Women in Mikyo: view article

Elderly Mikyoan woman in the Outermost Islands, 2022

Total Population
2,886,398, 50.47% of the population
(Not including people assigned female at birth but
identifying as a different gender)

Gender Inequality Index
Maternal mortality 18 (2010)
(per 100,000)
Women in parliament 33.09% (2018)
Females over 25 with 79.91% (2016)
Secondary education
Women in labour force 59.03% employment rate

Global Gender Gap Index
Value 0.655
Rank 118th out of 149

Women in Mikyo have experienced a number of significant social changes in recent decades when compared to previous eras when patriarchal interpretations of Buddhism and Confucianism held a firmer grasp on Mikyoan society and government. The status of Women in Mikyo has been influenced by a variety of factors throughout the decades, including (but not limited to) Western and Chinese religious influence, feminism, liberalism, and industrialization. Although the status of women has changed over time, the experiences of women in Mikyo are by no means monolithic and they typically intersect with other identities such as race and class, therefore, this article will focus not only on the status of women in Mikyo alone but also the status of women who fit into other identities and groups as well, such as Non-Asian Mikyoan women, LGBTQ+ women, working-class women, and others.

Although women are considered equal to men under Mikyoan Law, women in Mikyo can often face a variety of social challenges and discriminations due to a history of oppression and unequal treatment in society. Compared to the past, a larger number of women in Mikyo today are able to access higher education, the workforce, and politics, however, women entering these areas of society face a number of barriers not faced by men in the same position. Likewise, women who enter these areas of society do not always end up in the same position as men in these areas of society. For example, women in Mikyo are paid 31% less than men and are often considered to be less qualified than men when applying for the same jobs with the same qualifications.

The status of women in Mikyo is largely influenced by social expectations and norms about the correct behavior of women. For example, Mikyoan society typically expects women to be more indirect when speaking and more humble in their actions than men (especially in more formal contexts), thus women in the workplace are less likely to express their ideas, speak up during meetings, and apply for promotions in order to not violate societal norms about proper female behavior.

History

Pre-Japonic Mikyoan society was far less male-dominated than feudal Mikyoan society, as most Indigenous tribes and cultures generally believed gender to be on a spectrum, and often had anywhere from five to seven genders. Pre-Japonic Indigenous Yaeyama society¹ involved a division of labor in the family to two main parts, which were not based on gender. The partner perceived to be more active and dominant was expected to hunt and fish for the family and the partner perceived to be more passive and submissive was expected to collect fruit and from the nearby area (usually coconuts) and to make clothing for the family. Some Indigenous Yaeyama tribes practiced polygamy and polyandry, and in relationships with three or more people, the division of domestic labor was divided differently. In Indigenous society, women were typically considered to be their own gender, and of the few languages which have surviving documentation, most languages referred to women as "bay" or "bai".

The earliest origins of patriarchy in Mikyoan society stem from the settlement of the Japonic people (the predecessors of the modern Mikyoan people) on the Yaeyama Islands. Whereas Indigenous Yaeyama society had been relatively egalitarian (though slightly matriarchal in some aspects), Japonic settlers brought with them their interpretations of Buddhism and Confucianism, which they interpreted to place women below men. Settler Mikyoan society, as opposed to Indigenous society, also tended to more strictly group people into two rigid gender roles, whereas Indigenous Yaeyamas typically had more fluidity between the many genders and would often permit members of a tribe to take on different gender roles in their society. The Mikyoan interpretations of Confucianism and the ideologies which descended from it typically believed the place of women to be below men, existing to be the silent companion of their husbands, with their primary job to be to produce a son (or several) for their husbands. Furthermore, women were expected not to take charge of their own lives, but to submit to the men in their lives. The three submissions in Mikyoan society were the submission of daughters to their fathers, wives to their husbands, and widows to their sons. Likewise, more patriarchal interpretations of Buddhism analyzed women's supposed place below men to be exemplary of women being unable to achieve Nirvana within their lifetime. Kuning Amgbay-Nguo interprets the misogynistic interpretations of Buddhism in Mikyo as such:

To the Mikyoan men who interpreted Buddhism to assert their oppressive view of women, it seemed impossible that a woman could ever achieve enlightenment, for to them, it seemed clear that women, being the lesser of man, were not yet ready to reach Nirvana, rather they would need to be reincarnated as men if they were to have a chance of doing so in the next life.

