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Sex Roles, Vol. 47, Nos. 9/10, November 2002 (°

C 2002)

Gender Role Development in Japanese Culture: Diminishing

Gender Role Differences in a Contemporary Society

Yoko Sugihara1,3 and Emiko Katsurada2

This paper presents the development of the Japanese Gender Role Index (JGRI) and Japanese
men’s and women’s self-ratings on the scale. Two hundred ninety-six Japanese words that
describe masculine and feminine characteristics were gathered. Examination of endorsements
by 200 Japanese participants indicated 66 items as socially desirable characteristics for either
men or women in the society. The validation process, including social desirability ratings,
factor analysis, and confirmatory factor analysis, identified 2 subscales with 10 items for each.
Internal consistency and the means and standard deviations of social desirability ratings for the
subscales were also examined. Self-ratings on the JGRI by 423 Japanese participants showed
that there was no significant difference between men and women on feminine and masculine
characteristics. It was also found that both men and women possessed an equivalent amount
of masculine and feminine characteristics.

KEY WORDS: gender roles; Japanese; masculinity; femininity.

Gender stereotypes are products of cultures.
The idea of cultural difference in gender roles
has been supported by numerous studies (Basow,
1984; Chia, Moore, Lam, Chuang, & Cheng, 1994;
Lara-Cantu & Navarro-Arias, 1987; Moore, 1999;
Novakovic & Kidd, 1988; Ward & Sethi, 1986;
Williams, Satterwhite, & Best, 1999). For example, a
study of the Personal Attitudes Questionnaire (PAQ;
Spence & Helmreich 1978) with Fiji high school
and college students (Basow, 1984) showed a small
percentage of gender-typed individuals and a mini-
mal difference in gender-typing patterns between the
sexes. Similar findings were reported in a study done in
Yugoslavia in which a high percentage of the undiffer-
entiated types were found among university students
(Novakovic & Kidd, 1988).
Gender stereotypes change over the years along
with societal changes. Studies of occupational choices
1 Long Beach, California.
2 Akita
University, Akita, Japan.
3 To whom correspondence should be addressed at 3532 Carfax
Avenue, Long Beach, California 90808; e-mail: yokosugihara@
msn.com.
by boys and girls have demonstrated that boys se-
lected a greater variety of occupations than did girls
in the beginning of the 1970s. Popular occupations
for girls in the 1970s were teaching and nursing,
whereas boys selected a wide variety of occupa-
tions (Looft, 1971; Siegel, 1973). A shift slowly oc-
curred in the late 1970s and 1980s. By then, there
was no difference between boys and girls on num-
ber of occupations selected (Kriedberg, Butcher, &
White, 1978; MacKay & Miller, 1982; O’Keefe &
Hyde, 1983). In the 1990s, researchers reported a
reversal of the original situation, with girls select-
ing more occupations than did boys (Phipps, 1995;
Trice, Hughes, Odom, Woods, & McClellan, 1995).
Changes in occupational choices of girls and boys
over the years clearly reflect societal changes as well
as changes in gender stereotypes in the American
society.
Numerous researchers have investigated gen-
der stereotypes cross-culturally (Chia, Moore, Lam,
Chuang, & Cheng, 1994; Lara-Cantu & Navarro-
Arias, 1987; Lobel, Slone, & Winch, 1997; Ward &
Sethi, 1986). A limitation of previous studies lay
in the scale used to examine gender stereotypes in

443 0360-0025/02/1100-0443/0 °
C 2002 Plenum Publishing Corporation
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444
cultures. A majority of previous cross-cultural stud-
ies have used Western-developed scales to measure
gender roles in different cultures. Validation of the
scales often found limitations of the measures with
regard to investigating gender stereotypes in differ-
ent cultures. In a study of the Bem Sex Role In-
ventory (BSRI; Bem, 1974) and some other items
in Mexico Lara-Cantu and Navarro-Arias (1987)
found that limited BSRI items (8 masculine items
and 10 feminine items) were significantly endorsed
and that additional items were also significantly en-
dorsed, such as mature, rude, lazy, and arrogant as
masculine (by men) and spiritual, generous, reli-
gious, and hesitant as feminine (by women). Stud-
ies conducted in Japan also showed some limita-
tions of Western measures. Sugihara and Katsurada
(1999, 2000) found limitations to the use of the BSRI
items in the measurement of gender roles in Japan.
Only 12 masculine and 7 feminine items were en-
dorsed as gender stereotypes in Japanese people.
