Lessons on aging: Hopes and concerns of Japanese women at midlife

ABSTRACT

Japan is leading the global trend of decreasing birth rates and the graying of society. In this study we examine women’s changing gender and intergenerational relationships and how these affect their concerns and hopes for their futures. Many of the 121 midlife women (aged 45–55) interviewed viewed themselves as sandwiched between their mothers-in-law and actual or potential daughters-in-law, at the nadir of intergenerational status within their families, in large part due to changing social patterns in marriage and birth rates. Doubts about the marriageability of their sons arising from role expectations for brides to care for parents-in-law cause concern for many and highlight the gendered and intergenerational nature of aging concerns. Yet, midlife in the 21st century, with changing gender and intergenerational roles, appears to create opportunities for many Japanese women to reflect on the meaning of the next stage of their lives. Changing gender and intergenerational relationships may contribute to their hopes to live a life of self-actualization and to be true to one’s self (jibun rashiku ikiru).

KEYWORDS:

• Gender roles
• intergenerational relationships
• Japan
• midlife
• self-actualization

Acknowledgements

The feedback given by Glenda Roberts and seminar participants at Waseda University, as well as Peter Weil’s close reading and thoughtful comments and Michael Griffin’s copyediting, greatly strengthened this paper and are gratefully acknowledged. Research assistance from S. Ushida, C. Komori, K. Maizuru, and S. Matsueda, as well as institutional support from Y. Watanabe and colleagues at Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, and K. Tominaga and colleagues at Loma Linda Clinic in Koriyama, Fukushima are gratefully acknowledged.

Funding

This study was supported in part by grants from the U.S. National Science Foundation (BCS0117097), U.S. National Institute of Health National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (1 F31 AT01041–01), Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research (6725), Woodrow Wilson—Johnson & Johnson Fund for Women’s Health, Emory University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (H13-Health-015, H15-Cancer Prevention-061), and the University of Delaware. The contents of this article are solely the responsibility of the author and do not necessarily represent the official views of any of the granting agencies.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported in part by grants from the U.S. National Science Foundation (BCS0117097), U.S. National Institute of Health National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (1 F31 AT01041–01), Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research (6725), Woodrow Wilson—Johnson & Johnson Fund for Women’s Health, Emory University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (H13-Health-015, H15-Cancer Prevention-061), and the University of Delaware. The contents of this article are solely the responsibility of the author and do not necessarily represent the official views of any of the granting agencies.