Intangible cultural heritage and societal gender structures: An interview study focusing on changes in gender roles and gender restrictions in Japanese float festivals

Cultural heritage and gender are connected. This connection is arguably particularly articulated within the field of intangible cultural heritage, seeing as many traditional practices have gender-specific rules regarding participation and access. Because gender within traditional practices is a potentially contentious topic, however, research on this subject remains scarce. This paper presents the results of an interview study conducted with preservation associations connected to a selection of seven float festivals where changes in the gender restrictions have occurred. The interviewees were asked about the changes that had occurred in the gender restrictions and about discussions in the local communities. The results reveal similarities in terms of gender structure between the festivals and differences in terms of displayed attitude towards gender-restricted participation. The study finds that, while roles that were previously male-exclusive have opened up for female participation, there is a limit to the roles made accessible to women, and the top positions continue to be male domains. The organizational structures within the festivals can be seen as reflections of wider societal structures and, while changes have happened in the direction of increased inclusion, the underlying power structures have remained intact. As such, the findings underline the connection between societal structures and heritage practices and emphasize the contemporary nature of traditional practices.