During this time, same-sex relationships between women became more taboo, as it was seen as a disruption of the natural order. Likewise, monogamy also became the standard, and relationships between three or more people became both socially and legally unacceptable in the wider Mikyoan society.

Under the Imperial Japanese Rule, the oppression of women continued, however, the oppression of women involved a new aspect: the existence of comfort women (known as 慰安婦, 위앙뷰, wiangbyu). In Japanese Occupied Mikyo, comfort women were women who were taken as sex slaves by the Japanese Armed Forces and forced to serve in military brothels. The women who were taken into sexual slavery by the Japanese Armed Forces suffered from a variety of long-term physical and psychological trauma, such as including injury, infertility (resulting from physical trauma or sexually transmitted disease), and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. Because most Mikyoan comfort women were not previously sex workers or prostitutes, many were brutally raped as "initiation" into the comfort women corps by military personnel. During the United States Military Occupation of the Ryukyus, some Mikyoan women were also raped by United States military personnel.

Under Yobosu Rule, which lasted for nearly forty years between 1958 and 1998, women were barred from running or serving in public office until 1978, however, in 1978 women only gained the right to serve at county-level positions, as serving in the National Council was still illegal for women until 1998, after the fall of the Yobosu Regime. Women were also not allowed to enter the workforce until 1966 and were not allowed to enter tertiary education until 1988. Women gained the right to divorce in 1996. Although women could join the workforce and attend tertiary education, their opportunities were limited and it was still legal to deny candidates a position at a university or workplace because of gender. The few women who were able to get a job still were paid far less than their male colleagues, as it was also legal to pay employees less based on their gender. Because more conservative gender roles had been reinforced after the brief period of liberalism between 1945 and 1958, the place of women in society remained subordinate to men, and women were still expected to be submissive to their husbands and to allow the men in their lives to make decisions for them. As women were expected to stay at home and be caretakers for their children, actions seen as a threat to motherhood and maternity such as abortion and contraception were outlawed. Feminist organizations and activists also experienced strict monitorization, frequent crackdowns, and repeated arrests by the government during this time. People and groups which were seen as threatening the social order were under strict surveillance by the Yobosu Government.

In 1998, with the fall of the Yobosu Regime, the drafting of the new constitution gave women equal rights to men in the law, in part due to a large number of feminist activists present at the drafting of the new constitution. Today, as a result of the current constitution, men and women are equal in the eyes of the law and discrimination based on gender is (in theory) illegal in the country.

Although women are technically equal to men legally, women can often experience discrimination and barriers not faced by men socially, and many Feminists in Mikyo argue that this is a result of Social Justice not being truly implemented in Mikyo.

Professional Life

Mikyoan Women have made significant advances in they were first allowed to enter it in 1966. Pay and hiring discrimination were made illegal in 1998 with the new constitution, however, in 2015, the World Economic Forum found that women in Mikyo make .69 cents (USD) compared to every dollar earned by a man each hour. Some critics of this statistic state that this is because women chose to enter lower-paying jobs and that the wage gap statistic is not representative of any wider societal discrimination against women. On the other hand, some Feminist proponents of the statistic argue that because the wage gap exists in all professions and fields, it is not only exemplary of discrimination but also of a cultural devaluation of women and their work.

