Women in Contemporary Japanese Religious Civil Society Groups

Women constitute the majority of members in most Japanese religious organizations and have been extensively involved in religious civil society organizations (RCSOs) with volunteer activities devoted to social welfare services, post-disaster management, reconstruction, and relief. They respond to disasters by organizing fund-raising campaigns, supporting people in the affected areas, sending and distributing goods, and providing relief and emotional care. The Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011 and the Kumamoto earthquake of 2016 mobilized a massive volunteer response, and religious organizations quickly organized their support and reconstruction activities. Rather than looking at how religion and socialization provide identities to these women, this study explores women’s volunteering in religious civil society groups as women’s agency, thus shifting the question to what women do with religion.