How migrant women successfully appealed for a change of the anti-domestic violence law in Japan

Migrant women who married Japanese men become often victims of domestic violence by their partner. In 2010, around 10% of protected women in the public shelters for battered women were foreigners. Despite the high rate of sheltered migrant women, until a revision of the law in 2004, they were excluded from the protection by the anti-DV law which has come into effect in 2001 as a matter of practice. It was because they were undocumented migrants due to their husbands’ noncooperation to the renewal of their visas. The police reported systematically an undocumented migrant woman even if she was battered and injured by her partner and come to the police station asking for a protection.

 This paper analyses the process of empowerment of migrant women in Japan who successfully appealed for a change of the anti-DV law. In 2003, with the support of Japanese feminist groups, they organized a lobbying group for a revision of the DV law. Difficulties of lobbying are not only because they are not fluent in Japanese but also because they don’t have good command of the official language which is used in the public sphere. They can make understand themselves in the affinity group. They are voluble with their peers of the self-help group. Outside of the intimate affinity group, they found themselves helpless and deprived of a language which makes sense in the public sphere. This is because of deprivation of sense of self-respect as a consequence of the violence and the denial of their personality by the partner.

 A success of the lobbying has come true only after their recovery from helplessness with the help of supporting group. Their certitude that they were finally heard by the National Diet members made them empowered.