The employment rate for women in Mikyo in 2018 was around 59.03%, an increase from 58.52% in 2017. Most working women in Mikyo are employed in the service sector, such as in education, retail, tourism, hospitality, childcare, and healthcare. The number of women working in Mikyo increased significantly in the 1990s and early 2000s, however, today the number of women in the workforce has only been increasing slightly. During the 90s and 2000s, it was more common for women in Mikyo leave the workforce after getting married as their husbands were then expected to provide for the family, however, as the cost of living has continued to increase significantly in Mikyo, it is becoming more common for both partners in a marriage to work in order to make enough disposable income. This arrangement is especially common in Yongnagumei and Ishigagi, the counties with the highest costs of living in the country.

Women in the workforce face a variety of barriers to entry and progression that men might not face in the workforce. Mikyoan work culture often prioritizes seniority and consensus building rather than assertiveness, however, societal expectations of women being quiet and humble often prevent women from speaking up and applying for promotions and higher paying jobs which would put them in positions to better manage consensus building and gain seniority in order to not violate views of proper feminine behavior. This has the result that women account for less than 1/10 of company CEOs and are often in lower paying positions than men, thus contributing to the gender gap in wages.

Another factor which limits women in Mikyo from earning equal pay to men is motherhood. Women in Mikyo are given six weeks of paid maternity leave from work after giving birth, however, upon getting pregnant and after six weeks of maternity leave women typically see their pay decrease. Pregnant women in the Mikyoan workforce are typically seen as a burden and are thus given less labor-intensive work in jobs which require physical labor or are given shorter working hours by employers, which directly results in lower pay. Likewise, women with children who continue to participate in the workforce see their pay decrease, as they often show up to work later than other employees in order to feed their children breakfast and take them to school, and likewise women with children in the Mikyoan workforce often leave work earlier than other employees in order to take their children home from school, cook dinner for the family, and perform other chores around the house. Because Mikyoan women with children have to work both at two places at once, they end up doing several jobs and more work yet earn less than their male counterparts, as the labor they do at home is unpaid. Many Mikyoan Feminists argue that greater steps need to be taken to compensate working mothers in Mikyo, whereas opponents argue that women should not blame their companies for not paying for their domestic labor.

The wage gap is also amplified when factors such as race and sexuality are accounted for, as women of ethnic, religious, and racial minority groups and LGBTQ+ women earn less than women who are not part of these groups and less than men in these groups.

Women are also underrepresented in migrant labor, as most migrant workers either work in jobs which require little education (such as construction) or in fields which require great specialization and education (such as medicine). Women are underrepresented in both of these fields as women typically are not accepted into labor-intensive jobs like construction and are often considered less qualified than men when attempting to enter higher paying professions which require specialization and many qualifications such as medicine.

Education

Women's access to education in Mikyo has increased dramatically in the past several decades, as they first gained the right to enter tertiary education in 1988. In Mikyo, girls make up the slight majority of students in late high school but are underrepresented in tertiary education due to a multitude of factors.

While Mikyoan society is typically stereotyped as valuing education very highly, there is a slight disparity based on gender to the value of education in Mikyoan society. Traditionally, Mikyoan families valued having highly educated sons, however, the education opportunities for daughters were limited, as they were typically expected to simply marry and be submissive to their husbands. Because of this, Mikyoan women were more likely to be illiterate and uneducated than men well into the 60s. While this gender gap in the emphasis on education has weakened over time, it is still not unheard of for families to pressure their daughters into marrying or arranging a marriage for their daughters before they have begun or completed their education at university. Today boys and girls attend primary and secondary education at very similar rates, however, girls are still underrepresented in tertiary education in Mikyo. Of the students at the top universities in Mikyo, only around a third are women.

Women are also underrepresented as international students in Mikyo. Based on a 2017 poll by the Mikyoan Institute for Research, men make up 64.8% of all international students studying in Mikyo, whereas women make up around 34.2% of international students in Mikyo. The same poll, however, found that women were nearly three times more likely than men to leave Mikyo and study internationally. This is because in Mikyo it is commonly thought that it is easier for Mikyoan women to get into a university abroad than in Mikyo itself. The top destinations for Mikyoan women studying abroad were Japan, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom.

