4 ms·

>I speak Japanese, have spent a lot of time in the country, and have a great admiration for its people, but about the last thing I’d express any admiration for

by magduf 7y ago

>I speak Japanese, have spent a lot of time in the country, and have a great admiration for its people, but about the last thing I’d express any admiration for are its politics and media. While the media might not be great, at least the politicians, right-wing as they may be, actually seem to be trying to do things to improve the country, and even pushing some relatively progressive ideas (for instance, they're pushing for more women in corporate leadership positions, something Japan is woefully behind on). I just can't say the same for America these days; our national government (and especially the executive branch) is moving things backwards and making things worse.

claudeganon 7y ago
Abe has a good PR team pushing this narrative abroad, but it doesn’t map to the material reality of most women. While female labor force participation rates are up, most women are locked into lower-level positions with bad wages and little hope of advancement. Likewise, women still face a level of misogyny in Japan that is truly unimaginable to most Americans. This has been led in no small part by Abe and the LDP, who insist on the enforcement of absolutely regressive social mores. Most recently, they vehemently opposed women being allowed to keep their own last names upon marriage.
- magduf 7y ago
  >Abe has a good PR team pushing this narrative abroad >While female labor force participation rates are up, most women are locked into lower-level positions with bad wages and little hope of advancement. How is that the government's fault? That sounds like a problem at the corporations. In any democratic country, the government only has so much power over the personnel decisions of companies. You can argue they should have more regulation, but how exactly do you force companies to promote more women into the executive ranks without having the government basically take over the corporations (which reeks of authoritarianism)? >This has been led in no small part by Abe and the LDP, who insist on the enforcement of absolutely regressive social mores. Examples? >Most recently, they vehemently opposed women being allowed to keep their own last names upon marriage. Did they succeed? As for misogyny and Americans, is Japan trying to ban abortion? They most certainly are in America, and it's quite possible it'll happen to some extent thanks to Trump's SCOTUS appointees.

by magduf 7y ago

claudeganon 7y ago

Abe has a good PR team pushing this narrative abroad, but it doesn’t map to the material reality of most women. While female labor force participation rates are up, most women are locked into lower-level positions with bad wages and little hope of advancement. Likewise, women still face a level of misogyny in Japan that is truly unimaginable to most Americans. This has been led in no small part by Abe and the LDP, who insist on the enforcement of absolutely regressive social mores. Most recently, they vehemently opposed women being allowed to keep their own last names upon marriage.

magduf 7y ago
>Abe has a good PR team pushing this narrative abroad >While female labor force participation rates are up, most women are locked into lower-level positions with bad wages and little hope of advancement. How is that the government's fault? That sounds like a problem at the corporations. In any democratic country, the government only has so much power over the personnel decisions of companies. You can argue they should have more regulation, but how exactly do you force companies to promote more women into the executive ranks without having the government basically take over the corporations (which reeks of authoritarianism)? >This has been led in no small part by Abe and the LDP, who insist on the enforcement of absolutely regressive social mores. Examples? >Most recently, they vehemently opposed women being allowed to keep their own last names upon marriage. Did they succeed? As for misogyny and Americans, is Japan trying to ban abortion? They most certainly are in America, and it's quite possible it'll happen to some extent thanks to Trump's SCOTUS appointees.