Compare aspects of two different states that struggle with gender gaps.
Introduction
In the 21st century, conversations related to political identity frequently center on how individuals choose to identify themselves and categorize themselves into groups. The burden here tends to rest on individuals locating and assigning themselves an identity that matches their preferences and motivations. There are many examples of this from around the world, relating to racial, ethnic, cultural, and gender preferences.
Consider racial identity in Brazil. In April 2021, over 40,000 political candidates were able to categorize their own racial identities differently than in previous elections. According to political scientist Andrew Janusz, political candidates in Brazil "have some latitude to fluctuate on how they present themselves" in order to attract the voters they want to turn out at the polls.
Now consider gender identity around the world. As of late 2021, there were 16 states that allowed citizens to choose between male, female, non-binary, or third genders on their passports. These states included Argentina, Austria, Australia, Canada, Colombia, Denmark, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Malta, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Pakistan, India, Nepal and the United States. In looking at democracies in Western Europe and the United States, the Pew Research Center found that views on political and cultural identities have "become less restrictive and more inclusive in recent years." Factors that were historically important toward justifying one’s political identity--birthplace, religion, sharing a state's customs and beliefs, and the ability to speak the dominant language in a country--have decreased in importance for defining political identity in these locales.
Considering these examples, some might argue that the 21st century brought more opportunities for societies to design and assign their own identities in alignment with their preferences and ambitions. Drawing this conclusion, however, downplays the reality that there are still many states in the world where political identity, as well as other forms of identity, tend to be imposed, rather than chosen. Debate surrounding political identity remains heated.
Although Japan and India are both democracies, and both have constitutions that ensure equal treatment of citizens under the law as well as freedom from discrimination, both countries have struggled greatly with improving gender equality. Generally, gender gaps are measured in regards to women in the economy (their participation and earnings relative to men), women’s access to health, and women’s representation in politics. In all three areas, India and Japan have struggled. Using the method of Most Similar Systems Design, we will compare two states that have had difficulty with their policy approaches to decreasing gender gaps. Both states struggle with historical and cultural remnants of gender roles that continue to pervade all aspects of women’s lives today.
Full Country Name: Japan Head(s) of State: Emperor and Prime Minister Government: Unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy Official Languages: Japanese Economic System: Mixed Economy Location: Island in East Asia Capital: Tokyo Total land size: 145,937 sq mi Population: 125 million GDP: $5.378 trillion GDP per capita: $42,928 Currency: Japanese Yen
Japan is an island in East Asia off the coast of China and Taiwan. Today, Japan has one of the oldest democracies in East Asia, and it is the 11th most populous state in the world. Japan’s government system is a parliamentary constitutional monarchy where the emperor is the head of state, the prime minister is the head of government, and the cabinet directs the executive branch. Legislative power is vested with the National Diet, which is a legislature that includes both a House of Representatives and a House of Councillors. Judicial power is vested in a supreme court and some lower courts. The supreme law of the land is derived by the 1947 Constitution, which was created under the American occupation of Japan following World War II. Overall, Japan’s democracy is considered consolidated and stable, as the country has upheld free and fair elections, the rule of law, and freedom of the press. Nevertheless, an area of continuing concern in Japanese society is gender equality. Japan ranks 118 out of 148 states worldwide according to the World Economic Forum's 2025 Gender Gap Index.
Following the creation of the 1947 Constitution in Japan, which ended the reign of Emperor Meiji and the Meiji Period, Japanese powers were encouraged to initiate their own democracy and enforce democratic reforms. While the 1947 Constitution was mostly drafted by Americans, Japanese scholars reviewed and modified it to ensure that it did not contradict the previous Meiji Constitution. The hope in doing this was that the people of Japan would more readily accept the new constitution.
Some of the main additions within this constitution were those given to individual rights, including (but not limited to) equality before the law (freedom from discrimination); democratic elections; the prohibition of slavery; separation of church and state; freedoms of assembly, speech, association, and press; and the rights to property and due process. Women were granted the right to vote prior to the new constitution being formally adopted (women’s suffrage was granted in 1945) and, combined with the individual rights emphasized in the new constitution, the hope was that women would enjoy equal rights and treatment as men. For a variety of reasons, women in Japan faced great challenges over the decades since World War II in gaining equal treatment; the delay and slow progress may be due, in part, to historical context and culture.
Within the Meiji Era, women did not have legal rights of any kind, and they were expected to perform only household duties as directed by the male head of the household. From a historical and cultural standpoint, expectations of women were strict. Women are expected to be modest, tidy, courteous, obedient, and self-reliant. Women were to look well-kept and to be silent and compliant with male expectations and needs. In this vein, both male and female children were to be completely obedient to their parents. Women who expressed themselves or communicated their needs were considered troublesome or overly needy, which were not desirable characteristics. Female children were directed to perform duties to help around the house, while male children were given opportunities for schooling and eventual employment in various vocations. Although the 1947 Constitution did introduce sweeping changes that should have affected the status of women, many of the cultural norms from the Meiji Era remained. The societal expectation is for women to be submissive and modest.
The treatment of gender does not seem to match the reality of life in Japan. The vast majority, almost 70 percent, of adult Japanese women work. Yet Japan has one of the worst documented gender gaps in terms of equal pay for women based on similar credentials and occupational levels as men. Indeed, the OECD notes that Japan has the second worst gender wage gap in the world.
