Historical Influence

I do not know to what extent religion has affected the "other-ing" of women in Japan as a whole but, I've heard that in Japanese religion like Shinto and Buddhism, women were seen as polluted things. They were considered unclean and thus were banned to enter sacred places like the shrine, mountains and ritual places. This still exists till today and it is why the monks that work at shrines are still male dominated. However, as a whole society, I believe that we do not see much gender equality formed through these religions as much as it does in Christianity/ Catholicism.