Men scored significantly higher than women on the
Masculinity scale, but there was no significant dif-
ference between men and women on the Feminin-
ity scale. The findings also showed that both men
and women scored slightly higher on the Feminin-
ity scale than on the Masculinity scale. Williams and
Best (1990a), in their cross-cultural study of gender
stereotypes, indicated that Japanese favored mascu-
line stereotypes over feminine stereotypes more than
did people in the other 24 countries that they in-
cluded in their study. They also found that Japanese
people saw masculine stereotypes as less active than
did people in other countries and that masculine
stereotypes were associated with critical parent roles
in Japan, whereas they were associated with nur-
turing parent roles in other nations. In their cross-
cultural study of gender role orientations and gen-
der stereotypes, Williams and Best (1990b) showed
that the scores on gender role orientation were neg-
atively correlated with the scores on gender stereo-
types among Japanese men, whereas the correla-
tion was positive among Japanese women, although
neither correlation reached significance, which in-
dicated that there was little relationship between
gender role orientations and gender role ideology
among Japanese. Despite intriguing findings such as
these, further investigation has not followed to exam-
ine the nature of differences in gender stereotypes
or gender-related personalities in cultures. In order
to begin to fill this gap, we attempted to examine
the culturally specific gender stereotypes in Japanese
culture.
Sugihara and Katsurada
Gender Role Development in Japanese Culture
As a relatively remote island country in Asia,
Japan has been well protected from outside invasions.
Although its history includes some internal wars, peo-
ple in Japan have generally maintained and enjoyed
a peaceful country for over 2,000 years.
Confucianism has had a great influence in Japan’s
developmental history and on Japanese people’s lives.
The Confucian ethical system emphasizes a harmo-
nious society in which a hierarchical structure is main-
tained. It teaches people loyalty, piety, and respect
for superiors and authorities; it also emphasizes in-
ternal strength such as integrity, righteousness, and
warm heartedness. Moreover, Confucianism stresses
a hierarchical societal structure, which assumes sub-
ordinates’ obedience to superiors and men’s domi-
nance over women and children. In the process of
adopting a Chinese-style legal and political structure
based on Confucian ethics, Japan, although it was orig-
inally more egalitarian in nature, developed a strongly
patriarchal society; patriarchal and Confucian values
were strengthened in the feudal system in later years
(Reischauer & Craig, 1973).
Ethics in feudal Japan differed significantly from
those in feudal Europe. Loyalty in Europe was seen
as a contract in a legal and governmental system,
whereas loyalty in China and Japan was seen as ethical
conduct. Moreover, women in European feudalism
were seen as weak and powerless figures who needed
protection (Reischauer & Craig, 1973). Women in
Japan, although they were subordinate to men, had a
right to inherit property and position from their fami-
lies and were expected to show the same bravery and
loyalty as men. Japanese men, even in the warrior
era, were expected to be accomplished in literature
and the arts (Otake, 1977). Thus, gender expectations
in Japan were not as distinct as they were in Western
cultures.
In modern Japan, values such as harmony, soli-
darity, and loyalty have been stressed and encouraged
in the process of transforming old Japan to a modern
technological country. More and more people, partic-
ularly men, became wage earners as the economy de-
veloped and the gender division of labor became strict
and apparent; men spent more time working outside
the home, and women stayed at home to take care of
children and household chores (Otake, 1977). Confu-
cian ethics were, thus, transferred and adapted in work
settings to achieve high economical prosperity. Com-
panies adapted a life-long employment system, and
loyalty and dedication to the company were assumed.
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Gender Role Development in Japanese Culture
Group responsibility and decision making by group
consensus were unwritten rules. Meanwhile, women
assumed total responsibility for housework and chil-
dren at home. Women had decision-making power
as well as a control of money at home, so that men
could be freed from household matters and could be
devoted to their work.
