Slogans of the Era:
“Good wife, Wise Mother”
“Rich Country, Strong Army”
“Be Fruitful and Multiply for the Prosperity of the Nation”
“Healthy Nation, Sturdy Soldiers”
“Labor in the Service of the State”
Time Line and important information:
1889- Meiji Constitution: Japanese people were subjects of the
emperor
1890- Imperial Rescript on Education: teaching filial piety and
loyalty to the state
1898- Meiji Civil Code: family was patriarchal and the family was basic unit of the ruling order of the state.
1918- World War I ends
1925- Peace Preservation Law- censorship of “unsound”, “antisocial” liberal, and communist thought.
1930’s- Nazi’s elected as 2nd largest political party in Germany
-doubling expectations that Japan starts to create with women
1931- Japanese military aggression in Manchuria
1932- Roosevelt elected President in the US
1935- survey by Tanino Setsu says that 36% of population working in manufacturing, mining and transportation-communication was female
1937- Mother Protection Laws- Helped poor single mothers raise children less than 13 yrs of age by providing welfare and medical assistance.
1938- National Mobilization Law- Neighborhood associations were the smallest unit of state administration
1940- article by Tanino Setsu called for the reform of women’s working conditions (Job training and increased pay)
1940- Japan joins Tripartite (axis)
1940- National Eugenics Law- sterilize people with hereditary diseases and prohibit birth control
1940- “On Rewarding of Excellent Families with Many Children”
1941- Outline for Establishing Population Growth Policy- women as loyal
subjects of Imperial Japan.
1941- Outline for Population Policy- Increase quality of population in the name of the imperial mission to construct the “Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere”
1941- (July 26th) Roosevelt freezes Japanese assets in US and suspends relations
1942- (Dec. 7th) Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor
1942- (Dec. 8th) US & GB declare war on Japan
1942-Average workday in Japan is 11 hours
1942- Control of Management of Important Plants Ordinance- daycare
1943- Wartime Special Ordinance for the Factory Act of 1923- allows children under the age of 16 and women to work night hours and hard jobs
1944- (Feb.) 13,246,000 women out of 31,657,000 workers in civilian labor force
1944- (Aug, 4th) Anne Frank and family found by Gestapo
1944- decision of the cabinet to draft women into work
1944- (March) Outline of Reinforcement of Women’s Volunteer Corps
1944- (Aug.) Ordinance on Women’s Volunteering Labor Corps
*made women’s industrial service compulsory for one year
August 6, 1945- first atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima Japan
August 7, 1945- 3,000 bombs dropped on arsenal plant
August 8, 1945- Soviets declare war on Japan and invade Manchuria
August 9, 1945- second bomb dropped on Nagasaki Japan
August 14, 1945- Japanese sign unconditional surrender
September 2, 1945- V-J Day
Post War: 3 Million Women Fired = Idea that women’s real identity lies
in the family
.