Following other trends around the world with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, employment prospects and data worsened for Japanese women. Indeed, Japan’s women experienced larger reductions in their work hours, had a higher tendency to be furloughed, and were generally pushed from the workforce at a far greater rate than men were in the midst of the pandemic (so much so, in fact, that the exodus of women in the workplace in Japan has been called the 'she-cession'). Although some recent gains in employment for women have occurred, economic recovery for women in the workforce has been slow. The effect of the pandemic was particularly difficult for Japan’s women because of their traditional values related to gender roles. Many believed, in the face of the lockdown and quarantines, that women should be at home helping their children and tending to household responsibilities. Many women bore the brunt of all family-related obligations during the pandemic, and the ensuing sluggish economic growth did not improve opportunities for women to return to work.
Inequality in the workplace is not the only area of concern for women in Japan today. Another area of concern is the lack of female representation within political structures. On the first point, although political parties in Japan have prioritized increasing the representation of women in their organizations, growth has been slow. Survey results within Japan indicate that voters are not necessarily biased against candidates due to their gender, but rather that few Japanese women run for political office. In line with the belief that women need to be submissive, modest, and unambitious, running for office creates problems for each of these characteristics. In addition, the current structure of Japan’s welfare system is not conducive to women running for office or holding high-level jobs in the workplace. This is because there is a perception that men need to be the main "breadwinners" of the household, and if a woman is unemployed, the family is eligible for more government support to help with raising children. If women work in tandem with their husbands, they are not eligible for this extra government assistance.
Full Country Name: Republic of India Head(s) of State: President Government: Federal parliamentary constitutional republic Official Languages: Hindi, English (plus over 430 native languages) Economic System: Middle Income Developing Market Economy Location: South Asia Capital: New Delhi Total land size: 1,269,219 sq mi Population: 1.3 trillion people GDP: $3.050 trillion GDP per capita: $2,191 Currency: Indian Rupee
India is a country in South Asia, bordered by Pakistan, China, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, and Myanmar. India gained its independence from Britain in 1947, and redrafted its constitution to install a democracy as a federal parliamentary republic. Under its new constitution, India’s government has all three components of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches. The executive branch contains a president with largely ceremonial duties and a prime minister as head of government. The prime minister role is appointed by the president with the support of the majority party in parliament at the time. The executive branch’s powers are secondary to legislative powers. The legislative branch is tasked with making laws and performing all legislative functions. Finally, India’s judiciary is a three-tiered system that includes a supreme court and a number of high and lower courts.
India’s Constitution is substantially longer than Japan’s Constitution, and fundamental rights--such as equality before the law and the prohibition of discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex, or place of birth--are enumerated in the first few sections of the document. While India is a democracy (though not as consolidated as in Japan), it also has severe problems with gender equality and treatment. India ranks 131 out of 148 states worldwide according to the World Economic Forum's 2025 Gender Gap Index. Like Japan, India has a long history of abiding by strict gender roles. In Indian society, men are the "breadwinners" tasked with earning for their families, whereas women are submissive to the head of the household and responsible for the reproduction of heirs and handling home duties.
Historically, women in India never held roles equal to men. Men drove all social, political, and economic choices, and women were seen only as subordinate wives and mothers. A large part of the role of the women was to ensure, oftentimes, a male child. Male children hold significant roles in the family and, eventually, are tasked with performing last rites for the elders in the family, as well as ensuring the continuation of the family line. Under this system, women were expected to be highly moral and faithful, while men were encouraged to ensure male progeny, even if it meant being unfaithful. Over time, women’s rights in India did not improve, but steadily declined. The birth of a daughter was not seen as welcome news; often, it was more profitable to sell a daughter or woman as a commodity, rather than to keep one in the family.
Although India’s Constitution recognizes equal rights and freedom from discrimination based on sex, many conceptions of the role of women in society seem to persist today. The historical and cultural foundations of women in society are difficult to overcome. One of the reasons for India’s gender gap ranking is because of India’s practice of sex selective abortion, a practice of terminating a pregnancy once the sex of the infant is known (namely, if the infant is female). While abortion is legal with certain restrictions in India, the practice of sex selective abortion is not. Nevertheless, observers believe that sex selective abortions take place at a high rate given the grossly uneven ratio of males to females in Indian society. According to the United Nations, both India and China account for more than 90 percent of all sex selective abortions worldwide, with an estimated 1.5 million missing female births recorded each year globally.
Additional reasons for India’s low ranking in terms of gender equality include the lack of women’s representation in politics, the lack of women in technical and leadership roles, unequal access to health care, major gaps between male and female literacy levels, expanding gender wage gaps, and an overall decrease of women in the workplace.
Conclusion
Following the end of World War II, Japan’s 1947 Constitution was well-received by the public, and it enabled Japan to maintain its historical and cultural origins while adopting democratic values. The Japanese Constitution had all the basic ingredients for building a liberal democracy with respect for civil liberties and civil rights. India’s situation was, in some ways, similar to that in Japan. For instance, India's Constitution also ensured equal protection under the law and prohibited discrimination. Both India and Japan are democracies that continue to rank poorly and struggle with gender gaps, and yet, they differ in their overall trajectories of progress. Although prior to the pandemic, India had made major leaps in terms of narrowing gender gaps, the COVID-19 pandemic wreaked terrible outcomes for the treatment of women, particularly in terms of access to affordable and quality healthcare. Although Japan’s women also bore difficult outcomes from the pandemic, the Japanese government established a new direction for many of its policies and initiatives relating to decreasing the gender gaps. One of its plans, the Fifth Basic Plan for Gender Equity, calls for major changes to support women in the workplace and to increase their representation in political parties and politics in general.
