Bicycle Citizens: The Political World of the Japanese Housewife Book

I am not competent to judge this as a work of political science, but as a reader who is interested in Japan, and women's lives, and most especially the domestic aspect of women's lives, I found this absolutely fascinating. It is dry at times; LeBlanc is writing for academic colleagues and using the appropriate language of her field. I was willing to tolerate the dryness and moments of jargon, however, because of my delight in her argument that the frame of political science itself is lacking by failing to take into account women's experiences as women. She writes about the volunteer work of housewives in their community, of why it is that these women's political actions are seen by both themselves and others as unpolitical, and of why it is that these women have so little interest in joining the more easily understood political spheres of campaigns and support of candidates. Through it all she argues that the standard ungendered political actor is really just a male actor, and that the very things which people denigrate about housewives -- their focus on caring for others (especially children and the elderly) as an inescapable obligation -- are exactly what Japan needs more of in its politics. I cannot speak for Japan, but much of what she documents is very relevant to my own life as an apolitical volunteering-focused housewife in the United States, and I am considering how to integrate some of what she suggests into my own life.