TY - JOUR
T1 - Resilience, agency and activism
T2 - Viewing Yoshiko Yamaguchi through the feminist life course perspective
AU - Luke, Alison
PY - 2016/7/1
Y1 - 2016/7/1
N2 - The low number of female politicians in Japan is testament to the difficulties that women face in entering the political sphere. This paper analyses the life of Japanese actress, journalist, politician and activist Yoshiko Yamaguchi (1920-2014), in terms of her political career, to contribute to a deeper understanding of the way personal choices and characteristics, socioeconomic factors, macrosocial contexts and chance events shape life paths and possibilities. As a Japanese woman in Japan-occupied Manchuria, Yoshiko developed a unique cross-cultural identity and understanding which facilitated her movement through transnational spaces and her adaptability as she renegotiated her identity within different contexts. Yoshiko is a distinctive example as she successfully drew on these experiences to achieve her political goals of raising awareness about human rights issues and the harms of conflict. This paper suggests that women can enact agency within the political sphere but that few are able to do so effectively because they lack access to resources and opportunities through which to realise their political goals.
AB - The low number of female politicians in Japan is testament to the difficulties that women face in entering the political sphere. This paper analyses the life of Japanese actress, journalist, politician and activist Yoshiko Yamaguchi (1920-2014), in terms of her political career, to contribute to a deeper understanding of the way personal choices and characteristics, socioeconomic factors, macrosocial contexts and chance events shape life paths and possibilities. As a Japanese woman in Japan-occupied Manchuria, Yoshiko developed a unique cross-cultural identity and understanding which facilitated her movement through transnational spaces and her adaptability as she renegotiated her identity within different contexts. Yoshiko is a distinctive example as she successfully drew on these experiences to achieve her political goals of raising awareness about human rights issues and the harms of conflict. This paper suggests that women can enact agency within the political sphere but that few are able to do so effectively because they lack access to resources and opportunities through which to realise their political goals.
KW - autonomy
KW - feminism
KW - Japan
KW - politics
KW - Yoshiko Otaka
KW - Yoshiko Yamaguchi
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84969866282&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.wsif.2016.05.001
DO - 10.1016/j.wsif.2016.05.001
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84969866282
SN - 0277-5395
VL - 57
SP - 11
EP - 21
JO - Women's Studies International Forum
JF - Women's Studies International Forum
ER -