Recently Japanese people have started to explore
some alternative lifestyles different from the tradi-
tional masculine and feminine gender roles. Govern-
ment statistics indicate that the number of women
working outside the home has steadily increased over
the past 20 years, and so has the number of married
women keeping their jobs after marriage and child-
birth (Nihon Fujindantai Rengoukai, 1998). This is
partially because of the women’s rights movement and
achievement of equal education of the sexes, but also
partially because of the realization that a single wage
is not enough to maintain living standards. Moreover,
young people have tended to delay marriage, some
have decided not to have children, and a large num-
ber of young people have decided to stay single. This
trend is parallel to similar trends in other developed
countries, yet it has been a highly discussed social is-
sue in Japan because it is new to modern Japanese
society (Kito, 2000). Arichi (1993) found that the ma-
jor reasons women give for not having children are
excessive economic burden, desire to enjoy their own
lives, lack of physical space at home, and lack of sup-
port at work and in society. A report on marriage in
the Mainichi newspaper (“Koureika suru,” 1990) indi-
cated that women tended to delay their marriages al-
though more than 90% of them expressed their desire
to get married at some point in their lives. The reasons
indicated (Cabinet Office, 1991) were women gaining
economic independence, their desire for freedom, the
decreasing stigma of being single, and women’s in-
creasing career orientation. The other possible rea-
son for this trend is a discrepancy in expectations for
marriage between men and women such that men
still want a traditional family, whereas women want
a more egalitarian family pattern (Arichi, 1993). The
Asahi newspaper (“Henkasuru kekkonkan,” 1989) re-
ported that about 50% of men and 40% of women
between the late 20s and early 30s had no dating part-
ners. The number of never-married young people has
doubled for both women in their later 20s and early
30s, doubled for men in their early 30s, and tripled
for men in their early 40s over last 15 years (Arichi,
1993). Thus, Japanese history shows significantly dif-
ferent developments from those of Western countries.
These differences undoubtedly have had a great in-
445
fluence on the gender role development in Japanese
people.
Interest in the complex developments in
Japanese gender roles led to the present study, in
which we attempted to investigate culturally specific
gender-related traits in Japanese culture. The study
consists of two parts: first, the development of the
Japanese Gender Role Index (JGRI) and examina-
tion of psychological properties of the scale; sec-
ond, an examination of the gender-related personal-
ity characteristics of Japanese men and women on the
scale.
STUDY 1
Word Selection
Students (15 men and 20 women) in psychology
classes were asked to list 10 characteristics that de-
scribe being masculine and feminine in the society.
Male students came up with 44 masculine and 43 fem-
inine characteristics, whereas female students identi-
fied 80 masculine and 78 feminine characteristics.
We also compiled Japanese adjectives and
phrases that describe masculine and feminine charac-
teristics based on previous literature on gender-role-
related issues in Japanese (Azuma, 1979; Y. Ito, 1978;
K. Ito, 1993; Kashiwagi, 1967, 1972; Watanabe, 1986)
and in English (Bem, 1974; Williams & Best, 1990a)
as well as the responses by the students in psychology
classes. The list consisted of 296 Japanese words and
phrases including both positive and negative words
and phrases. A professional instructor of Japanese
language examined the word list for the appropriate-
ness of the words. The words were rearranged so that
negative and positive words appeared randomly in the
list.
Four hundred participants including college stu-
dents and community volunteers (200 men and 200
women) responded to the items on the questionnaire,
which consisted of the 296 words and phrases de-
scribed above. Researchers identified volunteer par-
ticipants in various meetings and workshops. Students
in a psychology class also identified volunteers in
the community for extra credits. The average age of
male judges was 26.5 (SD = 10.9); the range was be-
tween 18 and 78 years. The average age of female
judges was 27.3 (SD = 10.7); the range was between
18 and 53 years. The participants were randomly as-
signed to identify masculine or feminine character-
istics in Japanese society. One hundred participants
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446
(50 men and 50 women) were asked to identify the
words that describe socially desirable characteristics
for Japanese men, and the other 100 participants
(50 men and 50 women) were asked to identify the
socially desirable characteristics for Japanese women.
They were directed to check as many words as they
believed described either masculine or feminine char-
acteristics. The instruction read
This questionnaire was developed to identify the
words that describe masculine and feminine char-
acteristics in Japanese society. There are 296 words
and phrases that describe characteristics of Japanese
people. Please identify the words or phrases that de-
scribe masculine/feminine characteristics in Japanese
society. We are not asking the characteristics of your
ideal men/women. Please identify the socially desir-
able masculine/feminine characteristics in Japanese
society by marking the items. You can mark as many
items as you think appropriate. Do not take too much
time on each item.
The average of 82 words (SD = 42.5) was en-
dorsed as socially desirable for men, whereas the aver-
age of 73 words (SD = 40.7) was endorsed as socially
desirable for women. When 50% of both male and fe-
male judges endorsed an item as a socially desirable
characteristic for either men or women, the item was
retained. This process eliminated 230 words. Fifty-two
items were identified as masculine, and 31 items were
identified as feminine. Among them 17 items were
endorsed as both masculine and feminine, none of
which was negative. Thirty-one of 49 items endorsed
as either masculine or feminine were consistent with
the characteristics that the students in the psychology
classes initially identified. The final list consisted of
66 words and phrases including the items that were
endorsed for both sexes. The items endorsed in the
above procedure were rearranged into a 7-point scale
to measure to what extent each characteristic is desir-
able for men or women in Japanese society. The scale
is called the JGRI.
