Driving Question/Hypothesis

My original question for this project was how the position of women has changed over time with the development of the world's major religions. While this is still a question that very much interests me, I've found,with a bit of research, that it would be more effective to tackle it first on a regional level. My plan is to apply the same question to Japanese history, and look specifically at how changes and developments in the religions of Buddhism and Shintoism have affected the roles and responsibilities of women. I predict that I will find that genearally as a traditional religion, Shintoism may have been used as reinforcement of traditional roles for women, while Buddhism, as an alternative to the traditional religion, may have given women new opportunities.