A study on the changing economic and political roles of Makeinu women in Tokyo prefecture

• Main Authors: Diaz, Gliziel Joy L., Kuribara, Shayne Chara C.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2007
• Subjects: Single women > Japan; Women in popular culture > Japan; Women > Japan > Social conditions; Japanese Studies
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_bachelors/4872
• Institution: De La Salle University

Traditionally, Makeinu women were considered parasites of society who is highly depended on their parents to provide for their necessities and luxuries even after reaching the age of 30 years old and above. However, at present time, these women are becoming more active in their participation in the aspect of politics and economics. Makeinu women were now able to penetrate the corporate world which was once allotted only for men. The study aimed to describe how Makeinu women perceived their current status in the Japanese society, specifically, their socio-demographic and economic profiles; their perceived and actual roles in society; the facilitating and hindering factors that influence their participation as well as the coping mechanisms they used when faced with difficulties. Moreover, this study intends to know how these Makeinu women see themselves as single women in a male dominating society. The study used a descriptive, exploratory and evaluative research design with an in-depth interview method, as principal data collection instrument. Other information were gathered through library research and the internet. The findings show that Makeinu women are no longer highly dependent on their parents but actually support their own and lives independently because of the high salary they received. Stereotypical roles still occur in their society and being an Office Lady (OL) remains one of the expected jobs for them. These women are not very active in the political aspect because the patriarchal structure still is a major constraint for them to be active politically. The use of the term Makeinu on these women should be reconsidered given their current active participation the economic aspect of Japan. Attaining higher education in a respectable company enables these women to pursue their goals in life with the support of the family and influence of modernity and Globalization. However, insufficient financial resources is a hindrance for these women to complete higher education and societal embedded norms, current demographic crisis and structure of Japanese society pressures them to become politically and economically inactive. Denial is the primary strategy used by these women to cope with the pressures created by society. As for their own assessment of their chosen lifestyle, these women are actually contented on what they have now and feel empowered and confident as single career women.