Method
Participants
Five hundred and forty-nine Japanese people
who resided in Japan (203 men and 346 women) par-
ticipated in the study by completing the questionnaire
about socially desirable characteristics of men and
women in Japanese society. Participants were asked
to rate socially desirable characteristics for either men
or women in the society. The mean age of participants
Sugihara and Katsurada
was 26.7 years (SD = 11.8); the mean age of men and
women was 28.8 (SD = 12.9) and 25.6 (SD = 11.0),
respectively. The average length of education of the
participants was 14.1 years (SD = 1.3); the range was
between 9 and 18 years. The average length of edu-
cation for men and women was 14.3 (SD = 1.4) and
14.1 (SD = 1.2), respectively.
The participants were divided into two groups:
Group 1 (n = 200) and Group 2 (n = 349). Partici-
pants in Group 1 were randomly selected from the
sample pool in such a way that the group consisted
of 50 men and 50 women who rated socially desirable
masculine characteristics and 50 men and 50 women
who rated socially desirable feminine characteris-
tics. There was no significant age difference between
men (M = 30.8, SD = 12.3) and women (M = 28.1,
SD = 10.3). No significant age difference was noted
between the judges who rated male social desirabil-
ity (M = 28.9, SD = 11.0) and the judges who rated
female social desirability (M = 30.0, SD = 11.7).
Group 2 consisted of the rest of the participants
(n = 349). The mean ages for men (n = 104) and
women (n = 245) in Group 2 were 26.6 (SD = 12.9)
and 24.0 (SD = 10.9), respectively. The mean levels
of education for men and women were 14.0 years
(SD = .89) and 13.9 years (SD = 1.1), respectively.
There was no significant difference between the sexes
on age and level of education.
Measures
The list of the 66 words and phrases endorsed in
the previous section was arranged on a 7-point scale
with 1 being not at all desirable and 7 being extremely
desirable in order to measure the social desirability
of characteristics for men and women in Japanese
society.
Procedure
Researchers solicited participation in the study
in various meetings and workshops in the commu-
nity. Students in psychology class also identified vol-
unteer participants in the community for extra credit.
In order to avoid the participants who participated in
the pilot study to select the items, the volunteers were
identified in a different part of the local prefecture and
at different schools in other areas. Participants were
randomly assigned to judge socially desirable charac-
teristics for men or for women, and asked to rate how
much each characteristic is desirable for men/women
in Japanese society.
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Gender Role Development in Japanese Culture 447

Of the participant pool, 200 participants were Table I. t-Test Results of 35 Items Rated as Socially Desirable for
randomly selected in such a way that 50 men and Men and 14 Items Rated as Socially Desirable for Women
50 women who judged social desirability for women Ratings
and 50 men and 50 women who judged social desir-
For men For women
ability for men were selected. Some were assigned to
Group 1 and the rest to Group 2. Scores of Group 1 Item (English equivalent) M SD M SD
were used to examine social desirability ratings and Innocent 4.2 1.4 5.1 1.7a
for confirmatory factor analysis, whereas scores of Defend one’s own belief 5.2 1.5 4.2 1.4a
Group 2 were used for factor analysis. The entire Strong personality 4.7 1.5 3.8 1.4a
data set was used to calculate internal consistency and Graceful 2.5 1.3 4.9 1.6a
Assertive 5.0 1.5 4.3 1.6
means and standard deviations of social desirability Have leadership abilities 5.2 1.5 4.0 1.5a
ratings. Affectionate 4.8 1.4 5.6 1.4a
Stable 5.2 1.4 4.8 1.6
Results Strong willed 5.2 1.5 4.4 1.5a
Have charm 4.4 1.5 5.4 1.5a
Have motivation to improve 5.6 1.3 5.0 1.6
t-Test Analyses Ability to implement action of 5.6 1.3 4.7 1.5a
one’s own accord
A series of t-test analyses for 35 masculine and 14 Amiable 4.5 1.4 5.5 1.5a
feminine items indicated that 12 items were rated sig- Honest 4.8 1.5 5.3 1.5
