Women’s Vulnerability During Natural Disasters: A Feminist Perspective on COVID-19’s Impact in Japan

Authors

  • Xiru Zhao
  • Vuslat Nur Şahin Temel

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.33831/jws.v25i2.503

Keywords:

Japan, COVID-19, Human Security, SDGs, Feminism

Abstract

Female vulnerability during disasters is a significant issue, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. Japan, as a developed country, exemplifies how women faced increased economic vulnerability and instability during this crisis. The pandemic intensified existing social structures, leading to greater instability and insecurity, with these effects being especially pronounced when viewed through a gendered lens. This article argues that, despite the Japanese government's efforts to mitigate economic instability, the absence of a gender perspective in policy-making perpetuated women’s economic vulnerability, ultimately undermining human security and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Japan.

References

Alon, T., Doepke, M., Olmstead-Rumsey, J., & Tertilt M. (2020, April 19). The Impact of the coronavirus pandemic on gender equality. Centre for Economic Policy Research. https://voxeu.org/article/impact-coronavirus-pandemic-gender-equality

Alston, M. (2014). Gender mainstreaming and climate change. Women’s Studies International Forum, 47, 287–294.

Assmann, S. (2014). Gender equality in Japan: The equal employment opportunity law revisited. The Asia-Pacific Journal, 45(2), 1-23.

Bahn, K., Cohen, K., & Rodgers, Y. (2020). A feminist perspective on COVID-19 and the value of care work globally. Gender, Work & Organi-zation, 27(5), 695–99.

Belarmino, M., & Roberts, M. R. (2019). Japanese gender role expectations and attitudes: A qualitative analysis of gender inequality. Journal of International Women’s Studies, 20(7), 272-288.

Berkhout, S.G., & Richardson, L. (2020). Identity, politics, and the pandemic: Why is COVID-19 a disaster for feminism(s)?. History and Phi-losophy of the Life Sciences, 42(4), 49.

Dalla Costa, M., & James, S. (Eds.). (1975). The power of women and the subversion of the community (3rd ed.). Falling Wall Press Ltd.

Dalton, E. (2017). Womenomics, ‘equality’ and Abe’s neoliberal strategy to make Japanese women shine, Social Science Japan Journal, 20(1), 95-105.

Davies, S. E., & Bennett, B. (2016). A gendered human rights analysis of Ebola and Zika: locating gender in global health emergencies. International Affairs, 92(5), 1041–60.

Dento, F. (2002). Climate change vulnerability, impacts, and adaptation: Why does gender matter?, Gender and Development, 10(2), 10-20.

Disaster Prevention Information. (2021). Emergency measures, etc. in Tokyo to prevent the spread of new coronavirus (announced on 9 September 2021). https://www.bousai.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/1007617/index.html (In Ja-panese).

Donner, W., & Rodriguez, H. (2011, January 8). Disaster Risk and Vulnerability: The Role and Impact of Population and Society. PRB. https://www.prb.org/resources/disaster-risk/

Edwards-Levy, A., Munsi P., & Manibog, C. (2022, March 8). Women in the world’s richest nations feel let down by their governments following the pandemic, CNN poll reveals. https://edition.cnn.com/interactive/2022/03/world/covid-recovery-G7-women-poll-as-equals-intl-cmd/index.html

Gender Equality Bureau Cabinet Office in Japan. (2020). Survey Report on the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic from the Perspective of Gender Equality. In Japanese https://www.gender.go.jp/research/kenkyu/pdf/covid19_r02/00.pdf.

Gerster, J. (2024, April 15). Women’s needs in disasters are still not accounted for. The Japan Times. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/commentary/2024/04/15/japan/women-gender-issues-disasters-japan/

Global Health 5050. (2022). The Sex, Gender and COVID-19 Project. https://globalhealth5050.org/the-sex-gender-and-covid-19-project/

Inagaki, K. (2020). Japanese companies woo mothers to fill vacancies. Financial Times. https://www.ft.com/content/30aa0f62-442e-11ea-9a2a-98980971c1ff

Kabeer, N., Razavi, S., & Rodgers, Y. (2021). Feminist Economic Perspectives on the COVID-19 Pandemic. Feminist Economics 27(1–2), 1–29.

Kikuchi, S., Kitao, S. , & Mikoshiba, M. (2021). Who Suffers from the COVID-19 Shocks? Labor Market Heterogeneity and Welfare Consequ-ences in Japan. Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, 59, 1-39.

Kotera, S., & Schmittmann, J. (2022). The Japanese Labor Market During the COVID- 19 Pandemic. International Monetary Fund working paper (Working Paper No. 2022/089). International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Maestripieri, L. (2021). The covid-19 pandemics: Why intersectionality matters. Frontiers in Sociology, 6, 1-6.

Marshall, R. (2017). Gender inequality and family formation in Japan. Asian Anthropology, 16(4), 261-278.

MacKinnon, C. A. (1983). Feminism, Marxism, method, and the state: Toward feminist jurisprudence. Journal Of Women in Culture And Society, 8(4), 635-658.

Medecines Sans Frontiers. (2024). Living conditions threaten the lives of pregnant women and newborns in Gaza. https://www.msf.org/living-conditions-are-threatening-lives-pregnant-women-gaza

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan. (n.d.). Disasters and Disaster Prevention in Japan. Disaster Prevention. https://www.mofa.go.jp/policy/disaster/21st/2.html

Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. (2020). Basic Policies for Novel Coronavirus Disease Control by the Government of Japan (Summary). https://www.mhlw.go.jp/content/10900000/000624195.pdf

Moreno, J., & Shaw, D. (2018). Women’s empowerment following disaster: A longitudinal study of social change. Natural Hazards, 92(1), 205–224. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-018-3204-4

Neumayer, E., & Plümper, T. (2007). The gendered nature of natural disasters: The impact of catastrophic events on the gender gap in life expec-tancy, 1981–2002. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 97(3), 551–566.

