Auch in Japan: Männer kämpfen gegen Diskriminierung

Und wieder ein neuer Beitrag aus der Reihe "Die Männerrechtsbewegung in anderen Winkeln der Welt" – eine Reihe, die belegt, wie international unser Thema längst schon ist. Heute werfen wir einen Blick auf Japan. Dort ist vieles wie in Deutschland: Männer protestieren gegen ihre Diskriminierung – wobei sich bei öffentlichen Kundgebungen immer nur eine überschaubare Zahl versammelt – und Journalisten versuchen, dieses Thema abzuwehren: wobei sie anmerken, dass Frauen Männern deren unbotmäßige Aufsässigkeit vergeben sollten, und sich ansonsten auf die offiziellen Zahlen der Gender-Industrie zurückziehen, auf deren Zustandekommen nicht-feministische Männer ungefähr so viel Einfluss haben wie auf die Durchführung einer Piratinnenkon. Aber völlig an den Fakten kommt auch der parteiischste Reporter nicht vorbei:

No, they too are victims, and a headline introducing a report on the subject in the weekly Aera is accorded two exclamation points: “Discrimination against men is unforgivable!!”

Almost every week, the magazine tells us, angry men demonstrate outside one or another JR train station on Tokyo’s Yamanote loop line. The numbers are not imposing — 10 participants are counted at one rally — but the placards are big and bold: "This affects all of us. Men’s rights are being violated!"

Violated how? The people to ask are members of a group called Citizens’ Association to Ban Discrimination Against Men. It was formed in 2010. How many members it has is not mentioned, but to get an idea of how widely their complaint resonates, Aera polled at random 600 people nationwide — 400 men, 200 women — asking them if they feel there is such a problem. Among men, 55.8 percent say there is or at least might be. The corresponding figure for women is 32.5 percent.

(...) First, a general principle is at stake: Article 14 of the Constitution guarantees equal rights for all. Second, discrimination against men, Kanematsu argues, is wider than many people suppose. Hiring and promotion practices are commonly assumed to be skewed against women. That is not always true. In 2010, he says, among 13,981 people applying for clerical-level court jobs, 26 percent of men and 19 percent of women passed the written exam — but interview pass rates were 26 percent for men and 48 percent for women. "Clearly," he says, "the government gives preferential treatment to women and discriminates against men."

(...) Maybe it’s time men said to women, "Your turn. You run the show!" Why not? Few looking at history or current affairs would congratulate men on a brilliant stewardship. Quite possibly women would do better. But do women want that? Japanese women, by and large, do not, if a 2010 survey by the continuing-education firm U-Can means anything. It shows 53.9 percent among the 568 single women randomly polled would prefer, given a choice, to be full-time housewives.

(...) "It seems to me more female college students lately are hoping to end up as housewives," says Yamada. "It’s a way to escape from tough working conditions. What with the widening gap between rich and poor, there aren’t so many unmarried high-income men around anymore, so ideal and reality don’t often coincide."

Ehrlich, die weiblichen Studenten fliehen vor harten Arbeitsbedingungen? Denen bisher vor allem Männer ausgesetzt waren, was in dem Artikel als Indiz für Frauendiskriminierung gilt? Einmal mehr scheinen die Frauen klüger zu sein als die Medien.

Kurz: Lesen Sie die Japan Times, und fühlen Sie sich dabei ganz wie zu Hause.