This lucid, hard-hitting book explores a central paradox of the Japanese economy: the relegation of women to low-paying, dead-end jobs in a workforce that depends on their labor to maintain its status as a world economic leader. Drawing upon historical materials, survey and statistical data, and extensive interviews in Japan, Mary Brinton provides an in-depth and original examination of the role of gender in Japan's phenomenal postwar economic growth.

Brinton finds that the educational system, the workplace, and the family in Japan have shaped the opportunities open to female workers....

One of the most dramatic economic changes of the past century has been the increase in married women's work outside the home. This volume examines the nature of married women's participation in the economies of three East Asian countries--Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea. In addition to asking what is similar or different about women's economic participation in this region of the world compared to Western societies, the book also asks how women's work patterns vary across the three countries. The essays focus on key theoretical questions for the study of women's labor and, more broadly,...

This volume integrates two increasingly visible streams of research-economic sociology and new institutional economics-to better understand how ties among individuals and groups facilitate economic activity alongside and against the formal rules that regulate economic processes via government and law.

One of the most dramatic economic changes of the past century has been the increase in married women's work outside the home. This volume examines the nature of married women's participation in the economies of three East Asian countries--Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea. In addition to asking what is similar or different about women's economic participation in this region of the world compared to Western societies, the book also asks how women's work patterns vary across the three countries. The essays focus on key theoretical questions for the study of women's labor and, more broadly,...