nificantly higher for women and 12 items were rated Perseverance 5.1 1.5 4.9 1.5
Cute 2.9 1.4 5.3 1.6a
significantly higher for men (see Table I). The items Devoted to one’s work 5.6 1.3 5.0 1.4
rated as significantly more desirable for men were de- Have a broad perspective 5.8 1.1 5.1 1.4a
fend one’s own belief, strong personality, have lead- Attentive to the need of others 4.8 1.4 5.8 1.4a
ership abilities, strong willed, ability to implement ac- Tenacious 5.2 1.4 4.8 1.4
tion of one’s own accord, have a broad perspective, Speak clearly 4.8 1.5 4.1 1.6
Polite 4.7 1.2 5.5 1.4a
ability to bring others together, have guts, become self- Hard working 5.4 1.2 5.1 1.4
supportive, persuasive, relied on by others, and up- Diligent 4.9 1.3 4.8 1.4
standing, whereas those for women were innocent, Calm 4.4 1.4 5.2 1.5a
graceful, affectionate, have charm, amiable, cute, at- Ability to bring others together 5.3 1.2 4.3 1.5a
tentive to the need of others, polite, calm, love children, Diplomatic 5.3 1.2 4.8 1.4
like to care for others, and have neat habits. Love children 4.9 1.3 5.5 1.5a
Serious 4.7 1.4 4.8 1.4
Active 5.1 1.2 4.7 1.4
Factor Analysis Like to care for others 4.2 1.3 5.5 1.4a
Energetic 4.9 1.3 4.5 1.4
A factor analysis was rendered on the 24 items Like sports 4.7 1.3 4.2 1.4
that were rated significantly more desirable for men Have neat habits 4.1 1.2 5.6 1.5a
Have guts 5.3 1.3 4.6 1.6a
or women in order to identify a stable factor structure
of the scale. The procedure identified three factors. Sociable 5.0 1.3 5.0 1.4
The 12 items that were rated as significantly desirable Ability to plan ahead 5.0 1.2 5.1 1.4
Strong natured 5.1 1.5 4.9 1.4
for men all highly loaded on Factor 2, the 12 items
Dutiful to one’s parents 5.3 1.3 5.6 1.4
that were rated as significantly desirable for women Helpful 5.2 1.2 5.3 1.4
all highly loaded on Factor 1, and two Factor 1 items Become self-supportive 5.5 1.2 4.7 1.5a
and two Factor 2 items also highly loaded on Factor 3. Sincere 5.4 1.4 5.0 1.5
After the four multiple loading items were eliminated, Try to meet the needs of others 4.5 1.3 5.1 1.6
Have integrity 5.2 1.4 5.4 1.4
two factors were identified (see Table II).
Persuasive 4.9 1.3 4.3 1.3a
Kind to everybody 4.7 1.2 5.2 1.5
Confirmatory Factor Analysis Relied on by others 5.4 1.2 5.3 1.3a
Upstanding 5.3 1.3 4.3 1.4a
A confirmatory factor analysis was performed Have a strong sense of justice 5.1 1.4 4.5 1.5
on the 20 items. The items were randomly parceled aA Bonferroni correction was made by multiplying p value by the
into four summed items in each factor. This pro- number of the test executed (49). Therefore, significance ( p < .05)
cess assumes a more normal distribution of the was considered to be reached when p < .001.
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448 Sugihara and Katsurada

Table II. Factor Structure of the JGRI Items omitted because they did not complete the ques-
Factor 1 Factor 2 tionnaires or filled them out incorrectly. Scores from
Have leadership abilities .754 —
423 participants (174 men and 249 women) were used
Strong willed .781 — for data analysis. Their ages ranged from 18 to 80,
Ability to implement action of .832 — with means of 29.4 (SD = 12.8) and 27.2 (SD = 13.0)
one’s own accord for men and women, respectively. There was no sig-
Have a broad perspective .741 — nificant age difference between the sexes. There were
Ability to bring others together .825 —
Have guts .707 —
5 junior high school graduates (2% of men and 2%
Become self-supportive .759 — of women), 81 high school graduates (18% of men
Persuasive .742 — and 20% of women), 14 junior college/2-year pro-
Relied on by others .738 — fessional school graduates (1% of men and 5% of
Upstanding .804 — women), 46 university graduates (14% of men and 9%
Innocent — .672
Graceful — .762
of women), 12 graduate students (2% of men and 3%
Affectionate — .642 of women), 7 graduate school graduates (4% of men),
Have charm — .738 38 junior college/2-year professional school students
Attentive to the need of others — .778 (7% of men and 10% of women), and 220 university
Polite — .782 students (52% of men and 51% of women).
