/REPEATING/RIGHTS-JAPAN: Women Are Still Waiting for Recognition

By Suvendrini Kakuchi Reprint | | Print |

Suvendrini Kakuchi

TOKYO, Sep 7 2001 (IPS) - Mayo Saito, 42, has for the past 18 years been wanting to marry her partner, while at the same time keeping her maiden name. Since this is not allowed in Japan, the two have not been able to tie the knot and are unlikely to do so anytime soon.

“It’s been long,” says the petite newspaper editor who got her graduate degree in the United States. “And I am getting very impatient with the Japanese government.”

Saito and her partner, Katsuhiro Noda, a psychiatrist, represent a small but growing segment among professionals who strongly believe that women are entitled to keep their own names even after they marry.

But this simple request has been stubbornly denied by the Japanese government. Despite lobbying by women’s group, the male-dominated parliament continues to refuse to pass a new law that will allow women to keep their maiden name after they marry.

Saito attributes the situation to deep-rooted gender discrimination in Japanese society.

“The opponents are old and conservative male politicians who unfortunately continue to call the shots in Japan. They continue to uphold the old law because they believe women must follow men,” she says.

Shizuka Kamei, a senior politician in the Liberal Democratic Party is a well known opponent of the move to allow married women to hold on to their maiden names. He argues that separate names threatens family unity and will encourage divorce.

Under Japan’s existing Civil Code, both spouses must be registered under one name in keeping with hundreds of years of tradition that puts the family over and above individuals.

An official working in the marriage and family registrar section of Meguro ward in Tokyo, explained there is no law that prohibits men from taking their spouses’ names, so in that case there is equality in the law.

But women’s groups argue otherwise. They point out that despite the official explanation, pressure to conform to tradition has resulted in women taking on their husband’s name in 98 percent of marriages in Japan.

“Many women do not fight back because they fear social pressure,” says lawyer Fujiko Sakakibara.

Consistent lobbying by feminists however has helped keep the issue simmering in the Diet and has influenced a change in attitude among the public.

A survey conducted two years ago by the Cabinet revealed for their first time that majority — 65 percent — of those polled favoured allowing women to keep their pre-marital name.

An official says the results indicate that even men are showing less resistance to the idea of their spouses having different names in the poll that covered both females and males.

In addition, a similar survey conducted by Rengo, Japan’s largest trade union, in the same year indicated that 23 percent of the 372 companies covered by the survey were allowing women to keep their maiden name even after they married.

Company officials explained this was because of the strong wish by their female employees to keep their private lives separate from their work.

Several prefectural governments and even the central government are expected to follow this example starting next month eventhough the move is not recognized under the Civil Code.

Kazue Suzuki embodies the new trend. Married and with a daughter, the writer says she uses her maiden name for work but is resigned to using the family name during her daughter’s school activities or other community events.

“I guess I just go along with the Japanese social system that is overwhelmingly paternalistic,” she explains.

Still, women like Suzuki say they somehow feel uneasy over the situation.

“I just don’t feel I am myself,” says Kyoko Mita, 48, who has three children. “I have told my husband that as soon as the children leave home, let’s get a divorce on paper so I can then have my own name.”

Four years ago, Reiko Sakaguchi, 61, created headlines when she won a lawsuit she filed against the University of Library and Information Science that had permitted her to only use her married name.

The decision to take the case to Court in 1982 was a landmark in the fight for the right to use maiden names. Her suit was rejected in 1993 but she appealed and won in the Tokyo High Court.

Analysts point out that the fight over names has been particularly important to the Japanese because it comes against a backdrop of deep-rooted social values that put family above the individual.

“It’s not only an issue of challenging male dominance,” explains Minoru Tada, a political scientist. “By calling for different names, women are threatening the very essence of the Japanese system that is based on belonging to a group or a family, in this case maybe even the Japanese identity because conservative values regard everybody belonging to the ultimate head of the family which is their country, Japan.”