Gender as Intersectionality: Multiple Discrimination against Minority Women in Japan

  • Jennifer Chan-Tiberghien
Chapter

Abstract

I am an indigenous Ainu woman from Hokkaido, the northern island in Japan. As a result of being forcibly assimilated and ruled over by the Japanese government and because of structural discrimination, the indigenous Ainu have continued to be invaded by the mainstream Japanese culture… In addition, among Ainu, the situation of Ainu women is even more serious because of the strong patriarchal ideology. Because the severe discrimination and poverty resulted in a lack of education, illiteracy among Ainu women aged over fifty is widespread, and these women are thus forced to pursue occupations with bad conditions of employment… Under this harsh discrimination, some Ainu women chose Japanese men as their spouses, because they wanted to dilute the Ainu blood as thin as they could. As a result, these women are harassed by their Japanese husbands with words of disdain for being Ainu. (Testimony from Ryoko Tahara, Ainu Association of Hokkaido)

Keywords

Migrant Worker Japanese Woman Racial Discrimination Japanese Government Minority Woman 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
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Copyright information

© Jennifer Chan-Tiberghien 2004

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  • Jennifer Chan-Tiberghien

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