Calm — .692
Love children — .778
Like to care for others — .768 Measures
Have neat habits — .767
The JGRI consists of the 10 masculine and 10
feminine characteristics as well as 10 neutral filler
sample than that of the original sample and makes items that scored high for both sexes in the previous
it possible to use a small sample (West, Finch, & section of the study. The 10 filler items were added
Curran, 1995). The results showed that the two-factor so that masculine and feminine items were not ob-
model fit the data, χ 2 (n = 349, df = 8) = 14.42, p < vious. The items were arranged on the 7-point scale
.071, GFI = .99, AGFI = .96. described previously. Masculine and feminine charac-
teristics were randomly mixed in such a way that they
Internal Consistency, Means, and Standard were evenly distributed in the scale. The JGRI has
Deviations for Social Desirability Ratings two subscales: Masculinity and Femininity. Subscale
scores were calculated by the sum of the scores of
The JGRI consists of two subscales: the Fem- the items divided by the number of the items in each
ininity scale (10 items) and the Masculinity scale subscale. The possible range of the subscale scores is
(10 items). Internal consistency of the subscales was between 10 and 70.
.91 and .93 for the Femininity scale and Masculinity The Marlowe–Crowne Social Desirability Scale
scale, respectively. The Femininity and Masculinity (MC-SDS; Crowne & Marlowe, 1960) is a 33-item
scores were calculated by the sum of item scores in self-report inventory that measures to what extent
each subscale divided by the number of items. The people try to present themselves in a socially desirable
means and standard deviations of the feminine and manner. For this study, the scale was translated into
masculine social desirability ratings were 5.5 (SD = Japanese using the back-translation method (Brislin,
1.0) and 4.4 (SD = 1.1) for women and 4.1 (SD = 1970, 1986). A validation of the Japanese version of
0.87) and 5.5 (SD = 0.97) for men, respectively. the measure was conducted by asking 11 Japanese
faculty and staff at the college to indicate whether
each statement was a socially desirable behavior in
STUDY 2 Japanese society. One hundred percent agreement
was obtained on two items: “I never hesitated to
Method go out of my way to help someone in trouble” and
“I have never deliberately said something that hurt
Participants someone’s feelings.” Above 90% agreement was
obtained on another four items: “There have been
Four hundred and thirty-three men and women times when I felt like rebelling against people in
participated in this study. Fourteen of them were authority even though I knew they were right”; “I
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Gender Role Development in Japanese Culture 449

sometimes try to get even rather than forgive and Table III. Means and Standard Deviations of Self-Ratings on the
forget”; “I am always courteous even to people who JGRI Masculine and Feminine Items for 174 Men and 249 Women
are disagreeable”; and “I have never been irked Men Women
when people expressed ideas very different from M SD M SD
my own.” Ratings for social adjustment on a 6-point
Feminine items
scale by 30 college students in a Counseling class Innocent 4.3 1.6 4.4 1.6
indicated that the item means ranged from 3.0 to Graceful 2.7 1.5 2.7 1.3
4.1; the mean total score was 24.8 (SD = 4.0). The Affectionate 3.9 1.8 4.1 1.9
scores were all around the midpoint (between 3 and Have charm 2.9 1.8 3.4 1.8
4), which showed that the statements did not indicate Attentive to the need of others 4.0 1.5 3.8 1.5
Polite 3.8 1.6 3.6 1.5
maladjusted behavior in the culture (Crowne & Calm 3.8 1.6 3.8 1.5
Marlowe, 1960). The revised MC-SDS used in the Love children 4.6 1.8 4.5 1.9
present study consisted of the six items endorsed Like to care for others 3.8 1.5 3.8 1.7
above. Participants were asked to answer true or false Have neat habits 3.7 1.7 3.9 1.6
in the way that best described their personal attitude. Masculine items
Have a leadership ability 3.6 1.7 3.5 1.6
One-week test-retest reliability with 20 college Strong willed 3.9 1.6 4.0 1.6
students in the Introduction to Psychology class Ability to implement action 4.3 1.6 4.3 1.4
was .86. The mean for 140 male and female college of one’s own accord
students was 3.0 with a standard deviation of 1.2. Have a broad perspective 4.0 1.5 3.7 1.4
Ability to bring others together 3.3 1.5 3.3 1.5
Have guts 4.1 1.6 3.9 1.5
Procedures Become self-supportive 3.8 1.7 3.7 1.6
Persuasive 3.8 1.5 3.7 1.4
The researchers asked participation in the study Relied on by others 3.7 1.5 3.7 1.5
Upstanding 4.1 1.4 4.0 1.5
in various meetings and workshops in the Kyushyu
Masculinity 3.9 1.0 3.8 1.0
(South Japan) area. The students in psychology classes Femininity 3.7 0.9 3.8 1.0
also volunteered to collect data in the community.