Domestic Life

Marriage

In Pre-Yobosu Mikyoan society, marriage was often conceived to be a contract between two families rather than between individuals. Because of this, the prevalence of arranged marriage in Mikyo was extremely prolific throughout most of Mikyoan history, and in some ways, arranged marriage is still common today in Mikyo, especially in elite and wealthy families.

As marriage was a contract between two families, upon marriage the wife typically moved in with the husbands family, regardless of the power and wealth of the wife's family relative to her husband's family. This essentially made the wife a part of the husband's family, and as well the wife took on the family name of the husband, the wife was expected to pray to the ancestors of the husband's family, and the wife took on the domestic duties of the husband's family. Because marriage essentially cut off a wife from her birth family, it was seen as a disaster for a family to only produce daughters in pre-industrial Mikyoan society, and so sex-selective infanticide was commonly performed on newborn daughters, and a wife was shamed if she was unable to produce a son for her husband.

Within marriage in pre-industrial Mikyoan society, women were typically expected to be subservient to their husbands. The three submissions (the submission of a daughter to her father, a wife to her husband, and a widow to her sons) were influential in Mikyoan society and even still today in some aspects of Mikyoan culture, especially in more rural counties such as Hatuma and Hatelluma. In Mikyo, it is still not uncommon for elderly women and widows to rely on their children (typically their sons) and to continue acting as a motherly figure even after they've grown into adulthood. Mikyoan mothers of married sons are also expected to provide for the wives of their sons, typically through cooking and cleaning, however, eventually the son's wife is expected to transition into taking care of domestic duties when the mother becomes unable to do so or upon her death.

In feudal Mikyoan society, girls typically married as young as 16, and during the liberalization era during the 1940s and 50s, it had raised to 22. During the Yobosu Era, the age at which women married was between 25 and 26, and currently, it sits at 30.

Divorce

Throughout much of Mikyoan society, divorce was either illegal or taboo and socially unacceptable. Divorce was only made legal in Mikyo in 1996 and made easier in 2003, however, today it still carries some social stigma which disproportionately falls upon the wife of a divorced couple as opposed to the husband.

Typically, divorce in Mikyoan society is seen as the failure of the wife to serve her husband. In pre-modern Mikyoan society, some of the reasons for a husband divorcing his wife could include failure to bear a son, lacking familial piety to her husband's family, adultery, or criminal behavior. This would typically result in the divorced wife moving back into her birth family's home, however, the wife was often shunned by society as well, and was expected not to be in public until she was married again. In contemporary Mikyoan society, even in cases of an amicable divorce, a share of the blame is disproportionately placed on the wife, rather than the husband, for the marriage falling apart by the families and friends of the divorced couple.

While remarrying is typically less controversial for men in Mikyo, for women it is seen as a personal failure or as a sign of deeper problems if a woman has been married multiple times. This view is perhaps more pronounced in older generations and in traditional families, as younger Mikyoans typically see divorce and remarrying as less taboo than older Mikyoans.

Motherhood

Throughout much of Mikyoan history, motherhood has been seen as an essential purpose of women's existence. Women who did not bear children, and women who did not bear sons, were shamed and seen as failures not only to their husbands but to their family and community as well. The importance of bearing children was so important in pre-modern Mikyoan society that a women's "failure" to bear children was often a cause for divorce in feudal Mikyoan society.

During the Yobosu Era, motherhood continued to be seen as an important role of women, and one that was to take priority over a woman's career or other relationships. Whereas women had gained some rights during the liberalization era during the 1940s and 50s, the Yobosu Regime was in part a backlash, and one of its results was in the societal expectation of motherhood being an essential purpose for women becoming more strongly enforced. During the Yobosu Era, because a woman's purpose was seen as the necessity to bear and take care of children, any organizations and movements seen challenging and threatening motherhood (such as feminism) were strictly monitored or repressed by the Yobosu Government.

