Re-examining "difference" and "development" : a note on broadening the field of gender and development in Japan


Autoria(s): Murayama, Mayumi
Data(s)

09/09/2008

09/09/2008

01/08/2008

Resumo

It is the author’s position that the framework for WID/GAD, as academic field and practice concerned primarily with developing countries should be broadened so as to incorporate Japan’s own gender and development issues in its scope. Unlike other developed countries, activists and scholars in Japan rarely connected, as was also the case with the fields of women’s/gender studies and WID/GAD. However, this was not due to any lack of interest among Japanese women regarding the lives of women in developing countries. Rather the points of fissure were the notions of ‘difference’ and ‘development’ held by Japanese women. These analytical concepts were narrowly defined, which resulted in limited interaction between discourse on women’s issues in Japan and WID/GAD related to ‘other’ women. By re-examining these notions and looking more deeply into perceived differences in the local context of ‘development’, not only can we strategize on ‘differences’ in such a way that we draw strength from the very fact of being different, but also prevent ‘differences’ from being used as grounds for discrimination. As a whole, we could gain substantially by broadening the field of Gender and Development and, as such, it is imperative that this field be broadened with urgency as development itself changes in this ever-interconnected world

Identificador

IDE Discussion Paper. No. 165. 2008.8

http://hdl.handle.net/2344/780

IDE Discussion Paper

165

Idioma(s)

en

eng

Publicador

Institute of Developing Economies, JETRO

日本貿易振興機構アジア経済研究所

Palavras-Chave #Gender and development #Japan #Difference #Women’s activism #ジェンダーと開発 #日本 #差異 #女性運動 #367.1 #AA Asia アジア #AEJA Japan 日本 #O10 - General #Z00 - General #396.1
Tipo

Working Paper

Research Paper