Regional and gender differences in life courses and related factors: Life courses after high school in Kanazawa and Yokohama

Abstract

Life courses are socially constructed under various opportunities and constraints. The regions that were and are inhabited by people are the major providers of both opportunities and constraints. The purpose of this study is to comparatively analyze the life courses of ex-students of two high schools, on the basis of questionnaire surveys and interviews. The authors view this study from a gender perspective because the opportunities and constraints provided by a region influence gender differently. One of the high schools under observation in this study is located in Kanazawa and the other is in Yokohama. Kanazawa is situated at a distance from both Tokyo and Osaka, whereas Yokohama lies in the Tokyo metropolitan area and has a population of over three and a half million. This study refers to ex-students of the high school in Kanazawa as the Kanazawa respondents, and those of the high school in Yokohama as the Yokohama respondents. In order to identify the regional factors that characterize life courses, other factors that may influence their formation schould be controlled. Therefore, the authors chose two high schools that were similar with regard to the ability and social status of the students. Most of the students of these two high schools proceede to pursue higher education after completing high school. First, the decision-making process regarding life courses after high school was analyzed. The differences with regard to why respondents choose a specific university/college and a specific job on completion of their educational career were clearer between regions than between genders. The Yokohama respondents had many alternatives in their choice of educational institutions and jobs. They tended to choose universities/ colleges on the basis of mere curiosity or the popularity of the institution. While searching for jobs, they valued workplaces that had a corporate culture or were large firms. There exist few educational institutions, however, in Kanazawa, and there do not exist many job opportunities for highly educated people. In this situation, the Kanazawa respondents were influenced by the advice of their teachers and parents in deciding upon universities/colleges and in job hunting. The actual life courses of women reflected these regional differences in the decision-making process. There were differences in the type of education they received and their careers after education. In the case of the male respondents, these aspects regarding life courses are rather similar between the Kanazawa and Yokohama respondents. These facts show that the opportunities and constraints provided by a region influence the life courses of the two genders differently. Second, the authors investigated the regional differences in life course trajectory and household formation. The Kanazawa respondents were imbued with the norm that the eldest son should cohabit with his parents. Many male Kanazawa respondents proceeded to study at universities in Tokyo or Osaka. There were many jobs that were suitable for the highly educated in these metropolitan areas. However, a majority of the respondents returned to their hometowns, and currently, a significant number of them live with their parents after marriage. This enabled the married female Kanazawa respondents to share housework and childcare by cohabiting with their parents. This is one of the reasons why the married female Kanazawa respondents undertook paid work more actively than the married female Yokohama respondents. Trajectories of the life courses of the Yokohama respondents mostly lay within the Tokyo metropolitan area. However, few of them lived with their parents after marriage. The Yokohama respondents considered marriage to mean the new formation of a nuclear family household. They were almost free from the "feudalistic" norm that affected the Kanazawa respondents. However, this situation made it difficult for these married women to accomplish both paid work and housework without help from their parents. The norm that explicitly comstructs the life courses of men do influece women's life courses. Life course theory focuses on an individual's life that is formed by various careers, such as housing, family, and occupational careers and that is interactive with the lives of others. The research results support the adequacy of the concept. Third, the authors investigated the residential arrangements that the unmarried had with their parents. There was a cleavage in the cohabitation rate of the female respondents in their early and late 30s with their parents in both the Kanazawa and Yokohama respondents: the rate is smaller for females in their late 30s. This tendency is more marked in the Yokohama redpondents than in the Kanazawa respondents. This cleavage was not identified in the Kanazawa and Yokohama male respondents. Affection for birthplace and the family was a common reason for the unmarried adults to stay at their parental homes. The discriminative reason provided by the male Kanazawa respondent was, "Because I am the eldest son". This is clearly related to the norm mentioned earlier. This study revealed that the social construction of the life courses under opportunities and regional construction differed among genders.