In modern Mikyoan society, the place of women in society is not limited to motherhood, however, it still remains a large component of the expectation of Mikyoan women, especially married women. Young women in Mikyo are often pressured to get married by family and older colleagues in order to bear children while still young. Although Mikyoans are generally waiting longer to get married and have children than before, it is still seen as a great expectation of newly married couples to have children as soon as possible, and often actions which prevent pregnancy and childbearing (such as contraception and abortion) are taboo and seen as shameful or undignified in more traditional families. The pressure to marry young can also result in arranged marriages, especially between wealthy families, as it is traditionally seen as undignified in Mikyoan society to be in one's 30s or 40s and still unmarried and without children. Women are often expected to halt their career in order to get married and have children, and the women that do continue to work after having children often see their pay decrease and their working hours decreased as well in order to care for their children and take care of domestic labor (such as cooking, cleaning, and other chores).

The rejection of motherhood by some Mikyoan feminists and activists has been controversial in Mikyo, as it transgresses social expectations in Mikyo of womanhood and sexuality. Contraception and abortion, though both legal, are very taboo and women who use contraceptives or undergo abortion are often seen as going against their place in society by more traditional Mikyoan families and organizations.

Domestic Violence

In pre-industrial Mikyoan society, domestic violence against women was extremely common. In pre-modern Mikyo, beatings were seen as one way of asserting a husband or father's dominance over their wife or daughter. Likewise, women, as they were expected to remain submissive, were not allowed to retaliate, lest they go against societal expectations of women as submissive and passive.

In modern Mikyoan law, however, it is classified as a hate crime to physically or sexually abuse one's wife, girlfriend, or partner. Despite this, however, a number of Mikyoan women report to being physically abused by their husbands and boyfriends, and likewise, sexual assault in relationships and marriage is not uncommon as well.

Although it is classified as a hate crime in Mikyo to sexually or physically abuse one's wife, girlfriend, or partner, the rate at which women in Mikyo report sexual and physical abuse at the hands of their male partners to law enforcement is statistically lower than the rate at which it actually occurs. The prevalence of domestic abuse is unclear, however, it is generally agreed to be far more common in Mikyo than is reported to law enforcement.

Health

Public Health in Mikyo has improved significantly during the 20th and 21st centuries, and the life expectancy has been trending upwards for more than fifty years.

The maternal mortality rate, which currently sits at 18 maternal deaths per 100,000 births, is significantly lower than it was during the Yobosu Era, however, it is higher than the nearby countries Japan and South Korea. Of the mothers who do die during childbirth, a disproportionate number are non-Asian women and women who live in poverty. This is generally understood to be a result of less access to healthcare in poorer neighborhoods, which many non-Asian women live in.

Currently, abortion in Mikyo is legal with the consent of the mother and their spouse, under the supervision of an approved doctor. Emergency contraceptive pills were approved in 2014, however, their use remains somewhat limited. Abortion is generally uncontroversial in Mikyo, however, of the few opponents of abortion in Mikyo, the majority are Christian, as they view abortion as immoral.

Beauty

In Mikyo, cosmetics (often imported from Japan, China, and South Korea) are a major industry and play a significant role in the social perception and image of women in the country. For both men and women, physical beauty is correlated with a multitude of benefits, such as higher pay, perception as kinder and smarter, and better treatment and services (such as at restaurants and in hospitals). Because of the multitude of benefits that come with being perceived as beautiful in Mikyo (a label which is often strictly within the grasp of Asian and Asian-passing Mikyoans), many Mikyoans, especially women, may choose to undergo cosmetic surgery or use cosmetics. The pressure to be perceived as beautiful is especially stressed for women, as beauty is not only seen as essential to improving their quality of life but also essential to getting a husband and marrying.

Beauty standards have changed throughout Mikyoan history significantly. Indigenous standards of beauty are somewhat unclear, however, based off of archaeological evidence and modern standards of beauty in Indigenous Yaeyama communities, it seems that flower garlands, jewelry, and relatively androgynous looks were seen as beautiful or were perhaps standard in pre-contact Indigenous Yaeyama society. Modern Indigenous Yaeyama fashion is relatively androgynous and gender-neutral.