Participants were asked to fill out the questionnaires
including the pertinent demographic questions, the
JGRI, and the revised MC-SDS. In the demographic means of the JGRI Masculinity (M) and Femininity
section, a change was made in level of education be- (F) scores were 3.9 (SD = 1.0) and 3.7 (SD = 0.9)
cause we learned in the process of data collection in for men and 3.8 (SD = 1.0) and 3.8 (SD = 0.9) for
Study 1 that Japanese people were not familiar with women, respectively. There were no significant sex
filling out the level of education in a scale of 1–24 and differences on the M and F scales. Moreover, no sig-
over. Instead, the following categories were used: ju- nificant difference between the M and F scores was
nior high school graduate, high school graduate, junior found for either sex.
college graduate, junior college/2-year professional Correlations between the MC-SDS scores and
school students, university student, university gradu- the JGRI self-rating scores were relatively low. No sig-
ate, graduate student, and graduate school graduate. nificant correlation between the subscale scores was
The instruction read: observed for either men or women except between the
MC-SDS and F scores for men, r = .28, p < .05. More-
We are conducting a study to examine masculine and over, no significant correlation between the MCS-
feminine characteristics in Japanese society. Please DS scores and Masculinity-minus-Femininity differ-
fill out the questionnaires by following the instruc- ence scores was found. Thus, the result showed that
tion. Do not write your name. Information that we
obtain in the questionnaires is confidential. We are
the scores were not affected by socially desirable
asking a voluntary participation. You can withdraw responses.
from participation anytime you want. Gender types were identified by the median-
split method. A person whose F score was lower and
M score was higher than the median was assigned
Results to the Masculine type, whereas a person whose M
score was lower and F score was higher than the me-
Table III indicates the means and standard de- dian was assigned to the Feminine type. An individ-
viations for the Masculine and Feminine items. The ual whose subscale scores were both lower than the
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450
median represented the Undifferentiated type, and
an individual whose subscale scores were both higher
than the median represented the Androgynous type.
The median scores for the Masculinity and Feminin-
ity subscales for men were 3.85 and 3.60, and 3.65 and
3.70 for women, respectively. Sixteen percent of men
and women were Masculine, 14% of men and 12%
of women were Feminine, 34% of men and women
were Undifferentiated, and 36% of men and 38% of
women were Androgynous. The result indicated that
about one third of men and women were gender-typed
and two thirds were non-gender-typed.
DISCUSSION
The JGRI items revealed that the Japanese value
quite different personality traits for both men and
women than Americans do. For example, in compar-
ison with the BSRI items, some of the items such
as affectionate and have leadership abilities seem to
be universally valued, whereas individualistic values
such as independent, assertive, strong personality, and
self-reliant were not endorsed as socially desirable in
the culture. The characteristics endorsed as socially
desirable for men and women reflected Japanese tra-
ditional values such as conformity, righteousness, per-
severance, obedience, and kindness. The result was
parallel to the data from China (Chia et al., 1994).
Chia et al. wrote that ideal men in China were not the
“macho type” described in the U.S. culture because
Chinese men were socialized in the Confucian tradi-
tion, which places value on well-rounded men in fine
arts, music, and military arts.
In the present study, gender difference between
men and women was minimal. The Feminine and Mas-
culine scores for the sexes were not significantly differ-
ent from each other. Moreover, analysis of the gen-
der types showed that about one third of men and
women possessed gender typed personalities whereas
two thirds of them had non-gender-typed personal-
ities. Thus, the results supported diminished differ-
ences in gender roles of men and women.
The data indicate that the Japanese have their
own gender stereotypes, yet their gender role orienta-
tion did not reflect the cultural stereotypes. Moreover,
the differences in gender role orientations between
the sexes were minimal in this study. The results could
be explained by the recent development of equal ed-
ucational opportunities for men and women and the
increased number of women in labor force. A drastic
increase in the number of women in higher education
Sugihara and Katsurada
started in the late 1980s. The rate of women in higher
education (48.9%) surpassed that of men (45.8%) in
1989 (Nihon Fujindantai Rengoukai, 1998). The rate
of women in the work force had reached 40.7% in
1997. In other words, 50% of women who were over
15 years of age worked either full time or part time
in 1997. Traditional families in which the man is a
breadwinner and the woman is a housewife have also
diminished drastically as shown in the statistics that
51.3% of married women and 31.7% of divorced or
widowed women worked in 1997 (Nihon Fujindantai
Rengoukai, 1998). When women are expected to be
both a breadwinner and a caretaker at home, they ac-
quire both masculine and feminine qualities, because
both qualities are essential to do the tasks required of
women. The phenomenon is parallel to the worldwide
trend of diminishing gendered personalities as shown
by previous studies in the United States (e.g., Twenge,
1997).