Nishitani, K., & Kawaguchi, A. (2023). What institutional characteristics determine and mitigate gender inequality in the workplace? An empirical analysis of Japanese firms. Women's Studies International Forum, 97.

Nomura Research Institute. (2021). One in two part-timers who have lost shifts due to the new coronas “have continued to lose shifts since the outbreak of the new coronas. https://www.nri.com/jp/news/newsrelease/lst/2021/cc/0716_1 (In Japanese).

North, S. (2009). Negotiating what’s ‘natural’: persistent domestic gender role inequality in Japan. Social Science Japan Journal, 12(1), 23-44.

Okai, A. (2022, March 24). Women are hit hardest in disasters, so why are responses too often genderblind? UNDP. https://www.undp.org/blog/women-are-hit-hardest-disasters-so-why-are-responses-too-often-gender-blind

Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). (2021). Gender wage gap. https://data.oecd.org/earnwage/gender-wage-gap.htm.

____. (2020). Women at the core of the fight against COVID-19 crisis. https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/social-issues-migration-health/women-at-the-core-of-the-fight-against-covid-19-crisis_553a8269-en.

Persaud, Randolph B. 2016. ‘Human Security’. In Contemporary Security Studies, edited byAlan Collins, Fourth edition. Oxford New York: Oxford University Press.

Petraroli, I., & Baars, R. (2022). To be a woman in Japan: Disaster vulnera-bilities and gendered discourses in disaster preparedness in Japan. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 70, 102767. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2021.102767

Sahin, A., Song, J., & Hobijn, B. (2010). The unemployment gender gap during the 2007 recession. SSRN Electronic Journal, 16(2), 1-7.

Saito, F. (2012). Women and the 2011 east Japan disaster. Gender & Development, 20(2), 265–279.

Statistics Bureau Japan. (2021a). Average Monthly Cash Earnings per Regular Employee by Industry (Cont’d), Male/Female 2020.

Statistics Bureau Japan. (2021b). Population aged 15 years old and over by labour force status, employed person by industry.

Statistics Bureau Japan. (2021c). Number, Age and Hourly Scheduled Cash Earnings of Female Part-Time Workers by Size of Enterprise and Industry.

Sugimoto, T. (2021, September 10). What are priority measures to prevent the spread of disease? Zuginojitai, https://smbiz.asahi.com/article/14325425 (In Japanese).

Terry, C. (1994). Vulnerability analysis and the explanation of 'natural' disasters, In Ann Varley (Ed.), Disaster, Development and Environment (pp.13-30). John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Ueno,C. (2009). 家父長制と資本制: マルクス主義フェミニズムの地平. (Patri-archy and Capitalism: A Marxist Feminist Perspective). 岩波書店 (Iwanami bookstore).

United Nations (UN). Policy Brief: The Impact of COVID-19 on Women. https://www.un.org/sexualviolenceinconflict/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/report/policy-brief-the-impact-of-covid-19-on-women/policy-brief-the-impact-of-covid-19-on-women-en-1.pdf.

United Nation Development Programme (UNDP). (2020). 2020 Human Development Perspectives, Tackling Social Norms: A game changer for gender inequalities. https://hdr.undp.org/system/files/documents/hdperspectivesgsnipdf_1.pdf

United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. n.d. ‘The 17 Goals’. https://sdgs.un.org/goals.

UN Woman. (2020). COVID-19 and its economic toll on women: The story behind the numbers. https://www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2020/9/feature-covid-19-economic-impacts-on-women.

Waring, M., & Steinem, G. (1990). If women counted: A new feminist economics. Harpercollins.

Waring, M. (1999). Counting for nothing: What men value and what women are worth. (2nd ed.). University of Toronto Press.

World Bank. (2021). Labor force, female (% of total labor force) in Japan. https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.TLF.TOTL.FE.ZS?locations=JP

World Economic Forum. (2021). Global gender gap report 2021. https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GGGR_2021.pdf

Wu, S.Y. (2009). Household characteristics and women’s work patterns: Compromising familial care work and nonfamilial paid employment. Journal of Asian Public Policy, 2(1), 74–84.

Yakıt Ak, E., & Uyurdağ, N. (2024). Afetin Toplumsal Cinsiyet Boyutu: Türkiye’nin Diyarbakır Şehrinde Depremi Yaşayan Kadınlarla İlgili Bir Örnek Olay İncelemesi. Akdeniz Kadın Çalışmaları ve Toplumsal Cinsiyet Dergisi, 7(1), 142–160. https://doi.org/10.33708/ktc.1390146

Yamamoto, I., Ishii K. , and Higuchi Y. (2021). The early impacts of the COVID-19 on employment, time-allocation, and well-being among Ja-panese employees: Evidence from real time longitudinal survey before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Proceedings of 2021 PDRC Discussion Paper Series (pp.1-48). Panel Date Research Center at Keio University.

Yavinsky, R. (2012, December 26). Women More Vulnerable Than Men to Climate Change. PRB. https://www.prb.org/resources/women-more-vulnerable-than-men-to-climate-change/

Published

2025-03-05

How to Cite

Zhao, X., & Şahin Temel, V. N. (2025). Women’s Vulnerability During Natural Disasters: A Feminist Perspective on COVID-19’s Impact in Japan. Kadın/Woman 2000, Journal for Women’s Studies, 25(2). https://doi.org/10.33831/jws.v25i2.503