Social Stratification and Social Inequality Essay

Social Stratification and Social Inequality - Essay Example As compared to America, Japan is a much more patriarchal society which means that culturally, it would be difficult to find women as head or corporations or even on the directorial board of a company. Chieko (2001) reports that the position of women in the workforce is less than forty percent which is far lower than international standards. Women are seen to be fulfilling their duties in traditional roles rather than modern roles which are more acceptable in America. A quick examination for the American Fortune 500 list of companies shows that in 2003, women held 14% of board seats in various companies while they only had a 10% representation back in 1995. One in ten companies on the same list had 25% or more women on the boards (Lockwood, 2005). On the other hand, when it comes to Japan, the Asian Human Rights Commission (2001, Pg. 1) reports that, â€Å"The equality of men and women has not been fully achieved in practice, for the traditional concept that the woman is to stay at home is still deeply rooted†. Even when the women get to work, they face issues which are similar to the ones faced by American women workers. Of course the American women have some recourse in terms of legal action against sexual harassment at work but Japan has no law against sexual harassment. The Japanese government knows that there is a problem with sexual harassment since their own survey has shown that half of women working in Japan have faced sexual harassment. Some reports place the figure as high as 70% of women having faced sexual harassment since the majority do not report it (Asian Human Rights Commission, 2001). Perhaps the most significant problem for women in Japan comes from the way some Japanese laws may be structured to work against women. For example, if a woman reports that she was raped, she may have to prove with physical evidence that she resisted the rape. Other factors, such as the courts considering physical violence to be a natural