ABSTRACT
This book compares perspectives on gender equality in Norway and Japan, focusing on family, education, media, and sexuality and reproduction as seen through a gendered lens. What can we learn from a comparison between two countries that stand in significant contrast to each other with respect to gender equality? Norway and Japan differ in terms of historical, cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds. Most importantly, Japan lags far behind Norway when it comes to the World Economic Forum’s Gender Gap Report. Rather than taking a narrow approach that takes as its starting point the assumption that Norway has so much ‘more’ to offer in terms of gender equality, the authors attempt to show that a comparative perspective of two countries in the West and East can be mutually beneficial to both contexts in the advancement of gender equality. The interdisciplinary team of researchers contributing to this book cover a range of contemporary topics in gender equality, including fatherhood and masculinity, teaching and learning in gender studies education, cultural depictions of gender, trans experiences and feminism. This unique collection is suitable for researchers and students of gender studies, sociology, anthropology, Japan studies and European studies.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part I|40 pages
Family and home
chapter 2|21 pages
Gender and home in Japan and Norway: Considering the past and contemplating the future
part II|68 pages
Education
chapter 5|17 pages
Creating more equal partnerships: Home Economics education and gender equality in Japan and Norway
chapter 6|17 pages
Teaching with feminist values: A dialogical narrative analysis of gender studies educator narratives
chapter 7|17 pages
Making it in academia: A study of career narratives of men and women professors in Norway and Japan
part III|33 pages
Media
chapter 8|16 pages
Masculinity in contemporary Viking and Samurai comedies: ‘It's not really me, that fear-based leadership style stuff'
chapter 9|15 pages
Work-life balance and equality observed through advertising during the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan and Norway
part IV|51 pages
Sexuality and reproduction
chapter 11|18 pages
A matter of gender (in)equality? Public discourses on declining fertility rates in Japan and Norway
chapter 12|15 pages
Assisted reproduction with donated eggs and sperm: A comparison of regulations on assisted reproduction in Norway and Japan
part V|22 pages
Dialogue