Chapter 2: Troubling Gender Ideology in Japan: Today’s University Students’ Views of Breadwinner and Homemaker Status

This chapter examines if the gender disparity in work-family planning, that seems to be prevalent among younger Japanese generations, is also found in university youth at an institution that promotes critical thinking and who are beginning to think about their future with work and family. In order to address this topic, the authors answer the following research question: How do issues of gender ideology, entrenched in Japanese society for generations, affect contemporary pre-service teachers’ assumptions toward their tacit beliefs about their gender role in the work force? In addition to addressing the guiding research question, this chapter explores how one might disrupt the traditional views that are so deeply rooted in the minds of Japanese youth in a teacher education course.