Another explanation lies in the unique Japanese
social structure. Japanese has a distinct double-
structure: tatemae and honne. Tatemae refers to the
conventional morals created based on societal con-
sensus, whereas honne is the individual motives and
opinions behind tatemae (Nakane, 1970). The concept
of tatemae (who one is supposed to be) and honne
(who one is) might explain the discrepancy between
Japanese gender stereotypes and gender role orienta-
tion in Japanese men and women. The JGRI items
clearly indicated tatemae, the Japanese societal ex-
pectations for men and women, whereas self-ratings
on the JGRI reflected Japanese men’s and women’s
honne about their own personalities. Tatemae and
honne are just like two sides of a coin that are closely
connected yet different from each other. Japanese
people learn this societal double-structure through
the socialization process from an early age. First, chil-
dren learn that they are a part of a group and that
without the group identity they do not exist. A child
is often not identified by his/her name, but referred to
as a pupil in a certain school or a certain family’s son
or daughter. In these groups all the relationships are
structured in a vertical fashion such as parent–child,
older–younger pupils, and teacher–pupil. The age
factor is an essential part of these hierarchical rela-
tionships. This vertical relationship is the core of the
social structure and should never be disrupted for any
reason. Gender differences and expectations are only
functional in this framework.
Boys learn and internalize this societal double
structure through male socialization. Boys learn to
obey their parents and elders at home. Once they go
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Gender Role Development in Japanese Culture
to school, they enter the senpai–kohai (senior–junior)
relationship where senpai’s opinions and orders are
the absolute and need to be obeyed. College is the
most crucial setting to form the senpai–kohai relation-
ship that will affect them throughout their lives. At
work, they are ranked by seniority, and again senpai–
kohai relationships are formed according to the length
of services to the company. The relationship consists
of emotional as well as functional components. The
senpai gets respect and status by having a lot of kohai,
whereas the kohai receives a job, position, and pro-
motion, as well as emotional support and care even
for family members. Thus, these vertical relationships
formed in colleges and universities, as well as in the
companies in which men work, rule both public and
private lives (Nakane, 1970). The personality charac-
teristics desirable for men in the society are desirable
only in this context. As long as they do not interfere
with the hierarchical relationships, they are encour-
aged and valued. It is obvious, however, that there is
not much room to exercise abilities such as leadership,
strong will, fairness, vitality, and energy in the rigid hi-
erarchy. Instead, characteristics of being calm, polite,
and sensitive to the need of others are more functional
for the people at the bottom of the relationships, as
well as at the top of the hierarchy, because the ver-
tical relationship contains an emotional component.
Thus, Japanese men, through their experiences, learn
and acquire the ideal level of masculine and feminine
characteristics with which they can comfortably func-
tion in the hierarchical relationships.
Women have developed their gender personal-
ity differently. Traditionally, they stayed home and
assumed all the housework including childcare and
finance. Because the division of labor was clearly and
rigidly set, women have been responsible for all the
things related to family at home. Typically, women are
responsible for money at home, whereas men work to
earn the money. Thus, women have assumed more
responsibilities and gained more decision-making
power than men in the family. Out of necessity, women
acquire more control and power than men at home.
Moreover, women, although many of them join the
labor force, are free from the male socialization pro-
cess because they are relatively new to the job mar-
ket. Women are not as conscious of senpai–kohai re-
lationships as men are. Kokumin Seikatsu Hakusyo
(Economic Planning Agency, 1997) discussed the dis-
crimination against women in the Japanese labor
market and concluded that women had been placed
outside the hierarchy of seniority and promotion.
The self-rating scores on the JGRI might reflect
451
actual functional personality traits in the Japanese
society.
In this study we attempted to develop a gen-
der role scale to measure gendered personality in
Japanese society. The scale clearly reflected cultural
gender stereotypes in Japanese society. It could be
used to measure both gender stereotypes and gender
role orientation in Japanese culture. The scale, how-
ever, is limited to the measurement of positive aspects
of gender roles. The study is also limited to the ex-
amination of the gender role orientation of relatively
young people in South Japan. Further research on
gender role orientation with a larger sample from dif-
ferent parts of the country is strongly recommended.
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