In feudal Mikyoan society, beauty often involved women painting their teeth black (a practice known in Mikyoan as ongpagullu, 옹歯黒) and retaining some body fat, which was seen as symbolic of having enough food to eat, especially during times when food in Mikyo was scarce, often as a result of famine or tsunamis ruining harvest and food supplies.

Both historically and contemporarily, light skin has been standard of beauty throughout much of Mikyoan history and is often associated with youth, intelligence, wealth, kindness, and honesty. The perception of light skin as beautiful is likely due to the association of dark skin with working outside, especially in agriculture, which is often associated with peasants and the working class, whereas nobility was often able to stay inside for long periods of time, thus attaining a lighter complexion than peasants and workers. In modern Mikyoan society, many women attempt to gain a lighter complexion through methods such as staying inside and wearing sunscreen and keeping an umbrella when outside, and/or through the use of skin lightening creams and cosmetics. Some skin lightening creams have been linked to a variety of adverse effects such as skin cancer, however, the skin lightening industry in Mikyo continues to remain a lucrative market due to the beauty standards in Mikyo prioritizing a lighter complexion.

"Cuteness"² (known as 可愛, 가의, gau'i) is also a standard of Mikyoan beauty, although it is more often associated with younger Mikyoan women, typically around high school age through college age. Characteristics of the cuteness aesthetic in Mikyo (Gau'i) include large eyes, clear skin, styled hair, "cute" gestures (often ones mimicking the movements of babies and young children), and pastel colored clothing. The emergence of the Gau'i aesthetic is likely influenced largely by the presence of kawaii in Japan and aegyo in South Korea. Gau'i is practiced by all genders and is somewhat androgynous in practice. Gau'i is a very popular aesthetic for pop music singers and for young actors in Mikyo. Gau'i often plays a large role in the way Mikyoan girls and women act in relationships, especially younger women, and it is often present in drama and television as a "cute" and "proper" way for women to act in relationships. Gau'i also has some effect on written and spoken Mikyoan, and can result in people practicing the Gau'i aesthetic pronouncing and writing words differently, typically through pronouncing final and initial 'a' (아) and 'o' (오) as 'ao' (아오) and through adding 'ng' to the beginning or end of a word. For example, the word "yo" (요, 夜), meaning night, might become "ngyaong" (꺄옹) to sound more "cute".

Social Activism

See main article: Feminism in Mikyo

Feminism³ in Mikyo is known as 女性主義 (녀싱초께이, nyeoshingchongei) and encompasses a variety of political and social ideologies and movements which seek to assert, define, and achieve the liberation and equality of women in politics, economics, society, and culture. Mikyoan Feminism is closely tied to the Indigenist⁴ and Socialist movements in Mikyo as well, and today the three are often referred to colloquially as the "the three spears" within social justice and activist circles. As a political movement, Mikyoan Feminism developed during the 19th century alongside Indigenism as a response to the various injustices of the time.

Mikyoan Feminism includes a variety of different branches and subgroups, such as Indigenist Feminism, Socialist Feminism, Anarcha-Feminism, Lyongism, Housewife Feminism⁵, Liberal Feminism, Queer Feminism, and others. Because women in Mikyo have legal equality to men, modern feminism in Mikyo tends to focus on the social equality of women and social justice, often through means such as increased representation in media and politics, deconstructing and analyzing beauty standards and power dynamics in social situations, and securing and defending the legal rights that women currently have in Mikyo.

Contraception and Sexuality

Sexuality, both male and female, remains a relatively taboo topic in Mikyo and the stigma surrounding it can often lead to issues regarding safe sex and consent. The contraception pill was legalized in 2004 in Mikyo, however, its usage is still relatively low compared to the use of other methods of contraception such as condoms.

Historic and Modern views of sexuality in Mikyo are heavily influenced by those of Japan, which typically emphasizes chastity in marriage far less than in mainland Asia. Nonetheless, premarital sex and birth outside of marriage remain relatively uncommon.

