Before the Nara and Heian periods, male and female have had equal relations in their social, economical and political life. Even ordinary people maintained equal relation in the Nara and Heian periods. Every period man had dominated over women. The Kamakura and Marumchi periods was developed the Ie system. In the system man had to great power in the society. In this society, women marrying such heads of the families were expected to have sons. Male female relationships change in the Edo period because of Confucianism. Confucian idea is ‘man outside’ and women inside’. In Meiji period women were educated to support their husbands and educated their children.
In the context of western countries, the position of Japanese women still low. Japanese society has been formed from many influence, among the most important are Confucianism, Buddhism and samurai based feudalism. Most wives of Japanese called their husbands ‘Shujin’ that means ‘main person’ and men called their wives ‘Kanai’ that means ‘inside home’. These expressions are traditional ideas about the family. There have some expressions only for women. Such as: Otoka masari, Otenba, Haka-iri-musume and these expressions are so negative in traditional Japanese society.
In recent Japan, many people are higher educated and their sense is changing many ways. A Japanese women has almost unquestioned authority within the family system of today’s Japan. The wife will make decisions regarding the rising of the children and will have absolute control of the family finance. There are two factors: 1. the mother son relationships 2.The changing consciousness. There is having two type of marriages system in Japanese society. 1. Arranged marriages. 2. Love marriages. Some Japanese women have little choice but they stay single.
In Japanese society it’s common for husband to make important decisions in the family. The Japanese normally don’t show over affection to each other even they don’t speak well of their spouse in public. After Second World War, the new constitution of Japan provided equal rights every people that are improved women position in Japanese society. Recently, many women have a higher level of education and are playing active role in Japanese society.
(এটা আমার Dept. এ Presentation এর জন্য করেছিলাম)