Beyond the Three Selection Principles of Welfare Policy (Work, Family, and Belonging): Toward a Reconsideration of the Fujin Hogo Jigyo (Women’s Protection Project) in Japan

Elizabeth Wilson once called social policy “a series of constructions created by men for the purpose of shaping women’s lives” (Wilson 1977: 25), identifying this as a device of the patriarchal welfare state based on the modern family model aimed at keeping women oppressed and disciplined.1 According to Wilson, social policy is nothing else but “the ordering of domestic life by the state,” controlling women by assigning them a maternal role.2 Following Wilson’s intuition, this chapter seeks to uncover and enlighten three selection principles within Japanese social policy by which the state handles, intervenes, and orders human — and especially women’s — lives. I do so by focusing especially on the Fujin Hogo Jiyo, a welfare scheme aimed at assisting women in need of protection. In the concluding part, I also sketch some of the reasons why an unconditional basic income can be viewed as a more inclusive policy.