Constructing identities beyond reconstruction: working housewives in post-war Japan through gendered media portrayals (1950s)

Abstract

This thesis analyses the visual narratives of Japanese women portrayed in media works during the immediate post-war years of Japan during the 1950s. Through Japanese cinema, newspapers, magazines and photography exhibitions, the thesis explores the conflicting and multi-faceted construction of working Japanese housewives’ identity. With the post-war society actively encouraging women’s participation in the workforce, the presence of lingering traditional expectations and state policies created a paradoxical landscape for working Japanese women to navigate their evolving identities and social status in society. The Allied Occupation of Japan (1945 – 1952) saw a transitional landscape with the introduction of new social norms, political ideologies and cultural values, offering a lens to understand the experience of these women during the pivotal point in Japanese post-war history. This thesis argues that Japanese women had actively constructed their own subjectivity, giving rise to their own agency amidst socio-political structures and expectations.