Indonesian Muslim Women Workers in Contemporary Japanese Workplaces
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.22452/IJEAS.vol15no1.3Keywords:
Indonesian Muslim women; Labore ragime; intersectionality; self-concept; Japan; migrant workersAbstract
This article examines the experiences of Indonesian Muslim Women working in contemporary Japanese workplaces, focused on how their religious identity is constrained within gendered and migration-based employment structures. Using an intersectionality framework, the study analyzed the intersection of religion, gender, and migration status in the workplace. At the subjective level, the analysis combined a self-concept perspective to explain how the participants interpreted and negotiated their professional and religious identities. Based on in-depth interviews with five Indonesian Muslim Women employed in the academic, hospitality, and sending-organization (組合Kumiai) sectors in Sendai, Gunma, Chiba, and Shiga cities, the findings demonstrated that spirituality practices are economized through continuous negotiation. Decisions regarding hijab use reflected individual agency and self-reflexivity, while the Engineer, Specialist in Humanities, and International Services (技人国ビザ Gijinkoku Biza) visa operated as a strategic resource for workplace adaptation. The article emphasizes the importance of considering religion as a critical analytical dimension in labor and migration studies in East Asia.
Downloads
References
Anderson, Bridget. 2010. Migration, Immigration Controls and the Fashioning of Precarious Workers. Work, Employment and Society. https://doi.org/10.1177/0950017010362141
Acker, Joan. 1990. Hierarchies, Jobs, Bodies: A Theory of Gendered Organizations. Gender & Society 4. https://journals.sagepub.com/home/gas
Al-Sharif, Rami. 2024. Identity work responses to workplace stigmatization: Power positions, authenticity, religious coping and religious accommodation for skilled practicing Muslim professionals. The British Psychological Society. https://doi.org/10.1111/joop.12553
Crenshaw, Kimberlé. 1989. Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics. University of Chicago Legal Forum 1989 (1) https://legal-forum.uchicago.edu/
Garcia-Yeste, Carme, de Botton, Lena, Alvarez, Pilar, & Campdepadros, Roger. 2021. Actions to Promote the Employment and Social Inclusion of Muslim Women Who Wear the Hijab in Catalonia (Spain). Sustainability, 13(13), 6991. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13136991
Immigration Services Agency of Japan. 2025. Publicly released data (as of the end of June 2025). Ministry of Justice, Japan. https://www.moj.go.jp/isa/content/001447921.pdf
International Labour Organization (ILO). 2021. Global Estimates on International Migrant Workers: Results and Methodology. Geneva: ILO. https://www.ilo.org/global/topics/labour-migration/publications
Kabeer, Naila. 1999. Resources, Agency, Achievements: Re ̄ections on the Measurement of Women's Empowerment. Blackwell Publishers: Development and Change. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-7660.00125
Kabeer, Naila. 2012. Women’s Economic Empowerment and Inclusive Growth: Labour Markets and Enterprise Development. International Development Research Centre Working Paper. https://www.idrc-crdi.ca/
McDowell, Linda. 2009. Working Bodies: Interactive Service Employment and Workplace Identities. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
Mead, George Herbert. 1934. Mind, Self, and Society. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Ministry of Justice Japan / Immigration Services Agency of Japan. 2024. Statistics on Foreign Residents. Tokyo https://www.moj.go.jp/isa/policies/statistics/
Pratama, Dhany Putra. 2025. Reassessing the Muslim Migrant Worker Experience in Japan: An Indonesian Perspective. Journal of Islamic Studies and International Relations. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17388528
Tanada, Hirofumi. 2025. Estimate of Muslim Population in Japan,2025. Research Papers: Muslims in Japan No. 30. https://www.imemgs.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/日本のムスリム人口-2025年-英語版.pdf
店田廣文. 2019.世界と日本オムスリム人口. Research Papers: Muslims in Japan No. 19.
https://www.imemgs.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/muslim-population-2019-2020.pdf
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 WILAYAH: The International Journal of East Asian Studies
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Copyright
Submission of a manuscript to the WILAYAH implies that the submitted work has not been published before (except as part of a thesis or report or abstract), that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere; that all co-authors have approved its publication. The WILAYAH : International Journal of East Asian Studies adopts CC BY license. As such, we would be grateful if an acknowledgement accompanies the republication that the work was originally published in WILAYAH. The editors will ensure digital preservation of access to the journal content by the Journal depository section.
Disclaimer
Although the Department of East Asian Studies is the publisher of the WILAYAH : International Journal of East Asian Studies, the views presented in the WILAYAH are entirely those of the contributors and do not reflect the official stand of the Department of East Asian Studies. The Department does not hold itself responsible for the accuracy of any article published. Publisher and co-publishers assume no responsibility, nor by the editors for any injury and/or damage to persons or property as a result of any actual or alleged libellous statements, infringement of intellectual property or privacy rights, or products liability, whether resulting from negligence or otherwise, or from any use or operation of any ideas, instructions, procedures, products or methods contained in the material therein.
