Japanese Women and the Transnational Feminist Movement before World War II Japanese Women in the Interwar Transnational Feminist Movement

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.-- Provided by Publisher Contents 6 Acknowledgments 8 Abbreviations 10 Chronology 12 Introduction 16 1. Laying the Foundations for an International Feminist Perspective: Challenging the Discourses of Civilization 22 Women’s Situation in Modernizing Japan 26 Christian Social Activism and the Notion of the Women’s Rights Movement 30 Social Questions and Socialist Women 34 2. “Carrying with Her New Ideals and a New Outlook”: The Development of Cross-cultural Contacts, 1902–1930 37 Awakening International Feminist Discourse and the IWSA, 1902–1920 41 Different Perceptions about Women’s Roles in Society: The IWSA Dialogue with Japanese Educators 47 Propagating Western Knowledge about Women’s Social Activism in the 1910s 50 The Problem of Unity in the Women’s Rights Movement in Early 1920s Japan 52 From Social Reform Work to the Unified Suffrage Movement 57 The First Pan-Pacific Women’s Conference in Honolulu in 1928 65 3. Generating a Feminist Movement through Peace Activism, 1915–1941 73 No Peace without Equality 77 The Buildup to the Foundation of the Women’s Peace Association in Japan 79 In Japanese Women’s Own Image 83 Women Pacifists in International Politics 86 Expanding Spaces for Peace Activism 88 Combining a Nuanced Strategy with a Middle Way 92 4. From Private to Public: Ishimoto Shidzue and the Birth Control Movement up to 1941 97 Ishimoto Shidzue and the Development of Feminist Consciousness 99 Ishimoto’s Encounter with the Discourse of the Birth Control Movement 101 From the Private to the Public 106 Ishimoto Shidzue in America, 1924 110 Linking Birth Control with Suffrage 112 Broadening Feminist Consciousness 113 5. Using Their Initiative at Home and Beyond: Suffragists’ Wartime Activism, 1931–1941 118 The Women’s Rights Movement in the Aftermath of the Manchurian Incident 121 Women’s Initiative in Wartime Social Activism during the Second Sino-Japanese War 129 Writing for Japanese Women 131 The Gap between American and Japanese Women Widens 136 The Suspension of Suffragist Activism 137 Conclusion 142 Epilogue: Postwar Continuity 147 Appendix A: Notable People 152 Appendix B: Notable Organizations 160 Notes 162 Bibliography 200 Index 216 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.