WOMEN’S PARTICIPATION IN MANAGEMENT OF AGRICULTURAL COOPERATIVES IN JAPAN

YASUKO HONDA

Todos os Trabalhos

Trabalho

DOI

10.29327/9786527226680.1441419

Título do Trabalho

WOMEN’S PARTICIPATION IN MANAGEMENT OF AGRICULTURAL COOPERATIVES IN JAPAN

Autores

YASUKO HONDA

Modalidade

IRSA - Congresso Mundial de Sociologia Rural (01/10/2025 a 20/01/2026)

Área temática

IRSA 31 - Cooperatives and Their Role for a Sustainable Rural Future

Data de Publicação

06/08/2026

País da Publicação

Brasil

Idioma da Publicação

pt-BR

Página do Trabalho

https://www.even3.com.br/anais/sober-irsa2026/1441419-womens-participation-in-management-of-agricultural-cooperatives-in-japan

ISBN

978-65-272-2668-0

Palavras-Chave

agricultural cooperatives, Japan Agricultural Cooperatives (JA), jender equality, rural women, female farmers

Resumo

This study aims to examine the participation of rural women in the management of agricultural cooperatives in Japan, specifically the Japan Agricultural Cooperatives (JAs). JAs provide farmers with joint sales and purchasing services, as well as financial and mutual aid services. The JA group, comprising 506 JAs with a total membership of approximately 10 million people, has developed not only into a union of multipurpose cooperatives for farmers, but also into a grassroots-level state agency and a lobby group. For many years, farmers' wives have been primarily responsible for housework and childcare. This has influenced women's status within JAs. Women have neither become full members nor directors of JAs, but have instead joined women’s organizations within JAs as members' wives, engaging in non-profit community contributions. However, efforts have been made to increase the number of female directors. JAs adopting a separate quota for women, which allocates a fixed number of director positions to women and involves the women's organizations in selecting female candidates, have increased since 2000. The results of the semi-structured interviews with female directors of JAs in Okayama Prefecture indicate as follows; (1) The number of female directors has not increased beyond a few, (2)They do not feel their voices has been sufficiently reflected in the cooperative's management, (3)The current mainstream female quota independent of existing electoral quotas risks institutionalizing gender inequality, (4) Due to the impact of neoliberal policies and the aging of female members, some JAs introduced another female quota. However, since they have not sufficiently engaged female farmers, particularly younger generations, this quota has not been effective. *This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Numers 18H03465 and 23K05444.

Título do Evento: 16th World Congress of Rural Sociology and 64th Congress of the Brazilian Society of Rural Economics, Management and Sociology
Cidade do Evento: Porto Alegre
Título dos Anais do Evento: Anais do 64º Congresso da SOBER e XVI Congresso Mundial de Sociologia Rural (IRSA)
Nome da Editora: Even3
Meio de Divulgação: Meio Digital
DOI

Como citar

HONDA, YASUKO. WOMEN’S PARTICIPATION IN MANAGEMENT OF AGRICULTURAL COOPERATIVES IN JAPAN.. In: Anais do 64º Congresso da SOBER e XVI Congresso Mundial de Sociologia Rural (IRSA). Anais...Porto Alegre(RS) UFRGS, 2026. Disponível em: https//www.even3.com.br/anais/sober-irsa2026/1441419-WOMENS-PARTICIPATION-IN-MANAGEMENT-OF-AGRICULTURAL-COOPERATIVES-IN-JAPAN. Acesso em: 22/09/2026