| 内容 |
The experiences of working women in Japan have recently received more attention from scholars as the types of employment and families have changed, resulting in diverse female life courses. This research is based on data from semi-structured interviews of eight Japanese female university students and explores how their awareness of femininity affects their life course prospects. To clarify the awareness of femininity, “self-perception of femininity” and “aspiration for femininity” are used as analytical categories, and the term “joshi-ryoku” (feminine power) is focused on in this thesis. The participants could be categorized into four classes based on how they prioritize career and family: “family as priority,” “children as priority,” “balance career and family,” and “career as priority.” This research revealed three key findings. First, participants in the “family as priority” category regard their paths as feminine, recognize their fashion as being cute, and while others tend to think positively of their femininity in terms of beauty, thought negatively of their femininity as an aspect of their personality. Second, although those who relatively prioritize their career regard their paths as feminine, participants in the “children as priority” category (who do not place a strong emphasis on salary increases or career advancement) think of their paths as unfeminine. Third, participants in the “children as priority” category are not particular about makeup and tend to strongly reject their joshi-ryoku. Therefore, this study reveals that the self-perception of femininity and the aspiration for femininity are key factors in shaping life course prospects for Japanese female university students. |