Sex Work

The Sex Industry in Mikyo encompasses a variety of products and services, including pornography, erotic manga and animation, prostitution, live performances and readings of erotic fiction, and erotic literature. These products and services are predominately provided by women to men, however, the stigma surrounding them can result in a variety of issues regarding safety and ethical consumption. Prostitution in Mikyo is illegal in most counties, however, it is decriminalized in the Outermost Islands, Ishigagi, and Gullu. Within the counties where prostitution is decriminalized in Mikyo, prostitutes tend to argue that their work is made safer by its decriminalization as it allows them to report any violence or harassment they experience to law enforcement without being arrested themselves for participating in the sex industry. Some Mikyoan feminists argue that sex work should be decriminalized for this reason, whereas others argue that it is a tool of oppression and violence against women and thus should be criminalized and initiatives to bring sex workers out of the industry should receive more funding and attention.

LGBTQ+ Women

In pre-contact Indigenous Yaeyama cultures, same-sex relationships and changing gender roles were common occurrences. Under the influence of Mikyoan interpretations of Confucianism, sex-sex relationships between two women became more taboo than between two men, as sexual and romantic relationships between two women were seen as violating the natural order, as it was common for much of Mikyoan history to see women as being made to be subservient to men. Because of this, same-sex relationships between two men were relatively less taboo than those between two women until the westernization and industrialization efforts in the 19th and 20th century, when homosexuality became more stigmatized for both men and women. Likewise, transgender people were stigmatized with the influence of Mikyoan philosophy as it was seen as a violation of the natural order for a woman (one born to be submissive) to become a man (one born to be dominant), or vice versa. In Mikyo, sex changes were legalized in 2001 and a bill which would legalize same-sex marriage is to be voted on in the Senate in 2020.

Today, LGBTQ+ Women in Mikyo face a variety of obstacles and barriers that non-LGBTQ+ Women might not face in Mikyoan society. LGBTQ+ people of all genders are at a higher risk of being in poverty, committing suicide, and being assaulted or discriminated against than non-LGBTQ+ people in Mikyo. Within LGBTQ+ discrimination, poverty, and assault victims, transgender women and same-sex attracted women are at a significantly higher risk than transgender men and same-sex attracted men.

Currently, same-sex attracted women (including lesbian and bisexual women) were at a higher risk of being in poverty and being discriminated against than heterosexual women in Mikyo. A 2017 poll by the Mikyoan Rainbow Front surveying LGBTQ+ people in Mikyo reported that around half (48.2%) of all same-sex attracted women in Mikyo reported feeling depressed or suicidal within their lifetime, and nearly two thirds (63.9%) reported being asked inappropriate or uncomfortable questions regarding their sexuality at work by colleagues they were out to. Likewise, the same poll reported that more than half (51.8%) of transgender women in Mikyo reported feeling depressed or suicidal within their lifetime, and nearly three quarters (71.2%) reported being asked inappropriate or uncomfortable questions regarding their gender at work by colleagues they were out to.

The rate at which LGBTQ+ people in Mikyo experience depression and suicidal thoughts, as well as attempt suicide, is significantly higher than the general population, however, LGBTQ+ women may also face a variety of additional barriers in their lifetime that LGBTQ+ men may not face, as they are both LGBTQ+ and women. A variety of factors which can affect and cause depression and suicidal thoughts in female LGBTQ+ youth in Mikyo can include bullying or harassment at school, being unable to use their preferred bathroom at school, having difficulty dating due to their sexuality or assigned gender at birth, and experiencing judgment both from peers and from faculty. Adult LGBTQ+ women in the Mikyoan workforce are also at a higher risk for depression and suicidal thoughts, due to similar factors such as feeling targeted for their sexuality or gender,

Transgender and cisgender women make up more than half of all LGBTQ+ victims of assault and hate crimes and account for around 60% of the nation's homeless population.

