Women beyond the Pale: Marital “Misfits and Outcasts” Among Japanese Women Entrepreneurs

This article explores the correlation between marital-norm non-compliance and entrepreneurship among Japanese women. Unmarried women possess a competitive advantage over their married counterparts. Though functionally advantageous, such access is socially taboo. Single entrepreneurs preserve a degree of social respect by situating themselves in relationships of fictive dependence on male business colleagues. Divorced women can play upon their sexual availability and are therefore frequently drawn into the lucrative, market niche of the after-hours industry (mizu-shobai).