Volume 3　「男は働き、女は家庭を守る」？


A Male-Dominated Society

Ann: And what about, you know, it's very typical in Japan, for example, for girls to graduate from college and if they go to college and then they graduate and then the idea is they'll work for a short time and then get married . . .

Michael: Right.

Ann: . . . quit and, uh, take care of their families. And what about, would that be a common sort of trajectory in the UK?

Michael: Not really. No, I think in England, a much smaller percentage of people go to further education in the UK. So the women who go through further education in the UK for the most part have a career in mind. So they're not gonna give that up . . . when they get married.

Ann: Right. So they're gonna keep working.

Michael: They are gonna keep working and that's quite common now. Japan especially, is still very much a male-dominated society. But I remember some years ago, seeing on television the top company officials of one of the main cosmetics companies in Japan and they were all men.

Ann: Yeah, and I think that's one way actually that things are still quite traditional here. So, I think one reason that often, for women, for example, it's maybe not so attractive to keep working, is that there aren't really that many opportunities for w advancing in these companies.

In the States, there's been a, kind of, you could call it a backlash in a way but, of actually sometimes women not wanting to work, you know, because there was this whole like, you know, superwoman thing, you know, and you could do it all, and finding that rather than like killing themselves all day at, at the office and then coming home to take care of the children, that they actually would prefer to take on that role of taking care of all the domestic things. And then some men feel that, too, right, that they would prefer to do that, right?

Michael: Well, I was, I was gonna say. I mean, it, it, it sounds pretty good to me. I mean, the idea of, of becoming a, a full-time househusband isn't such a bad idea, I think.

Ann: Yeah, yeah. So, there are a lot of good changes, I think, where the gender roles are not so clearly demarcated and, there's more freedom. Of course, in the States and the UK and things are changing here as well.
Well, thank you very much for joining us this month and we will look forward to being with you next month: July.

Michael: Oh, July, my favorite month because, well, my birthday's in July.

Ann: Say no more. 

Michael: All right. OK. 

Ann: See you next time. Bye. 

Michael: Take care, bye-bye.