雑誌『女聲』の婦人論をめぐって : 一九三〇〜一九四〇年代の上海におけるフェミニズム

In the 1930s, when the global economic depression hit the world, influenced by the policies of Western countries that tried to restrict women’s participation in society, Chiang Kai-shek implemented the “New Life Movement,” which advocated the Confucian virtues of “propriety, righteousness, integrity, and shame” in order to cultivate modern citizens, through which traditional phrases such as “Good Wife and Wise Mother” and “Three Obediences and Four Virtues” were revived. In the 1930s and early 1940s, in response to the global situation and the government’s policies, there were debates over old moral ideals such as “Women Back Home” and “Good Wife and Wise Mother” in Shanghai media circles. Moreover, in the late 1930s—especially after the outbreak of the Japanese-Chinese war in 1937—the discussion of women’s relationship with the state only intensified.
Women’s Voice, a magazine for women established in 1942, also discussed these problems. In this paper, I analyze how the articles in Women’s Voice addressed the issues women faced in the 1930s in China and explore the magazine’s position and its influence on Chinese women. Furthermore, I compare the articles that addressed women’s issues, with the editor Toshiko Tamura’s own arguments, to shed light on her thoughts and editorial stance during her years in China.