Japanese woman

After the 1945 surrender of the Japanese state to the Allies, the influence of United States administration saw Japan rapidly become one of the leading industrial nations in the world. The post-war Constitution gave women the right to vote and since that time Japanese feminism has attempted to question the structure of gender relations in their society without advocating an extreme Western individualism. This documentary examines the changes to Japanese society since World war II and focuses on the daily experiences of women at work, women in the home, and women in education and government. The documentary also examines the history of the women’s movement in Japan, and through the voices of Japanese feminists themselves, breaks down traditional stereotypes surrounding the “passivity” of Japanese women. The program features short interviews with feminists Kate Millet and with Misako Enoki.