Changing Media Understandings of Gender Relations: Japan’s Equal Employment Opportunity Law in 1985 and 1997

This paper examines the portrayal of gender relations and issues in the Japanese media through a case study of discussions in mainstream newspapers surrounding the introduction in 1985 of the Equal Employment Opportunity Law (EEOL) in Japan. This law was introduced as part of Japan’s ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). The debate surrounding the changing EEOL is examined through articles from three mainstream daily national newspapers, notably the Asahi Shinbun, the Nihon Keizai Shinbun and the Yomiuri Shinbun. The articles reflect and reinforce the changing cultural understanding of gender relations in Japan over this period. The newspapers supported the introduction of the Law to various degrees, stating that they believed Japan should aim to become a gender equal society. However, they expressed concerns over whether there was societal support for the law, and feared that women’s conditions were being ‘equalised down’ rather than men’s being ‘equalised up’.