Although traditional depictions of gender in ancient
Japanese mythology continue to help define gender in
Japanese culture, such recent litigation as the Equal
Employment Opportunity Act and the Childcare Leave Act
signal change in these roles. This study explores the
relationship between the Japanese hierarchical social
structure and the parameters of the gender territories of
women and men in a university club.
Employing a single case (embedded) design, this study
utilized the networks of former members (students who began
their studies from 1953 to 1989) of Oendan (the "Cheering
Club") at a private university in central Japan. Oendan's
two sections, Leader-bu for men and Cheerleader-bu for
women, have utterly different atmospheres. Leader-bu
stresses daily rigorous and physically punishing practices
in a highly disciplined atmosphere, whereas Cheerleader-bu
more closely resembles its North American counterpart. To
fully examine the differences between the two sections, I
divided the case into three stages: (a) an historical
analysis, (b) a survey, and (c) personal interviews.
The results reflect an attitude that a perceived
difference in physical strength and a strong sense of
"tradition" inhibit true equality between the genders. Although most men may acquiesce in gender equality in an
abstract sense, they also understand that, in reality, this
is impossible because of the physical differences between
the sexes. Leader-bu members continue to reinforce the
importance of tradition year after year because they believe
that they are benefiting, both personally and socially, from
traditional beliefs and customs. Although victims of this
belief system, they feel compelled to reproduce it. In
reproducing it, however, they also must suffer from the lack
of freedom that accompanies it.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/8811 |
| Date | 05 1900 |
| Creators | Vincenti, James J. |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Relation | UBC Retrospective Theses Digitization Project [http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/retro_theses/] |
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