IGS Research Project 2018
Gender and Politics in East Asia |
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Researcher / Co-researcher |
Ki-young Shin (Associate Professor), Mari Miura (Professor, Sophia University), Jackie Steele (Associate Professor, The University of Tokyo) |
| Summary | East Asia has attracted global attention as a region that has achieved economic development, but the path of development of political democracy is not uniform. The aim of the research is to undertake a comparative analysis by surveying both male and female legislators in Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, to find out what factors improve or hinder women’s political representation in the East Asian countries, and how to put political systems that foster gender diversity in place. |
Gender Analysis of Capital, Body and Mobility |
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Researcher / Co-researcher |
Mariko Adachi (Visiting Researcher), Hiroaki Itai (Project Lecturer), Fumie Ohashi (Associate Professor, Musashi University) |
| Summary | This project analyses changes in the function of capital after the global financial crisis by focusing on Saskia Sassen’s concept of ‘expulsions’. Examining the ‘normalisation’ of ‘expulsions’ from a gender perspective enables comprehension beyond the conventional analytical frameworks of ‘fragmentation of the body’ and the inclusion/exclusion dichotomy. |
Reexamining “Liberal Feminism” |
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Researcher / Co-researcher |
Hiroaki Itai (Project Lecturer) |
| Summary | This research project reexamines the ideas and movements that characterize the first wave of feminism, which includes works of Mary Wollstonecraft and John Stuart Mill. The project aims to clarify matters by undertaking a textual analysis of The Subjection of Women by J. S. Mill, and to create momentum for a reexamination of liberal feminism by completing a new translation of The Subjection of Women. |
Assisted Reproductive Medicine and Gender |
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Researcher / Co-researcher |
Yukari Semba (Project Research Fellow) |
| Summary | Assisted reproductive medicine has advanced remarkably in recent years, and medical technologies including the use of donated sperm/eggs/embryos and surrogacy have become common in society without enough discussion on their pros and cons within society and expert groups. In this situation, women, as the sex who give birth, are more affected by these medical technologies. This research aims to investigate the influence of reproductive medicine on women both domestically and overseas. |
Population Policy versus Women’s Reproductive Rights: Rethinking Government Support for Infertility Treatments in Japan and Korea |
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Researcher / Co-researcher |
Yukari Semba(Project Research Fellow), Jiso Yoon Ph.D. (Korean Women‘s Development Institute) |
| Summary | The availability of assisted reproductive technologies coincided with rapidly declining birthrates in Japan and Korea in recent years. This research focuses on government programs and policies to support infertility treatments as countermeasures to declining birthrates in the two countries, assessing the impact of infertility support policies and studying patients’ emotional distress from social pressure from gender perspectives. |
Factors affecting Job-Life Satisfaction of Working Parents |
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Researcher / Co-researcher |
Junko Sano (Project Research Fellow) |
| Summary |
Studies in the US in 1990s revealed that having multiple roles at work and at home may bring about positive psychological effect on “job-life satisfaction” among working mothers. This research project examines factors affecting job-life satisfaction of working mothers and fathers in Japan from multi-disciplinary social science perspective. |
A Study on the Effects of Coeducation of Home Economics for Gender Equality: Job, Housework, and Childcare |
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Researcher / Co-researcher |
Junko Sano Ph.D. (Project Research Fellow) |
| Summary | In Japan, home economics became compulsory not only for girls but also for boys during the mid-1990s: in middle school in 1993 and in high school in 1994. This research analyses the effects of home economics education on students’ later lives from a gender perspective. Based on a generational comparison in areas of work, fulfilment in life, housework, and childcare before and after the subject became mandatory, the contribution of home economics education to gender equality will be examined. |
Research Project (Grants)
Parenting, Family, and Friendship in ICT Societies: International Comparative Study of Japan, South Korea, US, and Sweden[JSPS Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A)] |
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| Term |
2014 – 2019 |
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Member |
Masako Ishii-Kuntz (Director, Professor) |
| Summary | This project examines parents’ usage of ICT tools and the social media in childrearing and communication, and analyzes its influence on their children’s development, family relationships, and friendship. International comparisons between Japan and South Korea, US, and Sweden reveal some unique aspects of Japan’s contemporary child raising, and how ICT tools affect co-parenting and the sharing of housework. |
Research on How Other Countries Dealt with the Conflict between Gamete Donor Anonymity and Donor Offspring’s Right to Know[JSPS Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)] |
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| Term | 2018-2020 |
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Member |
Yukari Semba (Project Research Fellow) |
| Summary |
In Japan, donor insemination has been carried out anonymously since its first implementation. Recently, egg donation is receiving increasing attention, and it may generate discussions regarding donor anonymity. This research aims to explore what kind of discussion took place before passing legislation for securing donor offspring’s right to know, and to clarify their situation after the law took effect in other countries. |
Research on Families Formed via Donor Conception［Toyota Foundation Research Grants-in-Aid Program］ |
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| Term | May, 2017-April, 2019 |
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Member |
Yukari Semba (Project Research Fellow) |
| Summary |
Recently the use of reproductive medicine is becoming more common, and the demand for reproductive medicine and the number of children born through medical assistance are increasing. The research is focused on donor conception families and explores how donor conception families share their family building stories with children, through interviews in Japan and other countries. |
Research Regarding the Creation of Educational Materials to Guarantee the ‘Right to Know’ of AID Offspring［JSPS Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research］ |
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| Term | 2016-2018 |
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Member |
Yukari Semba, (Project Research Fellow) [Co-Investigator], Kiyomi Shimizu (Josai International University) [Principal Investigator] |
| Summary |
In Japan, donor insemination has been performed for more than 60 years, and sperm donors should have been anonymous. However, there is a tendency to abolish gamete donor anonymity in other countries because of respect for donor offspring’s welfare. This research aims to create information material for intended parents and donors to learn the importance of securing a donor offspring’s right to know the origin of births. |
Analysis of Factors to Increase the “Job-Life Satisfaction” of Working Mothers: An International Comparison between Japan and Norway［JSPS Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists］ |
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| Term | 2018-2021 |
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Member |
Junko Sano (Project Research Fellow) |
| Summary |
This study investigates factors that lead to the improvement of women’s “job-life satisfaction,” which is a key aspect of job continuation after childbirth, focusing on education and consciousness. Husbands who are open to a dual-earner household as a matter of course will also be examined in terms of the same dimensions. An international comparison between Japan and Norway, which maintains a higher population of working mothers than Japan and a fertility rate as high as 1.7 children per woman, will be made primarily on the factors of job-life satisfaction. |
Business Process Outsourcing and Gender in Developing Asia: India, Philippines and China |
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| Term | 2012.4-2017.3 |
| Member |
Mariko Adachi (Visiting Researcher) [Co-Investigator], Yoshie Hori (Dokkyo University) [Principal Investigator] |
| Outline | This project aims to construct a theory on the international division of labour in the service sector of emerging Asian countries through investigating the current trends in international business process outsourcing (BPO), women’s work and relevant changes in society. The practice of BPO in the service sector has been developing since the 2000s in India, Philippines and China, and this project seeks to compare these countries in terms of these trends. |
