The New Japan Women's League (NJWL or ''Shin Nihon Fujin Dōmei'') was a non-partisan women's organization in Japan formed by Fusae Ichikawa on November 3, 1945, after WWII. The NJWL was established to improve women's legal status in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, gain women's suffrage, develop policies for women's lives, education and work, and inform Japanese women about

democracy Democracy (from , ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which political power is vested in the people or the population of a state. Under a minimalist definition of democracy, rulers are elected through competitiv ...

and

citizenship Citizenship is a membership and allegiance to a sovereign state. Though citizenship is often conflated with nationality in today's English-speaking world, international law does not usually use the term ''citizenship'' to refer to nationalit ...

. The NJWL was influenced by pre-

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

suffrage Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to v ...

organizations and did not mention

gender equality Gender equality, also known as sexual equality, gender egalitarianism, or equality of the sexes, is the state of equal ease of access to resources and opportunities regardless of gender, including economic participation and decision-making, an ...

women in the workforce Since the Industrial Revolution, participation of women in the workforce outside the home has increased in industrialized nations, with particularly large growth seen in the 20th century. Largely seen as a boon for industrial society, women ...

in its founding principles. NJWL and Ichikawa worked to "struggle against conservative social

taboo A taboo is a social group's ban, prohibition or avoidance of something (usually an utterance or behavior) based on the group's sense that it is excessively repulsive, offensive, sacred or allowed only for certain people.''Encyclopædia Britannica ...

s." NJWL lobbied the government over laws and policies that were unequal in treatment of men and women. In 1950, New Japan Women's League was renamed to the Women's Suffrage League of Japan. Thereafter, Women's Suffrage League of Japan had the basic principles of "equality, welfare, political purification, and permanent world peace" and promoted movements that connect between women and the Diet.

History of the establishment New Japan Women's League

In Japan, voting and joining associations were completely banned for women in 1889 after the establishment of the Constitution of the Japan Empire by the Assembly Regulations and Peace Police Act. In 1905, socialist women started an opposition movement to reform the law and get rid of the ban. Later named the

New Women's Association The New Women's Association (NWA, also known as New Women's Society 新婦人協会, ''Shin-fujin kyōkai'') was a Japanese women's rights organization founded in 1919. The organization strove to enhance women's rights in the areas of education, em ...

, in 1919 the socialist women's organization succeeded in partly revising the Peace Police Act. In 1945, one of the members of New Women's Association, Fusae Ichikawa, established a new organization for women's suffrage movement, called the New Japan Women's League. The New Japan Women's League temporary declined because Ichikawa was purged by order of the General Headquarters of the Allied Forces in April 1947, but she was released from the purge and came back to the New Japan Women's League in October 1950. She renamed to the Women's Suffrage League of Japan in November 1950 and promoted women's movements.

Goals

The main goals of New Japan Women's League were: * Abolition movement of legal system against women * Political education movement for exercising of women's suffrage more effectively * Establishment of policy related to women's life, education, and labor

Achievements

New Japan Women's League (NJWL) put a headquarters in Tokyo and opened 35 branches all over Japan. The president of New Japan Women's League, Fusae Ichikawa, had started a movement that interested a large number of Japanese women in politics and improved their knowledge of politics since November 3, 1945, and gathered about 3000 women to the NJWL. Women in NJWL and Ichikawa also shaped a plan of women's suffrage with the 43rd Prime Minister Higashikuni, and the politician

Ichiro Hatoyama , also known mononymously as , is a Japanese former professional baseball outfielder who played for 28 seasons. He played the first nine years of his career with the Orix Buffaloes, Orix BlueWave of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), and the ...

. The 44th Prime Minister Shidehara adapted women's suffrage in a cabinet decision and Home Minister Zenjiro Horikiri submitted the women suffrage bill of the House of Representative Election Law to the Diet on November 17, 1945. It was passed and women who are over 20 years of age voted for the first time under the Revised Election Law. The president of New Japan Women's League, Ichikawa, said in an interview, "Without the Occupation or the defeat of Japan, the realization of the Japanese women's constitutional rights would not have been achieved so quickly."

References

Citations

Sources

External links

Japanese Press Translation on formation of New Japan Women's League
{{Authority control 1946 establishments in Japan Women's rights organizations Feminism in Japan Women's organizations based in Japan Organizations established in 1946