton, Amy (2005) The Sociology of Gender, Chapter 1 'Introduction to the Sociology of Gender', Blackwell Publishing.
   Week 2 McLelland, Mark (2005) Queer Japan from the Pacific War to the Internet Age, Chapter 1 'Heteronormativity on the Road to War', Rowman and Littlefield..
   Week 3 Wharton, Amy (2005) The Sociology of Gender, Chapter 2 'The Gendered Person', Blackwell.
   Week 4 Wharton, Amy(2005) The Sociology of Gender, Chapter 3 'Gender in Interactions and Institutions', Blackwell.
   Week 5 Roberson, James and Suzuki, Nobue 'Introduction' and Roberson, James 'Japanese Working-Class Masculinities' both in Roberson, James and Suzuki, Nobue (2003) Men and Masculinities in Contemporary Japan: Dislocating the Salaryman Doxa,RoutledgeCurzon.
   Week 6 Mackie, Vera (2003) Feminism in Modern Japan, Chapters 1 & 3 'Introduction' and The New Women, University of California Press.
   Week 7 Nagata,Yuriko and Sullivan Kristen (2005) 'Hegemonic Gender in Japan as a Foreign Language Education', in Genders, McLelland, Mark and Dasgupta Romit (eds) Transgenders and Sexualities in Japan, Routledge.
   Week 8 Kilbourne, Jean (1999) Can't Buy me Love: How Advertising Changes the Way we Think and Feel, Introduction and Chapter 1
   Week 9 Wharton, Amy(2005) The Sociology of Gender, Chapter 4 'Work and Family as Gendered Institutions', Blackwell Publishing; Kamano Saori (200)'Housework and lesbian couples in Japan: Division, negotiation and interpretation', Women's Studies International Forum, 32:130-141.
   Week 10 Ogasawara, Yuko (1998) Office Ladies and Salaried Men: Power, Gender and Work in Japanese Companies, Chapters 1 & 2.
   Week 11 M Kimmel (2000) The Gendered Society, Oxford University Press. Chapter 7
   Week 12 Kersten, Joachim (1996) 'Culture, Masculinities and Violence Against Women', British Journal of Criminology, 36(3):381-396.
   Week 13 Osawa, Mari (2000) 'Government Approaches to Gender Equality in the Mid-1990s', Social Science Japan Journal, 3(1):3-19.
   Week 14 Gaer, Felice (2001) 'Mainstreaming a Concern for the Human Rights of Women', in Agosin, Marjorie ed Women, Gender, and Human Rights: A Global Perspective, Rutgers University Press.
   Week 15 Cynthia Enloe (1990) Bananas, Beaches and Bases: Making Feminist Sense of International Politics, University of California Press. Chapter 1.
   NB: Students must read the required material each week and be prepared to discuss it as assigned.

OUSSEP _
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