Equal employment opportunity policies and attitudes toward gender-roles in Japan since 1985

This dissertation focuses on the gender-role attitudinal changes that coincided with women's rights legal reforms in Japan, beginning in 1985. Since the passage of the 1985 Equal Employment Opportunity Law (EEOL), related legal reforms to further support women's employment have continued to date in Japan. An historical analyses of the legal reforms in Japan and of country reports for and responses from the United Nations' Committee for the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) showed how women's rights expanded following Japan's interactions with the CEDAW Committee. Legal enforcement developed for family leaves, sexual harassment prevention, and indirect discrimination. My analysis next uncovers the mechanisms that led to attitude changes supporting gender equality and brought Japanese attitudes more in line with global norms. Survey analysis reveals that post-EEOL cohort individuals have higher gender equality consciousness than the pre-EEOL cohort. In particular, the younger age cohort showed high rates of sexual harassment consciousness, while gender, parental education, school and job types appear to have shaped their attitudes. An analysis of national newspaper reporting illustrates how sekuhara (or sexual harassment)---once not considered a social problem in Japan---has received growing attention and has become recognized as a problem. In the newspaper reporting, international references in earlier years helped spread the new concept and legitimize claims against sexual harassment. More recently, local understandings developed, enabling Japanese to talk about the once-foreign concept without referring to international stories. Interviews with local experts suggested their international networks and strategies to introduce, translate, and localize the global norm of women's employment rights raised social expectations for change among elites and then the masses. Although the Japanese could have rejected the change that emerged in the global society, they did in fact change their attitudes. My dissertation traces the processes involved, locating the linkage between the local Japanese people, national structures, and the international community.