Yumiko Ehara
Yumiko Ehara is a Japanese sociologist. Her areas of expertise include women's studies, gender theory, and theoretical sociology. As one of Japan's leading feminists, she has made significant contributions to feminist theory in Japan.
Education
Ehara graduated from the University of Tokyo with a Bachelor of Arts in 1975 and later withdrew from the doctoral program in sociology at the same university's Graduate School of Sociology in 1979. In 2002, she was awarded a Ph.D. in sociology by dissertation from the University of Tokyo.Career and research
Her academic career began in 1979 as an assistant in the Faculty of Humanities at Tokyo Metropolitan University. She became a full-time lecturer at the Faculty of Letters and Education at Ochanomizu University in 1982 and was promoted to associate professor in 1986. Ehara returned to Tokyo Metropolitan University in 1992 as an associate professor in the Faculty of Humanities, becoming a full professor in 2001. Following the university's reorganization, she became a professor in the Faculty of Urban Liberal Arts at the new Tokyo Metropolitan University in April 2005. She also served as vice president of the university from May 2009 to March 2015. After her retirement in March 2017, she was appointed professor emerita. In April 2017, she became a professor at Yokohama National University. Since fiscal year 2022, she has been a special researcher at the Institute of Human Life and Culture at Otsuma Women's University.In the 1980s, early in her career, Ehara conducted research on the phenomenological sociology of Alfred Schutz. Her essay published during the same period, "The Logic of Discrimination and Its Critique," has been described as a "classic paper in the discourse on discrimination in the Japanese-speaking world."
In the 1990s, she became known as a leading critic of Chizuko Ueno from a radical feminist perspective during the "culture vs. material" debate over Marxist feminism, which was sparked by the publication of Ueno's Patriarchy and Capitalism.
In her 2001 book Gender Order, Ehara developed a model of the gender order to explain the reproduction of sexual domination, critically drawing upon ethnomethodology, Anthony Giddens' structuration theory, Pierre Bourdieu's theory of habitus, and Raewyn Connell's gender theory. Gender Order is considered the culmination of her theoretical work.
During this period, she significantly influenced a younger generation of researchers by editing several collections of essays on controversial topics, such as the Claims of Feminism series, and by serving as the editor for the Feminism in Japan and New Edition: Feminism in Japan series, which provided an overview of feminism in Japan.
Activities
Ehara has served as a director of the Japan Sociological Society and as a member of the Science Council of Japan for its 19th through 21st terms. She has also held positions as the president of the Kanagawa Human Rights Center and chairperson of the Tama City Council for the Promotion of a Gender-Equal Society.Works
Singly-authored books
- Seikatsu Sekai no Shakaigaku
- Josei Kaihō to iu Shisō
- Feminizumu to Kenryoku Sayō
- Radikaru Feminizumu Saikō
- Sōchi to shite no Sei Shihai
- Feminizumu no Paradokkusu: Teichaku ni yoru Kakusan
- Jendā Chitsujo
- Jiko Ketteiken to Jendā
- ''Jizoku suru Feminizumu no tame ni: Gurōbarizēshon to 'Dai-ni no Kindai' o Ikinuku Riron e''
English articles
- Ehara, Yumiko,, “Japanese Feminism in the 1970s and 1980s”, U.S.-Japan Women's Journal. English Supplement, 4: pp. 49–69.
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