Gender Beliefs and the Meaning of Work Among Okinawan Women

This qualitative research examines the work experiences and gender beliefs of 22 Okinawan women who were young adults during the Battle of Okinawa. In-depth interviews were conducted with Okinawan women, including a subsample of women widowed in World War II, and the work experiences and gender beliefs of widows and nonwidows are compared. Women's orientation to breadwinning is found to shape the gender beliefs that they hold. Widows who defined their work as breadwinning maintained traditional gender beliefs, in compensation for their gender boundary–crossing work experience. Nonwidows who saw their work as supplementary to their husbands' income, however, adopted liberal gender beliefs.