Sign-In
Cart
Inequality and the Work-Family Dilemma in Japan: Stratified Mothering
Hardcover
Series: Routledge Contemporary Japan
General Gender StudiesGeneral SociologyWomen's Studies
ISBN13: 9781032967745
Publisher: Routledge
Published: Sep 29 2026
Pages: 202
Language: English
How do working mothers in Japan experience the tension between employment and child-rearing? Drawing on in-depth interviews with 55 working mothers, this book offers a compelling account of women's struggles under neoliberal motherhood in contemporary Japan. By comparing university-educated and nonuniversity-educated women, it reveals subtle yet consequential class-based differences in how mothers balance childcare, housework, and paid work.
The book shows how motherhood ideologies, economic constraints, unequal spousal support, workplace norms, and practices intersect to shape women's everyday lives. In particular, it brings into focus the often-overlooked challenges faced by nonuniversity-educated women, and by situating these experiences within Japan's strong child-centered ideology, the book examines how mothers navigate pervasive expectations of intensive mothering and develop strategies to cope with them. In doing so, it reframes what are often seen as individual struggles as structurally produced inequalities.
Also in
Women's Studies
Florence Kelley and the Nation's Work: The Rise of Womens Political Culture, 1830-1900
Sklar, Kathryn Kish
Paperback
Seafaring Women: Adventures of Pirate Queens, Female Stowaways, and Sailors' Wives
Cordingly, David
Paperback
Come as You Are: Revised and Updated: The Surprising New Science That Will Transform Your Sex Life
Nagoski, Emily
Paperback
Hunt, Gather, Parent: What Ancient Cultures Can Teach Us about the Lost Art of Raising Happy, Helpful Little Humans
Doucleff, Michaeleen
Paperback
Dopamine Kids: A Science-Based Plan to Rewire Your Child's Brain and Take Back Your Family in the Age of Screens and Ultraprocessed Foods
Doucleff, Michaeleen
Hardcover
Women Who Run with the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype
Estés, Clarissa Pinkola
Paperback
Women Who Run with the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype
Estés, Clarissa Pinkola
Paperback
Unreasonable Women: Three Stories of Violence, Imprisonment, and Extraordinary Survival
Van Der Leun, Justine
Hardcover
P Fkn R: How Bad Bunny Became the Global Voice of Puerto Rican Resistance
Rivera-Rideau, Petra R.
Díaz, Vanessa
Paperback
The Conjuring of America: Mojos, Mermaids, Medicine, and 400 Years of Black Women's Magic
Stewart, Lindsey
Hardcover
How to Kill a Witch: The Patriarchy's Guide to Silencing Women
Venditozzi, Zoe
Mitchell, Claire
Paperback
Sacred Pampering Principles: An African-American Woman's Guide to Self-Care and Inner Renewal
Gandy, Debrena Jackson
Paperback
Liberation Summer: The Moment That Changed the Women's Movement and the Future of American Politics
McElya, Micki
Hardcover
Let This Radicalize You: Organizing and the Revolution of Reciprocal Care
Hayes, Kelly
Kaba, Mariame
Paperback
How to Raise an Emotionally Mature Child: Your Blueprint to a Lifetime of Happiness and Success for Your Child
Gibson, Lindsay C., PsyD
Hardcover
Girl on Girl: How Pop Culture Turned a Generation of Women Against Themselves
Gilbert, Sophie
Paperback
Men Who Hate Women: From Incels to Pickup Artists: The Truth about Extreme Misogyny and How It Affects Us All
Bates, Laura
Paperback
The Goddess That Failed: Feminism's Unending War against Men, Families, and Civilization Itself
Fiamengo, Janice
Paperback
The Woman They Could Not Silence: The Shocking Story of a Woman Who Dared to Fight Back
Moore, Kate
Paperback
Good Daughtering: The Work You've Always Done, the Credit You've Never Gotten, and How to Finally Feel Like Enough
Alford Phd, Allison M.
Hardcover
The Women's History of the Modern World: How Radicals, Rebels, and Everywomen Revolutionized the Last 200 Years
Miles, Rosalind
Paperback
If Women Rose Rooted: A Life-Changing Journey to Authenticity and Belonging
Blackie, Sharon
Paperback
Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity
Serano, Julia
Paperback
Girl on Girl: How Pop Culture Turned a Generation of Women Against Themselves
Gilbert, Sophie
Hardcover
Liliana's Invincible Summer (Pulitzer Prize Winner): A Sister's Search for Justice
Rivera Garza, Cristina
Paperback
Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism: And Other Arguments for Economic Independence
Ghodsee, Kristen R.
