Book launchMonday 15 September 2008
2:00pm – 4:00pm
Asia's New Mothers: Crafting Gender Roles and Childcare Networks in East and Southeast Asian Societies
Daiwa Foundation Japan House
Organised by the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation
Edited by Emiko Ochiai and Barbara Molony
Published by Global Oriental
‘Asia’s New Mothers’ offers a comparative regional analysis of changing gender roles in East and Southeast Asia. Focusing on childcare, the authors employ in-depth researches of people’s everyday experiences in Japan, South Korea, China, Taiwan, Thailand and Singapore. Most of the essays are informed by two theoretical focal points: modernisation and gender and globalisation and gender. Contributors to the volume compare the role of women in child-rearing in Europe, the United States and Japan with that of other societies in Asia where rich social networks are largely maintained in the process of modernisation. The study also looks to recent trends in globalisation and gender including the experiences of domestic workers of foreign nationality and mothers who go abroad to seek higher levels of education for their children. In introducing ‘Asia’s New Mothers’, the editors will take into consideration the historical and cultural similarities and differences that underpin the crafting of gender roles and childcare networks among the societies across the region.
‘Asia’s New Mothers’ (published by Global Oriental) will be available on the day at the special price of £35.00 (normally £50.00).
About the contributors
Professor Emiko Ochiai
Emiko Ochiai is professor of sociology at Kyoto University, working in the field of family sociology, gender studies, and historical demography. Her publications include ‘The Japanese Family System in Transition’ (LTCB International Library Foundation, 1997), ‘Modern Family and Feminism’ (in Japanese, Keiso Shobo, 1989), and ‘The Family and Gender in Asia’ (in Japanese, co-editor, Keiso Shobo, 2007).
Professor Barbara Molony
Barbara Molony, a professor of Japanese history at Santa Clara University, is the co-editor of ‘Gendering Modern Japanese History’ (Harvard, 2005) and author of articles on women’s political rights, gender and employment, and the politics of maternalism. She is currently working on the intersection of gender, dress and nationalism in modern Japanese history.
Professor Roger Goodman
Roger Goodman (chair) is Head of the Social Sciences Division at Oxford University, Nissan Professor of Modern Japanese Studies, and Professorial Fellow at St. Antony’s College. He lectures on contemporary Japanese society, welfare and education and anthropological theory. His publications include ‘Children of the Japanese State: The Changing Role of Child Protection Institutions in Contemporary Japan’ (2000), ‘Family and Social Policy in Japan’ (2002) and ‘Global Japan: The Experience of Japan’s New Immigrant and Overseas Communities’ (2003).