Women, social change and realising political ideals - Religion and Politics in Contemporary Japan - page 157

the di culty of childcare but it also means having little time for Buddhist

activities and practice. As a housewife, active Soka Gakkai women have
much more time to do what they like, raise their children and engage in Soka
Gakkai activities. Ikeda

s emphasis on the greatness of women marks a shift
away from viewing women

'

s traditional position of caring for others as
socially and culturally inferior, while it may also encourage women to stay in
that position. This may be problematic depending on how this is viewed, but
with few attractive employment opportunities women tend to feel more pur-
poseful in their role as housewife, which of course entails a lot more than
taking care of the house or their children, as they get involved with a wealth
of religious and political activities, and practically, as Ikeda says, become the
driving force in Soka Gakkai.
Indeed, ideas of human greatness as essentially lying in developing what
has culturally been considered

'

qualities of caring for others is part
of a paradigm shift that invokes new meaning of what leadership, including
political

' feminine '

s constant call to view leadership
positions as the ability to care for and inspire self-con

leadership, means. With Ikeda '

dence in others,
women are being portrayed as particularly good leaders. There are, of course,
examples to the contrary, but the constant ideal emphasised not to accord
leadership, including those who work for Soka Gakkai, any special status
does have the e

ect of promoting those who seem to have such qualities to
positions of leadership. Simultaneously, praise for women

'

s ability to care for
others, while it encourages men to do the same, also reinforces the same
'

'

qualities that have kept women working in and for recognition of
such qualities. Yet, whether that in itself is a negative thing is related to wide
societal and employment practices which tend to see such qualities as less
signi

patriarchal

cant and subordinate generally. Thus, political action is here also vital.
Within these shifting meanings that both praise and reinforce so-called
feminine qualities as they are seen as Buddhist qualities also lies a paradigm
change about what constitutes human greatness. One way of measuring a
change in values is men is attitude towards caring activities that traditionally

have been delegated to women. The picture is a mixed one, but paradoxically
it is the gender divisional structure in the organisation that helps to foster
such attitudes because male leaders have to take care of their male members,
just as females have to lecture on Buddhism at their own meetings. Because
each divisional leader is expected to speak at the discussion meetings, women
speak as frequently as men. Yet, at many meetings I attended, a typical pat-
tern of the men doing the more intellectual parts such as giving the study
points, the guidance, being the MC and leading the chanting could be
observed. There were, however, regional variations to this: meetings in Tokyo
seemed to be more set in their ways concerning roles for men and woman,
compared to Okinawa, for instance, where the vast majority of Soka Gakkai
married women also work.
The general work ethic and conditions that make employees work long
hours and the fact that many women seem to be in a situation with few

'