Motherhood
Traditionally, women in Japanese society have possessed most power as mothers. Some feminists argue this type of power only upholds a patriarchal system. At least one responds that to the Japanese, to make such a claim is to hold parenting and household duties in relatively low regard:
In any East Asian culture you will find that women have a very tangible power within the household. This is often rejected by non-Asian feminists who argue that it is not real power, but ... Japanese women look at the low status attributed to the domestic labor of housewives in North America and feel that this amounts to a denigration of a fundamental social role—whether it is performed by a man or a woman.Read more about this topic: Feminism In Japan
Famous quotes containing the word motherhood:
“The problem, thus, is not whether or not women are to combine marriage and motherhood with work or career but how they are to do so—concomitantly in a two-role continuous pattern or sequentially in a pattern involving job or career discontinuities.”
—Jessie Bernard (20th century)
“I guess what I’ve really discovered is the humanizing effect of children in my life—stretching me, humbling me. Maybe my thighs aren’t as thin as they used to be. Maybe my getaways aren’t as glamorous. Still I like the woman that motherhood has helped me to become.”
—Susan Lapinski (20th century)
“However global I strove to become in my thinking over the past twenty years, my sons kept me rooted to an utterly pedestrian view, intimately involved with the most inspiring and fractious passages in human development. However unconsciously by now, motherhood informs every thought I have, influencing everything I do. More than any other part of my life, being a mother taught me what it means to be human.”
—Mary Kay Blakely (20th century)