ABSTRACT
Women in postwar Japan have seen far-reaching changes in their lives. Legally and institutionally, women have been granted full access to educational, social, and occupational equality with men. However, mobility through educational credentials, the postwar meritocratic basis for career success, has been notably lacking for women, as has any significant change in attitudinal and domestic patterns that might free women for wider participation in society. In spite of this apparent lag, women have created pervasive changes in their work and family lives. These efforts, it is said, are stimulating reconsideration of workforce and family practices for both men and women (Iwao 1992).
