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Kojien Campaign

This campaign calls for the revision of the misleading definitions of the words “feminism” and “feminist” in Kojien, a Japanese dictionary.

We collected 6,512 signatures and submitted them to Iwanami Shoten, the publisher of Kojien.

In the 7th edition of Kojien published in 2018, the definition of “feminism” was revised to include the word “equality,” making the definition less misleading. However, since the definition of “feminist” still included “a man who is soft on women,” it is necessary to continue to demand a revision.

Do you know how the words “feminism” and “feminist” are defined in the Japanese dictionary Kojien? Do you know how they are defined in the latest editions of dictionaries around the world?

In the early spring of 2015, just before we founded Tomorrow Girls Troop, we searched the Internet for “feminism” and “feminist” to see how these terms are received in Japan. The first page of search results were blogs by people who were against feminists. We were surprised to see that many people were quoting the Kojien definition of “feminist” to argue that feminism is a movement for the expansion of women’s rights, and that it is based on misandry.

These were the definitions in Kojien at the time:

Feminism - An ideology and movement that asserts women’s rights to social, political, legal, and sexual self-determination. Seeks to criticize and reconfigure the male-dominated civilization and society. Women’s liberation ideology. The theory of expansion of women’s rights.

Feminist - A person who advocates for women’s liberation and expansion of women’s rights. Commonly, a man who is soft on women.

Meanwhile, Western and Koren dictionaries at the time defined these words as such:

Webster’s Dictionary (USA)

Feminism - The theory of the political, economic and social equality of the sexes.

Oxford Dictionary (UK)

Feminism - The advocacy of women’s rights on the basis of the equality of the sexes.

Standard Korean Dictionary (South Korea)

Feminism - An ideology that seeks to eliminate political, economic, social, and cultural discrimination based on gender

Feminist - 1) A person who supports or discusses feminism 2) Once used as a metaphor for a man who is soft on women

We felt that many Japanese people misunderstood feminism because the equality that feminism strives for was not included in the Kojien definition. We also thought that the outdated definition of “a man who is soft on women” was confusing.

Kojien is revised approximately every 10 years. Since the 6th edition was published in 2008, we expected that the revision process would be starting in 2017 and sent an open letter to Kojien. Their response only said, “We will consider it,” which did not feel promising. We decided to start an online petition to collect opinions from many people and deliver them to the Kojien editorial office.

We understand that it is the younger generation, such as high school and college students, that use dictionaries the most. We took action to realize definitions that we can confidently pass on to the next generation.

Song and video

We created a song and video for the petition.

Band: Fubuki Koshiji (Tomorrow Girls Troop), Kazuo Ono ( Tomorrow Girls Troop), Katsuko Saruhashi (Tomorrow Girls Troop)

Lyrics:

Dear Kojien,

We need “equality,” we want you to rewrite it

We don’t want any more misunderstandings about the meaning of feminism
Or any more disagreements
Feminism is a commitment to the equality of all genders
Feminism is about nothing more, nothing less

We don’t want to take away from you, we don’t want to compete
We are not trying to beat you, we are not trying to be superior

We just want an equal starting point
We just want to eliminate the current imbalance
We just want to stand in the same place and walk at the same height

We want to be happy together with you
We want to be happy together with you

So “equality” is necessary, we want “equality” included, we want you to rewrite it, we need “equality”
So “equality” is necessary, we want “equality” included, we want you to rewrite it, it’s not “expansion of women’s rights”
We want “equality” included, we want you to rewrite it, just like other dictionaries of the world

We want to be happy together with you
Not “only one of us,” but happy together

We want to be happy together with you
Not “only two,” but happy together

After the 7th edition published

Picnic to discuss the definition of feminism over oden

We hosted a picnic to discuss the definitions of “feminism/feminist” in front of “Kojien University,” Kojien’s celebration event for the publication of the 7th edition.

Only two of the 17 speakers at “Kojien University” were women.
Only five of 30 names of people newly added to the 7th edition of Kojien were women.
Read more about this picnic event

Our position on the publication of Kojien 7th edition

Definitions of the 7th edition of Kojien:

Feminism - An ideology and movement that asserts women’s rights to social, political, legal, and sexual self-determination, and aims for liberation from gender-based discrimination and for the equality of both sexes. Women’s liberation ideology. The theory of expansion of women’s rights.

Feminist - 1) A person who advocates for women’s liberation and expansion of women’s rights. 2) A man who is soft on women. A man who preaches respecting women. Ango Sakaguchi, in his Ichii Kantan, “The beauty of this man is that he is a rare feminist. He has an innate spirit of respect for women.”

On January 12, 2018, the 7th edition of Kojien was published, and the word “equality” was added to the definition of “feminism.” This addition of the word “equality,” which is the goal and principle of feminism, was a significant step forward.

As far as we know, this is the first time in Japan that “aiming for equality” was included in the definition of “feminism,” aside from the Daijirin 3rd edition (2006) that defines “feminist” as “one who advocates for the elimination of inequality.”

In the 7th edition, the phrase “liberation from gender-based discrimination” was also added. This definition clearly conveys that gender-based discrimination exists and that feminism is an ideology or movement that aims for liberation from discrimination and for gender equality.

We believe that this definition more accurately conveys the reasons for and goals of feminism.

We think that fewer people would cite the Kojien definition of “feminism” and think that feminism is an ideology to create a woman-dominated society.

On the other hand, there are also some aspects that are still insufficient. The definition states the “equality of both sexes” rather than “equality of all genders.” The lack of consideration for gender minorities is an issue. In feminist scholarship and practice, it is already clear that some people cannot be classified as male or female (or man or woman), and their difficulties in life, prejudice, and the lack of support from society has been raised as an issue. Feminism is not an exclusive academic discipline or movement, but rather one that has developed in an inclusive manner to include more people. This 7th edition definition does not capture this major achievement of the movement.

Meanwhile, the 7th edition definition of “feminist” was very disappointing.

The biggest issue was that the phrase “Commonly, a man who is soft on women,” which we had asked to remove or clearly state as a misuse of the term, became even more problematic.

Analyzing the entry for “feminist,” about 80% of the text is devoted to the description of “a man who is soft on women.” We have seen people who read the previous definition of “feminist” in Kojien and mistakenly think that feminist refers to men. With this revision, we can expect that such misunderstandings will increase. It is also unfortunate that the phrase “expansion of women’s rights,” which is causing misinterpretations of the word “feminist,” also remained in the definition. Unlike the entry for “feminism,” in which the phrase “theory of expansion of women’s rights” was accompanied by other descriptions such as “liberation from gender-based discrimination” and “equality,” it is unclear who a feminist is from this dictionary entry for “feminist.”

The 7th edition contains definitions that will cover the years 2018 to 2028. Since Kojien is a Japanese dictionary, it seems that it only takes into account the usage in Japan rather than the global definition. However, Japan has long been engulfed by a wave of globalization. Especially in regard to words that are derived from a foreign language, such as “feminist,” we believe that there is an increasing need to clearly distinguish between usage that is strictly Japanese and the international usage.

Imagine the obstacles that young people face when they work globally if they believe that “feminist” refers to “a man who is soft on women” or “a person who advocates for the expansion of women’s rights.”

We hope that more dictionaries would review their definitions of “feminism” and “feminist” and rewrite them to be more inclusive and easier to understand.

Read more about History and process of campaign in Japan and Korea