Japan is an interesting site to study because it is largely industrialized, but contains many elements of its rural past. This is visible in the situation of women in construction.
Like many other Asian countries, there is a pattern of families working together doing manual labor, like agriculture and construction. There is also the history of the
rural people coming to the urban areas to do the harder jobs. However, there is also the recent development of the Equal Opportunity Laws--due to labor shortages and
the fight for equal treatment for women-- that has opened the skilled trades to women. But, like in the global North, the society has not adapted to accept
women in many of these jobs.
Thanks to Emiko Aono of Video Juku for shooting the Japanese segment of the film.
links and resources
Stills from the film:
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| Keiko Watanabe is a plumber in Tokyo. | ||
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| Masami Tashio drives a concrete mixer | ||
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| Yoshiko Hiraide is a carpenter, working with her husband. | ||
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| Transnational Tradeswomen (2006) 62 min. |
| For US distribution, contact Women Make Movies at http://www.wmm.com 212-925-0606. |
| Outside US, contact Vivian Price at vprice@csudh.edu |
Winner: CINE Golden Eagle award, 2006
Sales: Dvd-R $190. Email vprice@csudh.edu for shipping rates, address, and any other information. International purchasers ONLY click the Buy Now button below and purchase the film using Paypal. If you are in the US, you must go through Women Make Movies
Transnational Tradeswomen is a road trip, set off by the 1995 Women's Conference in Beijing, that explores the situations of women construction laborers in Asia. Women in the global north and south are having trouble working in construction. In the south, development often increases unemployment of the very poor, further exacerbated by mechanization. This is compounded by the "race to the bottom," which propels migration of laborers, recruited by employers wishing to pay yet lower wages. While many women in Asia have worked in construction for centuries, they are largely confined to manual jobs, rather than skilled work. Skilled construction work in both the global north and south is mostly thought to be "inappropriate" for women. But what really counts as "skill" and how is gender used to categorize these jobs? An early scene in the film was shot at the Beijing conference on Women in 1995. In a workshop on the construction industry, women from the US, Denmark, Bermuda, Japan, Afghanistan, India and Thailand contrast the issues facing women laborers in each of their countries. Subsequent sections follow the director's footsteps as she travels to Thailand, India, Singapore, and Taiwan, to construction sites ,workers' homes, workers associations, meeting with scholars and activists. Segments on Pakistan and Japan were shot by filmmakers in those countries who collaborated on the project. The Japanese segment includes Keiko, a woman plumber, addressing the way employers now treat her since she had her daughter. Following Keiko, a truck driver speaks about sexism and self-pride, and a 65 year old woman carpenter takes a moment from climbing on scaffolding to compare the satisfaction she gets remodeling a house with the pleasure of 'dressing kimono.' The story this film tells disturbs the notion many people hold, that modernization, education and technology result in gender equality and the alleviation of poverty. It also raises the question: does the gendering of work in construction provide a transnational connection among the women who work in this industry? |
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