What is Working Japanese Women

Power is defined as relational, authoritative, motivational, and as knowledge. Empowerment is the act of facilitating individuals to achieve their wishes, desires, and objectives by making them aware of their power, potential, and knowledge. Empowerment in an organization or society entails granting participatory rights to the members of the organization or society, enabling them to fulfill duties expected and benefits due. The household has historically been the basic unit of existence of individual Japanese. As influenced by Confucianism, Japanese people practiced a matrilocal system, one in which the husband goes to live with the wife's community, dating back to the Heian period (785-1184 A.D.). Disempowerment of women in the Japanese culture dates back to the Tokugawa Shogunate era of 1602-1868 (Seth, 1992). The Tale of Genji, a novel that was written in the 11th century by a woman, sheds light on one of the reasons that the Japanese people are apathetic to the empowerment of women. Nonetheless, to improve overall performance and increase per capital output of the country, Japan needs to address her gender inequality problems. This is explored in this chapter.