Paperback
Sex and Dissent: Stories of Feminist Resistance in Argentina, Chile, Mexico, and Spain
Beatley, Meaghan
Paperback
The New Age of Sexism: How AI and Emerging Technologies Are Reinventing Misogyny
Bates, Laura
Hardcover
For Brown Girls with Sharp Edges and Tender Hearts: A Love Letter to Women of Color
Dorcas Mojica Rodríguez, Prisca
Paperback
Femmephilia: Love Letters to Trans Mermaids, Queer Mothers, and Marilyn Monroe
Lewis, Sophie
Paperback
In Defense of Witches: The Legacy of the Witch Hunts and Why Women Are Still on Trial
Chollet, Mona
Paperback
Mommy Burnout: How to Reclaim Your Life and Raise Healthier Children in the Process
Ziegler, Sheryl Gonzalez
Paperback
The Sexual Politics of Meat - 35th Anniversary Edition: A Feminist-Vegan Critical Theory
Adams, Carol J.
Paperback
The Deepest Well: Healing the Long-Term Effects of Childhood Trauma and Adversity
Burke Harris, Nadine
Paperback
It's Not Hysteria: Everything You Need to Know about Your Reproductive Health (But Were Never Told)
Tang, Karen
Paperback
Pcos SOS: A Gynecologist's Lifeline To Naturally Restore Your Rhythms, Hormones, and Happiness
Perella, Alexis
Gersh, Felice
Paperback
Women Who Run with the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype
Estés, Clarissa Pinkola
Hardcover
For the Sun After Long Nights: The Story of Iran's Women-Led Uprising
Tabrizy, Nilo
Jamalpour, Fatemeh
Hardcover
The Girl Who Baptized Herself: How a Lost Scripture about a Saint Named Thecla Reveals the Power of Knowing Our Worth
Watterson, Meggan
Hardcover
Holding Change: The Way of Emergent Strategy Facilitation and Mediation
Brown, Adrienne Maree
Paperback
The Disordered Cosmos: A Journey Into Dark Matter, Spacetime, and Dreams Deferred
Prescod-Weinstein, Chanda
Paperback
Tangled: Seven Iconic Moments in White Women's Hair and What They Tell Us about Power, Pleasure, and Complicity
Mesle, Sarah
Hardcover
Hunt, Gather, Parent: What Ancient Cultures Can Teach Us about the Lost Art of Raising Happy, Helpful Little Humans
Doucleff, Michaeleen
Hardcover
The Book That Taught the World to Orgasm and Then Disappeared: Shere Hite and the Hite Report
Campbell, Rosa
Hardcover
The Disengaged Teen: Helping Kids Learn Better, Feel Better, and Live Better
Winthrop, Rebecca
Anderson, Jenny
Paperback
All in Her Head: The Truth and Lies Early Medicine Taught Us about Women's Bodies and Why It Matters Today
Comen, Elizabeth
Hardcover
When Women Get Sick: An Empowering Approach for Getting the Support You Need
Bloom, Rebecca
Hardcover
Against the State: Anarchists and Comrades at War in Spain, Myanmar, and Rojava
Stout, James
Paperback
The Problem with Pretty: Beauty, Bias and the Surprising Science of Good Looks
Powell-Hicks, Allycin
Hardcover
A Midwife's Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812 (Pulitzer Prize Winner)
Ulrich, Laurel Thatcher
Paperback
Go Play: How Parents Can Empower Kids to Build Their Own Worlds
Fox, Kate Allen
Gorback, Gennie, M. Ed
Paperback
White Women: Everything You Already Know about Your Own Racism and How to Do Better
Jackson, Regina
Rao, Saira
Paperback
A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: With Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects
Wollstonecraft, Mary
Paperback
No Visible Bruises: What We Don't Know about Domestic Violence Can Kill Us
Snyder, Rachel Louise
Paperback
The Mercury 13: The True Story of Thirteen Women and the Dream of Space Flight
Ackmann, Martha
Paperback
God Bless the Pill: The Surprising History of Contraception and Sexuality in American Religion
Mehta, Samira K.
Paperback
Our Diaries, Ourselves: How Diarists Chronicle Their Lives and Document Our World
Rubiner, Betsy
Hardcover
A Reasonable Guide for Unreasonable Women: 20 Steps to Find Your Purpose and Power in a World on Fire
Chalupa, Andrea
Hardcover
Six Women of Salem: The Untold Story of the Accused and Their Accusers in the Salem Witch Trials
Roach, Marilynne K.
Paperback
The Intersectional Environmentalist: How to Dismantle Systems of Oppression to Protect People + Planet
Thomas, Leah
Hardcover