mini传媒

Published on October 2, 2020
Job titles and other details are as of the time of publication.
(The interview was conducted in Japanese and was thereafter translated into English.)

Examining Women’s Participation Through Research on Military Organizations

My specialty is sociology and gender studies, and I have conducted field research with a particular focus on military organizations.

I chose military organizations as my research subject because I was deeply interested in the fact that military organizations typically reflect the logic and framework of a male-dominated society. There are many examples of how the logic and scale of a male-dominated society is being applied in companies and government offices as well. Military organizations can be seen as a world in which that reality is condensed.

It can be said that current measures to promote women’s active participation have both pros and cons. Speaking of “cons” first, the presence of women in prominent positions has made it difficult to see the essential problems.

Women who hold important positions such as corporate directors, cabinet ministers, and heads of local governments, are elites who have survived in a competitive society. They are exceptionally accomplished women who have the skills to adapt to the logic and framework of a male-dominated society, and at the same time making men feel like they are not a threat. Women who don’t have such superpowers still don’t have much chance to succeed, but it appears that this problem has been covered up. That is the “cons” aspect.

On the other hand, we cannot overlook the “pros.” The “golden 30%” theory, also known as Critical Mass Theory, proposed by Harvard sociologist Rosabeth Moss Kanter, suggests that when minorities account for 30% of a population, they gain significant influence over the decision-making of the entire organization. This means that if women make up 30% of a population, they will have the power to influence organizations such as companies and government offices, and ultimately society as a whole. This can be called a “pro” in the sense that it gives us a sense of that possibility, so I would like to see the current measures continue.

In this way, the pros and cons of women’s participation is not always easy to understand. However, they are manifested in a very easy-to-understand manner when women join the Self-Defense Forces. In other words, looking at the existence of female Self-Defense Forces personnel can provide hints when examining how companies and government offices and Japanese society as a whole have pursued women’s involvement and what those involvements have changed and hidden in society. I have always felt that this is where the interest of this research lies.

Feeling of Alienation I Experienced Twice During My Student Days

I decided to pursue gender studies because I felt alienated twice from the studies I pursued as a student.

I entered Keio University Shonan Fujisawa Campus (SFC) in its second year. The classes held at the newly opened campus were full of exuberance, but somehow, I didn’t feel comfortable with them. In many of the classes, the professors talked about a variety of “knowledge about humans” as citizens and workers. However, I could not see how I, as a woman, was involved in this. This was the first feeling of alienation I experienced.

Still, I found sociology classes interesting, so I chose to join a sociology seminar. In that seminar, we used data compiled and published every 10 years by the Social Stratification and Social Mobility (SSM) Research Group in order to learn about statistical methods. However, this survey excluded women until 1985. This is because it was considered sufficient to substitute the social stratification of the “father” for unmarried women, and the “husband” for married women.

Once again, I couldn’t find a connection with myself and felt alienated, so I decided to seek a place of learning outside of SFC. This time, I researched all kinds of classes using the keyword “Women’s Studies.” I went all the way to the Mita Campus and attended classes on gender and feminism.

I also participated in the seminar run by Ueno Chizuko, Professor Emeritus of the University of Tokyo (then a professor), as a “self-invited” seminar participant. This encounter led to a long-lasting relationship with Professor Ueno, who I continue to work with to this day.

Is the Movie “G.I. Jane” a Success Story?

The reason I went on to graduate school was because we were in the middle of a “employment ice age” and because I was encouraged by the culture of SFC at the time, which was to complete one’s studies in six years (undergraduate and master’s course).

After that, I decided to pursue a doctoral program, and when I was looking for a theme to study over the long term, I saw the movie “G.I. Jane” and decided on the path I would take.

The film is a success story about a female soldier, played by Demi Moore, who attempts and passes a Navy training program under the same conditions as male soldiers. However, it seemed to me that this woman in the film was just trying her best to fit into the logic and framework of a male-dominated society. Is this really “success”? Is the framework appropriate in the first place? I found it strange that the subtle nuances of such scrutiny were completely omitted and the existing logic and scale were considered self-evident.

