Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
AIKO
: There is the notion that Japan has been able to rise to the position it
has because of male Japanese university graduates and male politicians.
And that women
'
is opinion has been largely irrelevant. But there is love [ai]
too. Isn
it it women who give birth to babies and bring them up? If you put
women in the centre of things
'
I mean I think it is ok for women to
be in the supporting role, which is a very widespread belief in Japan, but
…
eh
…
…
[for women] peace is most important.
MASAMI
:
for women peace is most important. More so than for
men. You just have to look at Japan
I agree
-
s past war endeavours, which were
undertaken by men being in charge [a view also promulgated by Ikeda].
ANNE METTE
: What do you mean by peace? At the moment Komeito is talk-
ing about sending SDF to Iraq as part of contributing to peace, or do you
refer to the opinion that more women should participate in politics to bring
about peace [also advocated by Ikeda]?
MARI
: Well, de
'
nitely. If Komeito does not work on improving this point, it
will be troublesome. There are women who enter society and continue
working after they get married, and many women who want to contribute
to society, but more often than not they can
'
t. The system in Japan makes
it much easier for men to work and very di
cult for women to work, that
is, if you want to have children. In the end, most women want children. So
you have to change the system by, for example, increasing childcare centres,
or get men involved with childcare. We must create a society that seeks to
have such standards
…
I say it is the system, but it is also the mentality.
For example, there is a lot of pressure from the company on women to give
up their job, or women are not given the same opportunity for promotion.
Everybody thinks this is normal. It is a society where people think it is
natural for women to give up their job.
5
ANNE METTE
: For example, if you ask SGI-UK [Soka Gakkai International-UK]
members most will probably say that it is natural for women to continue
working and to share childcare responsibilities 50:50 with their partners
…
AIKO
: Well, I wonder if overseas SGI members and Japanese members are
not quite di
erent in this regard. If we compare ourselves and the members
from the WD, and overseas YWD and WD, I think the guidance we are
given from the WD is di
erences. Fundamen-
tally, it is the same, but the wife is like the bow and the husband is like the
arrow [in Japan]. If the bow crumbles so does the arrow, and if the bow is
fantastic so the arrow will be. There is this talk about women being the sole
person to bring up their children, and I think in those cases it is apt for
husbands to help more. But then again, the best solution would be if indi-
viduals could choose for themselves. It is an issue that should be decided
between the couple, but of course it becomes a problem when it is a situa-
tion where women who want to work cannot. We should work towards
creating a society where the individual can be happy, meaning where an
individual can choose their own lifestyle. Concerning the theme of the
Century of Women, I asked Ota-san about this. We talked about various
erent because of cultural di
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