Gender Beliefs in Japan: Processes of Change among Women and Men

Kristen Schultz Lee, Pennsylvania State University
Duane Alwin, Pennsylvania State University
Paula Tufis, Pennsylvania State University

This research investigates the mechanisms of change in gender beliefs in Japan from 1994 to 2002. Cohorts of Japanese women born early in the 20th century were more likely than later-born cohorts to have worked full-time for pay when their children were young. At the same time, these earlier-born cohorts express, overall, less egalitarian beliefs about a gendered division of labor. We ask how gender beliefs change in the population as these older cohorts of Japanese are replaced by younger cohorts. Using repeated cross-sectional data from the ISSP, we examine how processes of cohort replacement and of intra-cohort change contributed to the changes in beliefs about the gendered division of labor and women’s obligation to contribute financially to the family. We find that while changes in gender beliefs occurred through both cohort replacement and within-cohort change, the mechanisms of change were different for men and women.