تفاوت دختران و پسران در ادراک خطر سلامت تشعشع از فوکوشیما در ژاپن: نقش مردسالاری هژمونیک

This paper presents the preliminary findings of gender difference in the perception of radiation risk in the aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan. In-depth interviews were conducted with the residents of Fukushima and other parts of Japan in November 2011 and July 2012. Compared to mothers, fathers in general expressed less concern for radiation. Fathers prioritized their responsibilities as the breadwinner for their families and saw radiation risk as a threat to economic stability and masculine identity. As a result, mothers' health concerns were dismissed, and they were prevented from taking preventive actions. The social norms in the dominant institutions such as corporations and the government influenced men's perception of radiation risk. The findings illustrate the importance of sociocultural context in which meanings of health risk are constructed.

Three months after the explosion of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Japan on March 11th, 2011, Goto Yukiko, a thirty-five year old female kindergarten teacher, organized mothers in the city of Sendai, 58 miles north of Fukushima, and marched into the government building to demand accurate information on radiation levels and actions to protect children from radiation. The local government had been refusing to measure the levels of radiation on the ground. The government's inadequate responses to the radiation threat and its emphasis on economic recovery from the disaster suggested that the nation's economy took precedence over concerns for people's health. The group submitted an official letter of request for the measurement of radiation in public places and the provision of Geiger counters to schools. Unable to ignore the mothers' demand, the prefectural government distributed the counters to all cities and townships.

This study contributes to the growing body of risk research that recognizes the complexity of risk perceptions and attempts to build more robust explanations of the gender-risk effect. In particular, it illustrates the importance of meanings of risk embedded in everyday social interactions and the significance of powerful institutions such as the government and corporations in influencing its meanings. Japanese men not only expressed less concerns about radiation from Fukushima than women, but also interpreted the presence of radiation as a threat to financial stability rather than to physical well-being. Their sense of invulnerability to physical harm was expressed in term of their emphasis on work that defined masculine identity. Furthermore, men's diminished sense of physical risk and their dismissal of mothers' concerns constrained the ability of women to take desired preventive actions.