Minority Women

Many racial and ethnic minority groups (such as MENA/Middle-Eastern and North African Mikyoans and Chinese Mikyoans) have gender ratios which are disproportionately male. With some groups, this is due in part to the fact that many members of the group are migrant workers, and thus live in Mikyo temporarily without their family or eventually bring the rest of their family to Mikyo through the immigration system. With other groups, such as Chinese Mikyoans, this is due in part to the majority of immigrants of the group being male and also due to a slight male bias in the group within the country.

Women in Mikyo who are part of a racial, ethnic, or religious minority might also face discrimination that women part of the majority racial, ethnic, and religious groups may not face. Muslim Women in Mikyo, especially, face a variety of challenges not faced by Irreligious, Christian, and Buddhist Women in Mikyo. As a large number of Muslim Women in Mikyo are foreign born from countries in Southeast Asia and the Middle East (such as the UAE, Indonesia, Malaysia, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia), they might face religious discrimination alongside racial discrimination. Modest fashion and clothing which are worn by Muslim women, such as Hijab and Niqaab, make Muslim Women a visible minority, and may also cause Muslim Women in Mikyo to be harassed or targeted in hate crimes due to their visibility. Women who wear headscarves and modest fashion which is similar to Hijab as a cultural rather than religious practice can also face similar issues due to the association of Hijab as being exclusively Muslim in Mikyo.

Women's Speech

In the Mikyoan language, gender differences both in spoken and written forms are often distinguished through word choice, the use of certain sentence-final particles, and the use of certain registers in different scenarios. Typically, women's speech in Mikyoan is characterized as being more polite even in casual speech and more affectionate or emphatic in all registers.

The use of the particle '~페이' (~pei), which is used to indicate movement toward or into a location or object, has mostly been replaced with the more productive '~메이' (mei) both in spoken and written Mikyoan, however, the use of '~페이' is often perceived as being more feminine when used in spoken language. Similarly, the sentence-final particle "~융！" (~yung!) is used to show admiration when used after an observation (ex. "wow, it's big!") or emphasize emotion when used with a regular statement (ex. "I'm SO tired!") Its use is typically associated with women's speech. In spoken Mikyoan, the copular verb '델루' (dellu) is commonly conjugated as '다' (da), however, in women's speech, the verb is more often conjugated as '디' (di) or as '데' (de). In more informal women's speech, the verb '할루' (hallu) is used in favor of '델루'. The first person singular pronouns '私' (huateoshi) and '我' (nga) are also used more by women both in written and spoken forms of Mikyoan, whereas men typically use the pronoun '僕' (buk) in spoken Mikyoan. The use of the first person singular pronoun '我輩' (ngapui) in written Mikyoan may also be seen as more feminine, however, its use is more limited to formal writing. The pronoun '我輩' is also gender-neutral in poetry and music. The usage of certain Hangji (漢子, 항지), or Chinese Characters, may also be perceived as a characteristic of women's "speech".

Women's speech is typically associated with women but can be used by any gender for different purposes. The use of whole or partial women's speech might be used by cross-dressers, gay men, and gender non-conforming people and might also be mixed with men's speech (which is perceived as being more blunt, simplistic, and direct) in order to achieve a gendered speech which is more androgynous, ambiguous, or humorous depending on context and usage. Some queer women may choose to use men's speech or strive for a more neutral gendered speech in order to abstain from being perceived as stereotypically feminine. Transgender women in Mikyo also adopt women's speech in order to be perceived as women in their daily interactions.

A more recent trend in Mikyo is the abstinence from using women's speech in favor of a more gender-neutral speech by working women and women in academia, in order to be perceived as less feminine and thus as more qualified. This trend is believed to have first showed up during the 1980s and 90s when women first began entering the workforce in larger numbers, and it has also been adopted by many feminists and female politicians since.

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¹ - Indigenous Yaeyama People
² - Gau'i
³ - Feminism in Mikyo (In Progress)
⁴ - Indigenism in Mikyo
⁵ - Housewife Feminism
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