by Mieko Takenobu
Recently an advertisement by
Asahi Kasei Homes Corporation’s has come under fire in the media and on the
internet. This advertisement dealt with the concept of “housework harassment”.
The term, “housework harassment” was coined in my book, “Housework Labor
Harassment – the core of making it hard to live,” published last year. In the
book I defined housework labor harassment as harassment by social systems which
insult, disrespect and exclude housework. The book also outlined the hardships
suffered by women in poverty and hardships they endure for their on-going survival
working in the home. The Asahi Kasei advertisement however, transformed the
meaning of the term “housework harassment” into “hardships of men who do
housework”. I would like to point out “the social mechanism” in which power
holders bind a definition of terms and nullifies the terms defined by the
others like women and minorities.
…
Turnaround of the definition
Housework is an important
labor that supports lives of people. Daily activities such as child care,
nursing care, and feeding children and the elderly, are important tasks that can
be linked with housework. In Japan, such housework labor is done by “invisible”
women and housewives whose work often goes unnoticed in society, and thus tend
to receive weak political attention.
….
Under such a social system,
women are having difficulties faced with long working hours and the lack of accessible
child-care services. Nearly 60% of women quit their full time jobs after
childbirth. Upon returning to the labor force, women generally work in
part-time and/or irregular employment so that they can keep earning an income
while raising children. Under this system, men are the main breadwinners and often
women cannot be economically independent with their low salaries since they often
work only for their pocket money in between their housework. Nearly 60% of
women work in irregular employment, and have become a leading reason behind the
increased incidence of poverty in Japan. Men, on the other hand, are expected
to support women economically and have to endure long working hours, which sometimes
even results in death by work (Karoshi).
I published my book intending to raise awareness among people of the role and
value of housework and inventing the term “housework harassment” to review
issues surrounding working styles for both women and men.
Asahi Kasei Homes’ mis-adaptation
of the term “housework harassment” devalues the original meaning and
reinterpreted it meaning to be more about family squabbles over housework between
wife and husband. In addition, the ad stated that wives’ attitude complaining
about quality of housework done by their husbands is harassment. Such an ad may
destroy the real meaning of housework harassment. Asahi Kasei Homes spread such
distorted meaning of housework harassment among media through press releases. Furthermore,
the ad was put out on several commuter trains in Tokyo. The distorted
definition of “housework harassment” as harassment against men doing shoddy housework
was reinforced through TV programs which took up and commented on the Asahi
Kasei Homes’ ad.
A wave of criticism from women
Soon after the ad was
released, women took action against it. The very next day, a woman criticized a
decrease in her husband’s motivation to do housework by hearing wives criticism
in relation to this ad on FB, stating “How can you even think of deserving
complements for your housework like a child?” She also mentioned about
misinterpretation of the definition stating, “There would be a misunderstanding
of the concept of housework harassment with the one in Mieko Takenobu’s ‘Housework
Labor Harassment.’ One of my friends who read this comment called me showing
her concern over the misinterpretation. Readers of the book also showed their
concerns one after another. After careful consideration, mainly because of
concerns that their usage of “housework harassment” caused women to hate the
words and the intension of my book will be ruined before reaching out to those
who need help, I decided to lodge a complaint directly with Asahi Kasei Homes
asking them to stop misusing the term, housework harassment.
Asahi Kasei Homes quickly responded to my complaint. In
response to the complaint, the company voluntarily removed the ad from the train
and posted the definition of “housework harassment” from my book on their
homepage. It also submitted an apology letter for its inappropriate usage of the
words “housework harassment.”
A Social Mechanism that Binds the
Definition Made by Women
I reacted responsively to this misuse of the
definition of “housework harassment” because I have observed similar situations
surrounding word changes in the past.
Seku-hara (sexual harassment): In 1980s, the wording “sexual
harassment” appeared in Japan. It meant a serious infringement of human rights
which results in excluding one gender from a workplace. However, it was abbreviated
to the shorter wording “Seku-hara,”
which turned the original meaning into somewhat less serious behavior as “mischiefs
such as touching the bottoms of women” or “office romance” through the ways it
was featured in male weekly magazines.
Work-Sharing: “Work Sharing” appeared in 1990s when
the unemployment rate increased in the end of 1990s. It was originally meant to
prevent unemployment by sharing work in Europe; however, the Japan Federation
of Employers’ Association changed its definition into “preventing unemployment
by lowering wages,” which in effect made it easier to lowering the wages of
workers.
Soushoku-Danshi (herbivore men): In 2006, “Soushoku-Danshi” (“herbivore
men” which means opposite to macho men) was invented by columnist Maki Fukagawa.
It showed a new male figure with whom women are able to socialize equally and
frankly. However, the meaning has been transformed through magazines into “a
men who cannot go out with women.”
What is common among
these examples is the way that power holders changed the definition of new terms
which do not suit them and are then new meanings are attached and distributed
through media, watering down innovative elements that the original definition
used to have.
…
Distorting the original meaning of the particular terms
and spreading it with its power nullifies the new images of the society that
the original meaning wanted to realize and destroys the movement of
restructuring the society.
…
I wanted to express a serious side effect of the turnaround
of the original definition in the
complaint to Asahi Kasei Homes.
Women’s Pushback
It was a strong pushback from women (and men) who have
been fed up with “the housework harassment society” and the power of the
internet that eventually caused Asahi Kasei to pull their advertisements.
One of my friends who witnessed the misuse of the
words on Facebook called me and told me her frustration, “Is this situation
same as the one with ‘Seku-hara’?” It
suddenly reminded me of the turnaround of the definitions of “Work Sharing” and
“Soushoku Danshi (herbivore men)” I
thought that all our frustration with these words whose definitions have been
forcefully transformed would be meaningless if I remained silent.
…
I lodged my complaints with Asahi Kasei for three
reasons I felt troublesome and five demands to improve these points. When I called
the company for a meeting, the appointment was quickly set up as, according to
Asahi Kasei, they were about to get in touch with me due to the reaction they
got from female reporters who were following the discussion on Facebook.
Soon after I lodged the complaints with the company, I
also made it public by posting it to Facebook. I thought it was necessary to
disseminate it to the public many times in order to correct the misusage of “housework
harassment” through mass advertisement.
Many people shared my comments as well as posted it on
their twitter and individual blogs. Many also mailed their complaints directly to
Asahi Kasei Homes. Analytical articles on the ad of “housework harassment” were
put on the web one after another by female cyber journalists. I believe these
voices as a whole made the company reacted quickly to my complaint.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Council’s sexual comments generated
a large swell of criticism spread through twitters. The wave of the criticism
against Asahi Kasei’s distorted usage of “housework harassment” may have been
small compared with the swell of the Council’s sexual comments, but it was a valuable
experience for us since we succeeded in pushing back the powerful mass media
through the use of the internet and social media as an effective tool.
I hope that this success can be used by others in
their struggles against the social mechanism in which powerful forces misuse
and transform terms and meanings for their own benefit and simultaneously
devalue the original meanings of words and concepts of those less powerful than
them.
Original Article (August 2, 2014): http://wan.or.jp/reading/?p=14247
Translated and Adapted by Fumie Saito
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