The Changing Roles of Women in Japanese Society

Abstract

It is a time when women in many parts of the world are questioning the roles, life styles and values by which women have lived for centuries. Barring a few societies of past and present generally the position of a woman in most of the civilized societies has been miserably low as compared to men. Among the eastern cultures, Japanese women is the first who under the influence of west took initiative to liberate herself and fight for her rights in Japanese society. For more than a thousand years, Japanese women have been taught that they existed to serve men Faithfully and well. They have been carefully indoctrinated with the idea that women are subordinate to men. But today women in Japan are departing from the traditional feminine ideal, an ideal that prescribed a domestic, subordinate and often subservient role for women.