Japan as an Ideal Society in the Mirror of Post-Constitutional Women's Press

A reformist discourse advocating for changing the status of women, which had its roots in the intellectual developments of the Constitutional Era, gradually matured in response to the domestic and international events of its time. In particular, given Japan's military and economic successes, he looked to it as a preferred model to introduce its progressive examples in relation to women. The present study attempted to answer these questions: What did women in post-constitutional society know of social changes and corresponding gender relations in Japan? How did they see the situation of women in Japan? What are the features of this preferred society? For this purpose, accessible texts published in women's press were selected as the statistical population and were qualitatively examined using the document analysis method.
Using Weber's "ideal type" theoretical framework as an analytical tool shows that the authors of these publications, on the one hand, by referring to the status of women in Japanese society and its various dimensions in the fields of public education, higher education, employment, and women's sports, and on the other hand, by introducing examples of leading women, have set out to shape an ideal model of Japan. The design of these components as clear and achievable criteria can be seen as a conscious effort to guide the mindset of transformational men and women who looked to the state of Asian societies and highlighted the progressive Eastern model in contrast to advanced Western societies.
The excellent example they present of Eastern Japanese society to their audience is a kind of mental construction of the objective realities of society that, as a standard, enables the evaluation of similarities and deviations and encourages readers and even members of society to approach the standards and reduce deviations. These criteria are the characteristics of a progressive society that this time presents itself as a successful Eastern society. Accordingly, they called for a change in the gender order and considered Iran's transformation, on the eve of the formation of a modern state, to be dependent on redefining the role of women and their corresponding social pillars and functions in the public and private spheres.
A reformist discourse advocating for changing the status of women, which had its roots in the intellectual developments of the Constitutional Era, gradually matured in response to the domestic and international events of its time. In particular, given Japan's military and economic successes, he looked to it as a preferred model to introduce its progressive examples in relation to women. The present study attempted to answer these questions: What did women in post-constitutional society know of social changes and corresponding gender relations in Japan? How did they see the situation of women in Japan? What are the features of this preferred society? For this purpose, accessible texts published in women's press were selected as the statistical population and were qualitatively examined using the document analysis method.
Using Weber's "ideal type" theoretical framework as an analytical tool shows that the authors of these publications, on the one hand, by referring to the status of women in Japanese society and its various dimensions in the fields of public education, higher education, employment, and women's sports, and on the other hand, by introducing examples of leading women, have set out to shape an ideal model of Japan. The design of these components as clear and achievable criteria can be seen as a conscious effort to guide the mindset of transformational men and women who looked to the state of Asian societies and highlighted the progressive Eastern model in contrast to advanced Western societies.
The excellent example they present of Eastern Japanese society to their audience is a kind of mental construction of the objective realities of society that, as a standard, enables the evaluation of similarities and deviations and encourages readers and even members of society to approach the standards and reduce deviations. These criteria are the characteristics of a progressive society that this time presents itself as a successful Eastern society. Accordingly, they called for a change in the gender order and considered Iran's transformation, on the eve of the formation of a modern state, to be dependent on redefining the role of women and their corresponding social pillars and functions in the public and private spheres.