ABSTRACT
Both Japan and Norway are advanced economies with highly developed technological infrastructures. However, these two nations differ significantly in terms of their historical, cultural, geopolitical and socio-economic backgrounds. When it comes to gender equality, which is the overarching topic of this anthology, Japan scores much lower than Norway, as evidenced in the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) ‘Gender Gap Report’ (2021). What different forms and contents does gender equality take on in these two national contexts? In what ways have these nations’ different backgrounds shaped the understandings, practices and policies related to gender equality? In this introductory chapter, we start by outlining the comparative approach we have adopted throughout the anthology, before contextualising the question of gender in Japan and Norway in relation to wider historical and sociodemographic dimensions. We conclude by introducing the individual chapters.
