Gender socialization and gender roles have always existed in society. When analyzing gender roles, they are not always equal or consistent when comparing cultures, however, expectations of women and men are often clearly defined with little or no common area. Japanese culture is an example of defined gender roles changing over time. According to Schafer (2010), because “gender roles are society's expectations regarding the appropriate behavior, attitudes, and activities of males and females,” they must be taught (p.357). These roles define how women and men are viewed in society, in their family and in the workplace. When examining gender socialization in Japanese culture, it is important to analyze how gender roles and its history are taught, before, during, and after World War II. According to Friedman (1992), the position of women in Japanese society before World War II is a result of feudalism based on Confucianism, Buddhism and samurai. The ideas of Confucianism and Buddhism merged with Japan's military class to form the Samurai class in the 15th century AD. The Samurai code became the law of the land, dramatically changing the role of women in Japan. These combined influences limited their roles. Confucianism, Buddhism and samurai were cultures that heavily discriminated against women. Confucianism stated: “A woman should obey her father as a daughter, her husband as a wife, and her son as an aged mother.” Despite the age of the child, in Confucian culture, society considers him superior to the mother. Buddhism denied salvation to women and the samurai class stated that “A woman should look at her husband as if he were heaven itself.” All three philosophies held men at the top of society's hierarchy and forced women to be below... middle of the paper... they needed more assistance to rebuild their country after all the damage caused by the war . With an increasing number of working women, their social status began to change in Japan. This ultimately led to greater gender equality for women, allowing them to have a greater say in the family due to their financial contributions. For Japanese culture, this was difficult for many to accept as they once considered gender empowerment a top priority. Gender socialization represents society's expectations and opinions about how to behave and behave. These expectations and opinions are not universal and change over time. These expectations are taught from an early age within the home, community and workplace. In Japanese culture, women had experienced severe limitations in self-expression and until World War II, women were inferior to all males, regardless of age..