feminist: Small victories are nice.I remember more

Roselady (

roselady) wrote in

feminist,
@ 2005-12-01 02:41:00

Small victories are nice.

I remember more or less a year ago, there were reports on the Japanese princess Masako being locked up in her room to produce an heir. Apparently there's been trouble with only females being born, and it was against the law for women to rule alone. However, now they're bringing forth a bill that will allow women to be empresses, man or no. I think thats excellent, especially because the people are so in favor of it. I wonder if the U.S. will have so much success with a female president.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051201/ap_on_re_as/japan_imperial_succession

(Post a new comment)

	superexposed 2005-12-01 10:03 am UTC (link)
	I wonder if the Japanese emperor's power is anywhere NEAR what the US president's power is. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	silverspar 2005-12-01 11:48 am UTC (link)
	no, they're figureheads. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	brienf 2005-12-01 11:55 am UTC (link)
	Huh? (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

four_thorns
2005-12-01 05:11 pm UTC (link)

i believe superexposed is responding to the OP's statement "I wonder if the U.S. will have so much success with a female president" by pointing out that the emperor of Japan, much like the queen of England or the president of India, is largely a figurehead, whereas the president of the US is, like the prime minsters of Japan, England, and India, a figure in possession of actual executive power.

so comparing an attitude toward a woman in a figurehead position vs an attitude toward a woman in a position with actual power isn't necessarily an indication that the people in one country are more accepting of women in positions of power.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	laughing_dreams 2005-12-01 06:55 pm UTC (link)
	however if you ask someone from england they will tell you that the country belongs to them and that they do rule it. the queen for example has power of royal veto she can veto any law the government tries to pass if she doesn't like it (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	dancing_moon 2005-12-01 08:32 pm UTC (link)
	Mmm, yes, but I think they stripped that power from the emperor after WWII. I'm not entirely certain here, but it seems logical I know the swedish king is forbidden from speaking about politics (to the media etc of course) and he does not have any influence whatsoever on the laws. So it's not the same everywhere (Reply to this)(Parent)

	esoteroticist 2005-12-01 09:41 pm UTC (link)
	...But royal opposition counts for very little. The last royal veto on a bill passed by both houses in the UK was in 1707, I think. The Queen is a figurehead, with nominal power. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	estelwen 2005-12-01 12:58 pm UTC (link)
	The Japanese Emperors have about as much power as the Queen of the UK - little to none. They're figureheads. They function as a "symbol" of Japan more than anything. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	dancing_moon 2005-12-01 01:30 pm UTC (link)
	Of course not, they have a prime minister (currently Junichiro Koizumi) who is the political leader. (Reply to this)(Parent)

estelwen
2005-12-01 02:05 pm UTC (link)

This is a good thing. Insofar as the Emperor is a "symbol" of Japan, so to speak, I wonder if having a woman Emperor will help with the rampant sexism that I hear is so prevalent in Japan.
I remember when Princess Aiko was born. The organization that has the job of organizing the Japanese Imperial family (so to speak) publicly called on Masako to have a male baby as soon as possible. Considering that Masako had to go on fertility drugs to have Aiko, that was downright cruel.

(Reply to this)(Thread)

	kiyuchan 2005-12-01 04:11 pm UTC (link)
	"...publicly called on Masako to have a male baby as soon as possible." Not to mention that biologically speaking that's the father's contribution, not the mother's... (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	four_thorns 2005-12-01 05:12 pm UTC (link)
	good point. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	estelwen 2005-12-01 05:13 pm UTC (link)
	Well, what they called for was her to try to get pregnant again. The subtext (hardly subtext, really - more like supertext) was that she should keep trying at pregnancy until she gave birth to a boy. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	ishshah 2005-12-02 03:44 am UTC (link)
	What's so silly about this is that Japan has allowed women on the throne before. Granted, it's been more than 200 years since the last time, but there is ample precedent. What will be genuinely impressive is when a Japanese woman is able to occupy a political post with real importance. That is even less likely to happen than it is in the US... (Reply to this)(Thread)

	roselady 2005-12-02 04:23 am UTC (link)
	it's sad isn't it? It would be nice to see a female as one of the highest generals in the country, instead of some generals wife. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

ishshah
2005-12-02 05:49 am UTC (link)

It bothers me that most of the examples of women who have achieved high political office involve succession of husbands or fathers. Indira Gandhi, Gloria Macapagal-Arrogo, Megawati Sukarnoputri, and Chandrika Kumaratunga are all examples of this. The only non-nepotistic examples that immediateley come to my mind are Margaret Thatcher and Golda Meir.

This is why I'm tempted to say that I'd rather see Condoleeza Rice the first female President than Hillary Clinton, assuming a match-up like that transpired...

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	roselady 2005-12-02 06:26 am UTC (link)
	When it comes to presidents, I'd just be thankful for someone that doesn't try to force their religious beliefs on everyone else. It wont exactly be hard to be a better president than bush. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	dancing_moon 2005-12-02 09:36 am UTC (link)
	Some counter examples: Angela Merkel, current chancellor of Germany and Tarja Halonen, current president of Finland. There are others too, I just can't remember their names. So it's changing slowly (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	ishshah 2005-12-02 10:56 pm UTC (link)
	I don't know why I forgot Merkel. The president of Latvia is also female, but I can't remember if she comes from a political dynasty. (Reply to this)(Parent)

akashasheiress
2005-12-02 04:19 pm UTC (link)

Some European monarchies have introcduced gender-blind succesion:

Sweden - Crown Princess Victoria (*1977) is the heir after her father, King Carl XVI Gustaf.

Norway - Princess Ingrid Alexandra (*2004) is the heir after her father, Crown Prince Haakon, and grandfather, King Harald V.

Belgium - Princess Elisabeth (*2001) is the heir after her father, Prince Phillipe, and grandfather, King Albert II.

The Netherlands - Princess Catharina-Amalia (*2003) is the heir after her father, Prince Willem-Alexander, and grandmother, Queen Beatrix.

In Spain, there is now serious talk of introducing gender-blind succesion, because of the birth of Infanta Leonor, the first child of Prince Felipe and Princess Letizia.

(Reply to this)(Thread)

	roselady 2005-12-03 06:02 am UTC (link)
	There's no reason to have a rule restricting one gender from ruling. It's just bullshit, and Im thankful people are coming to realize that. (Reply to this)(Parent)

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