Of course, I could understand the background. The inability of female soldiers in the U.S. military to go to the front lines has been a constraint on their promotion. This is why the success of female soldiers during the Gulf War drew attention, and an organization called the National Organization for Women (NOW) advocated for women to participate in combat.

Every time such opinions were raised, there was a backlash, and people asked, “Is it right for a woman who gives birth and nurtures life to kill people on the battlefield?” The United States is a country that has continued to have such discussions, and it can be said that “G.I. Jane” was also born from this historical context.

Even so, I remained unconvinced, and when I turned my attention to research on Japan’s Self-Defense Forces, I found that there was almost no sociological research or literature.

If such research did not exist, I had no choice but to do it myself. By conducting research on Japan’s military organization, the Self-Defense Forces, and gender, I decided to verbalize this sense of discomfort and question the logic and scale that are considered self-evident. Although this decision was based only on my own assumptions and impressions, the sense of mission I felt at that time continues to be the driving force behind my research.

I Want to Support the Younger Generation Just Like I Was Supported by My Seniors

Research on military organizations and gender has consistently faced significant challenges. First of all, facing criticism is inevitable when I focus on the Self-Defense Forces. At one academic conference, when it was my turn to give a presentation, people disappeared, like a wave receding. When I submitted a paper to a magazine, I received a rather negative reaction from the editor in charge.

Looking back, it seems like a miracle that I continued to conduct interviews with Self-Defense Force personnel and was able to compile the results into the book entitled “Military Organizations and Gender: Women in the Self-Defense Forces” (Keio University Press, 2004). I owe it to several of my predecessors who repeatedly supported me and pushed me, even when there were headwinds, and told me that my research was meaningful. My students and I are presently translating a book by the international politics scholar Prof. Cynthia Enloe (“The Big Push: Exposing and Challenging the Persistence of Patriarchy”), who was one of the researchers who pushed me. The Japanese translation is to be published in fall 2020 from Iwanami Shoten, in collaboration with one of my graduate students.

It has been 16 years since I started working at Hitotsubashi University, and I am now at the halfway point in my career. In the future, I would like to focus on nurturing the next generation. The issue of minority participation in military organizations is still in a chaotic state. I am starting to hear from professors at other universities that some of their students are conducting research on transgender and homosexual soldiers. I think questions such as “How should military organizations accept LGBT soldiers?” and “What kind of reforms are needed?’’ are difficult to tackle, but I’m looking forward to seeing their research results.

I Hope Students Will Acquire Sociological Imagination

I am a member of the Center for Gender Research and Social Sciences (CGraSS) at the Hitotsubashi University Graduate School of Social Sciences. Since its establishment in 2007, CGraSS has focused on promoting research and gender education. As the person in charge of the core subjects of the gender education program, I have tried to teach classes that have an impact on the students.

At Hitotsubashi University, there are many students who were born and raised in relatively privileged families and have overcome their entrance exams with support. When I talk to them, I often get the feeling that “what is normal in their home” has become “what is normal in Japan” for them. In gender studies, students look back into history and at other cultures to learn that gender norms are largely determined by the times and the culture. The students seem to be quite moved by this, perhaps because they haven’t had much exposure to this way of thinking up to high school.

For example, the family model that students still tend to take for granted, in which the father works outside the home and the mother supports the family by doing housework and childcare, is a family model that became standard during the period of high economic growth in Japan. If you go back in history and look at the efforts in other countries, you will see that this model is very limited. In class, I strive to broaden the students’ perspectives by looking at the vertical and horizontal axes. Similarly, I hope that the students will think about the “invisible privileges” that they have. I believe that my mission as a university-level educator is to develop human resources who can acquire sociological imagination, critically analyze the society in which they live, and contribute to creating a better society.