Daniel Weinberg

History 382
Prof. Hein
3/10/14
Meiji Gender: How the State Used Femininity
The Tokugawa period that existed prior to the Meiji Restoration was one of
decentralization, with the Shogun in Edo having to delegate much of the responsibility of ruling
to his various Daimyos situated throughout Japan. Due to this, it was difficult to create broad
national policies, and specifically, there was no way in which to create defined national
classifications of masculinity and femininity (Nolte & Hastings, 1991, p. 153). To many, this
inability to control femaleness was seen as a sign of weakness, and the falling of the Tokugawa
regime only confirmed these arguments. In order to ensure that they did not befall the same fate,
Meiji government officials worked to delineate gender roles across all of Japan (Sumiko, 2008,
pp. 201-202). Through the defining of gender roles by the Meiji government and its desire to be
seen as western by the international community while limiting internal backlash, the duties and
characteristics of women were solidified, and this contrived femininity was co-opted to become
an instrument for the state, though only when it did not represent a threat to the patriarchal
system that the Meiji state was built upon.
The government of the Meiji era took great care to craft an image of women as
subservient and dedicated to the state and the family. As early as 1871, only three years after the
government took power from the Tokugawa Shogunate, Tokyo began to officially define the
family through the national family register system, which forced all members of a family to be
registered with the state in order to gain the legal benefits of their respective positions within the
family (Sand, 2005, p. 21). This quick movement on matters relating to the family expressed the

importance of the family unit and the willingness of the state to act to control women and the
home. By 1873, with the mandating of primary education for both boys and girls, Meiji influence
over gender had extended to encompass the educational system (Nolte & Hastings, 1991, p. 153).
Newly implemented curriculums taught girls how to manage their future households by teaching
skills such as cooking, cleaning, and childcare, preparing them to return to the home and
instilling in them early on the expectations of their gender (Sand, 2005, p. 56). This education
also served the purpose of producing subjects loyal to both family and the State, linking the
values of loyalty to the Emperor and filial piety (Mackie, 1997, p. 32). Through its emphasis on
obedience, the educational system ensured that women would be loyal to and obey all hierarchal
structures within their lives. Teaching general obedience may seem common, but this could be
used to create the sense that those who demanded individual rights, such as womens rights
activists, were selfish for thinking about their own individual rights rather than only considering
what the government deems to be the good for the state (Mackie, 1997, p. 29). Further
cultivating a specific idea of womanhood, while the Meiji Constitution did not mention gender,
the 1890 Law on Associations and Meetings specifically banned women from participating in all
political activities. This ban mirrored the political activity ban that also existed for public
officials, and thus reinforced the idea that women were meant to always be loyal to the state,
even when they were not directly connected to it in the same way that a public teacher would be
(Nolte & Hastings, 1991, pp. 155-156). Further, a housewifes role was frequently compared to
the role of men within the state, with the wife being called the prime minister of the household
or a soldier whose battlefield was the home (Sand, 2005, p. 61). Women would never attain
these positions within the state, so referring to them as holding these positions within the home

served to cement their belonging solely in the household. The Meiji state did all that it could to
create a defined role for Japanese women.
The role that was created for women was shaped using a combination of western and
Confucian ideas, with the Confucian ideas existing in part in an attempt to nullify the negative
reactions that came about due to an increasingly westernized government. The Meiji government
desperately wanted to make Japan seem more western, and even built a huge Renaissance-style
banquet hall, the Rokumeikan, in which to host foreign dignitaries (Karlin, 2002, p. 45).
Likewise, the governmental attitude towards gender mirrored this aspiration. The idea of the
home as a place for family bonding and shared experiences was a foreign concept to Japan, and
while the Japanese did invent many of the details relating to the home, the now-Japanese idea of
the houmu came predominantly from the introduction of western ideas after the Meiji
Restoration. Strengthening the idea of gender and the home as an invasion of the West, the first
reformers to push for this westernized definition of the family unit were Protestants who had
been converted by missionaries from Europe (Sand, 2005, pp. 22-23). However, the image of the
good wife, wise mother was a uniquely Japanese image that came about from the need to
present the problem of gender with a Confucian solution, at the same time that it reflected an
influx of Western ideas (Sumiko, 2008, p. 202). The Confucian solution was necessary in the
first place due to the backlash against the Meiji government, led partially by the soushi. Soushi
literally means manly warrior, and this group of disaffected young men were obsessed with the
idea of masculinity, so much so that they rejected contact with women out of fear of becoming
weak and effeminate (Siniawer, 2008, pp. 43-50). They believed that, since the government was
becoming so western, it was becoming more effeminate, and this "effeminacy was inconsistent
with the goal of promoting national greatness (Karlin, 2002, p. 56). Thus, the Meiji state, in

