Comfort Women

The roles played by women in advancing women rights across the globe have been critical in the recent past.  Through women activism, many lifestyle changes in the lives of women have been achieved. One of the major changes that have been experienced through women activism is the drift from ‘housewifization’ towards house wife activism (Gaunder, 2011).

The drive towards women rights as essential human rights have resulted in immense changes particularly in Japan where the international Human Federation, in collaboration with various lobby groups initiated changes based on women rights. One of the key effects was felt during the war duration in Japan where women resisted being used for military sex slavery through activism.

Also, through bringing social changes, women demonstrated there are possibilities in changes, a demonstration that led to a change of perceptions regarding how women were treated. These also enabled women to be more at will to air out issues that they felt needed addressing. More specifically, social transformations driven by women have led to the achievement of justice in gender issues as well as transformation with regards to women consideration as ‘comfort women.’

The term ‘comfort women’ was used to refer to women working in brothels during the Japanese and Korean military era when women were mainly exploited. More than 200,000 women were captured and made to serve as comfort women in the brothels operated by the military. Following the Second World War, most of the women from the comfort stations who had survived had psychological problems and were malnourished due to poor treatment.

Although most of the girls died during the war, most of those remaining also committed suicide afterwards (Howard 96). During the 1900s the subject of comfort women came up based on the need for the survivors among them to narrate what had happened to them and seek apology and probably redress from the government. The Japanese government then failed to listen to these women claiming that they had been volunteers, making the international communities interested in creating awareness about this subject (Park et al., 2007).

Following this denial by the Japanese government, various sectors became engaged in a clamor for justice for the sake of the comfort women in Japan and Korea. Because of this, the governments of these countries developed a committee mandated to investigate the matter and report conclusively on the same. The governments then made official communications about their remorse on the subject although they still denied the involvement of the military. Women were awakened to fight for their rights more aggressively while organizations and advocacy groups were developed to fight for the same cause.

Other issues such as sexual violence against women were also addressed by these groups which also encouraged the strengthening of various conservative movements. Collaboration between the Japanese women movement and other women movements led to increased interest in the case and drove the women towards advocacy for their rights and recovery from history.

Because of the activity of various bodies advocating for the rights of the comfort women, regulations protecting women against sexual slavery. Moreover, the fight for the sake of comfort women has also awakened the society as a whole towards the recognition of minority rights. The recommendation to sensitize politicians about the need for gender justice. This can be achieved based on the abolishment of traditions that consider some acts of sexual violence as normal and working towards nationalism which helps to work with the right principles and values in societal living.

Works Cited

Gaunder, Alisa. Routledge Handbook of Japanese Politics. New York, Taylor & Francis, 2011.

Howard, Keith. True Stories of the Korean Comfort Women. London: Cassel, 1995.

Park, Soon-Won, Gi-Wook Shi and Daqing Yang. Rethinking Historical Injustice and Reconciliation in North-East Asia: The Korean Experience. New York: Routledge, 2007.

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