defining gender, inserted many Confucian ideals that still suited their end goal of creating
women who were loyal to the family and the state (Mackie, 1997, p. 39). For example, the
general hierarchy of social interaction between husband and wife was preserved. Even in this age
where the wife was encouraged to think of herself as the prime minister of the home, she was
still inferior to her husband. In many cases, the separate room where the husband would take his
meal was retained, as he was the head of the family and could do as he pleased (Sand, 2005, pp.
33-36). Additionally, there were the many stories of ideal women which were told in schools that
did not conform entirely to western gender norms. The story of Hana, for example, told of a
woman who cared for her husband after he had a nervous breakdown. As his health deteriorated,
Hana stayed loyal and took care of him, remaining by his side up until the moment that he died.
After this story became known, Hana was honored by the local governor and used her fame to
encourage people to invest money in the postal savings system, a bond system set up by the
government which helped to fund the military and heavy industry. This story portrays women as
loyal to their husbands, a western value, but also as potential sources of capital accumulation for
the state, which was not an image of women that was prominent in the West (Nolte & Hastings,
1991, pp. 166-167). The Meiji government used a combination of both Confucian and western
ideas to construct the then-contemporary image of Japanese women.
The femininity manufactured by the Meiji regime was co-opted in order to benefit the
state while making certain that women never gained enough power to threaten the patriarchal
systems in place. While the government attempted to build up an image of the wife and mother
as dedicated to her family, dedication to the state always trumped dedication to the home. The
fact that a woman could be better spared as a mother than as a wage earner is best exemplified
by the state-run childcare that existed during the Russo-Japanese War, meaning that women, even

though they were in charge of the household, were expected to be working in factories and were
not excused from their duties to the state (Nolte & Hastings, 1991, pp. 162-163). By making
women the head of the household, the state attempted to satisfy the demands for womens rights,
but without actually threatening the male-dominated power structure. By stressing the
importance of the home for the development of children, and by making women the managers of
the home, women were given a certain kind of perceived power, but, because this power was
confined to the constructed sphere of the home, it did not threaten the patriarchal hierarchy
(Sand, 2005, p. 23). In a society obsessed with advancement and production, this goal of being a
shufu (housewife) gave women something to aspire to while at the same time keeping them
confined to a limited space (Sand, 2005, p. 62). Women were given a fleeting and superficial
semblance of power so that the state could continue to capitalize on their productivity, which was
necessary due to the fact that women were the backbone of Japanese industry (Nolte & Hastings,
1991, pp. 153-154).
The Meiji state took advantage of Japanese women by creating an image of the ideal
woman, and then using that image to simultaneously oppress and profit from women. The image
that was constructed came from a combination of Confucian and western ideas, as the
government needed to utilize Confucian values in order to prove to their detractors that the
government was not a detriment to the nation. Throughout all of this, though, Meiji officials
were careful to never allow women to gain a true foothold in society. No matter how many times
they praised women, it was always for qualities that would benefit the state and discourage
individuality. The state pretended to care about women, but in reality, all it wanted was their
loyalty and productive capacity.

Bibliography
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Journal of Japanese Studies, 41-77.
Mackie, V. C. (1997). Creating Socialist Women in Japan. Cambridge: Cambridge
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Nolte, S. H., & Hastings, S. A. (1991). The Meiji State's Policy Towards Women. In G.
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Sand, J. (2005). House and Home in Japan: Architecture, Domestic Space, and
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