Education of Japanese Women and Study Abroad: a Historical and Contemporary Analysis
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE THE BULLETIN OF JISSEN WOMEN’S JUNIOR COLLEGE VOL.35(2014) Education of Japanese Women and Study Abroad: A Historical and Contemporary Analysis 日本人女性の教育と海外留学:歴史的な背景と現状分析 Samuel G. Gildart Associate Professor, Department of English Communication サムエル・ギルダート 英語コミュニケーション学科准教授 Summary: This study focuses on the historical beginnings and the contemporary situation of Japanese women studying abroad. The opening of Japan by the American Black Ships of Commodore Perry of 1854 signaled a new era for foreign nationals beyond the few Chinese and Dutch traders who were given permission to enter Japan. In turn, over time Japanese nationals were granted permission to travel overseas. From the diplomatic and educational journey that the Iwakura Mission engaged in from 1871 to 1873 to the United States and Europe in the early post- war era of travel, with Japanese businessmen engaged in international trade, Japanese men have stood out as the gender that traveled to destinations overseas. However, it can be well argued that at many levels and in many situations, it is Japanese women who stand out as the true internationalists. 和文抄録: 本研究は日本人女性の海外留学の歴史的な始まりと現代事情について論じている。1854年にペ リー提督の黒船到来によってもたらされた日本の開国は、それまで入国許可があった中国とオラ ンダの貿易商以外の外国人に対して新しい時代を示した。その代わり、日本国民は日本政府に よって時間をかけて海外渡航の許可を与えられた。1871年から1873年にかけて外交と教育を目 的とした岩倉使節団の米国や欧州の視察以降、冷戦初期にかけて日本人男性が国際貿易に携わっ て渡航していたことが注目を浴びていた。しかし、海外との関わりにおける様々な場面とレベル においては、日本人女性の方が真に国際的に外交と教育に貢献してきたことを主張したい。 Key Words: Japanese women, study abroad, internationalist, cosmopolitan, Equal Employment Opportunity Law, lifestyle, interpreter/translator, MBA, womenomics -45- 実践女子短期大学紀要 第35号(2014) キーワード: 日本女性、海外留学、国際派、国際人、男女雇用機会均等法、生き方、通訳者・ 翻訳者、MBA、ウマンノミックス Introduction With the Bubble Economy of the 1980 s and a rapidly appreciating Japanese yen, overseas travel became a very feasible option for Japanese women. Although most overseas assignments provided by Japanese companies are still predominantly given to Japanese men, it has been Japanese women that are increasingly making the choice to travel and study overseas even if it is entirely done by their own funding. From the promotion of women’s education by such respected historical figures and role models as Shimoda Utako and Tsuda Umeko in Japan’ s not too distant past to the expansion of opportunities provided by contemporary study abroad, Japanese women are forging a new destiny for themselves. In addition, from the aspect of internationalization, Japanese men have contributed greatly to Japan’ s economic development in the 20 th century. However, the 21st century will most likely belong to Japanese women as they go forth and take their rightful place on a more equal level with their male counterparts. Many women in Japan may feel a strong desire to be involved with the outside world in general, and the West, in particular. It is a fact, though, that gender based stratification in the workplace has also compelled many ambitious and talented Japanese women to try to gain language and other skills while they are overseas in order for them to lead fulfilling lives. Japan’s women have proven to possess a very high level of adaptability when dealing with other cultures. Japanese women are most likely to be involved in international exchange on many levels and seem to be the more‘internationalist’ in their thinking and approach when dealing with the world beyond Japan’ s shores. Background to Educating Japan’s Women During the Meiji era, many early liberals in Japan were proponents of education for women. Many of these liberals were scholars who started to question and challenge Confucian concepts and ideals which prevented women from receiving an education. One such scholar, Fukuzawa Yukichi, believed that women were born equal to men and that they should be educated inside and outside the home(Rose 1992, 56). Until this time, the education of women was almost entirely focused on preparing and training them to manage and look after the household as obedient wives. These liberals promoted the concept of new forms of education which would train women to be mothers of a Japan whereby they would, in turn, be able to nurture and train their sons to be loyal subjects and disciplined soldiers of the Japanese state. -46- THE BULLETIN OF JISSEN WOMEN’S JUNIOR COLLEGE VOL.35(2014) With the advent of the Meiji era, the Japanese authorities took a special interest in education. In 1872, the Meiji leaders instituted a system of compulsory education. At the outset, it appeared that this new education system would be egalitarian as both girls and boys were to receive the same four years of compulsory education. However, as funding costs were to be covered by local areas throughout the country, it was very unlikely that young girls would receive the same education as their brothers. Most parents were reluctant to pay school fees for both girls and boys to attend school. As a result, girls were the ones who would often be kept at home to engage in housework and farming tasks to a far greater extent than boys. Thus, priority for boys’ education left many girls behind. This was reflected in low attendance rates for girls. In 1878, attendance rates were 53.4 percent for boys and a mere 22.5 percent for girls. The enormous gap between boys’ and girls’school attendance rates at primary school was not closed until circa 1900, when tuition fees were abolished (Furuki 1991, 6 and Tachi 1984, 188 in Mackie 2003, 25). A new educational policy under the Meiji government in 1879 saw boys and girls put into separate classes in the latter years of primary school(Kodama 1981, 17 in Mackie 2003, 25). Under the new policy, girls’education was reformed to train them to be‘good wives and wise mothers,’ as outlined in 1887 by Mori Arinori, the then Minister for Education with the job of implementing the new educational policy: If I summarise the point regarding the chief aim of female education, it is that the person will become a good wife( ryosai) and a wise mother( kenbo); it is to nurture a disposition and train talents adequate for [the task] of rearing children and managing a household...The basis of national wealth is education and the foundation (konpon) of education is female education. The encouragement or discouragement of female education, we must remember, has a bearing on national tranquility or its absence. (Mori translated by Nagy 1981, 17 in Mackie 2003, 25) In 1874, the first Women’ s Normal School(Tokyo Women’ s Higher School, now Ochanomizu Women’s University) was established. By 1898, there were thirty-four public high schools for girls, with a total enrolment number of around 8000. Under the Girls’ High School Act of 1899, each prefecture was required to have at least one public girls’ high school. By 1900, there were fifty-two high schools for girls with an enrolment of 12,000 students(Furuki 1991, 102 -3 and Nagy 1981, 44 in Mackie 2003, 26). Despite this advance, the development of tertiary education for women took much longer. This was due to the fact that their education was kept back to the level of high school, while Japanese men could go as far as the Imperial University(later Tokyo -47- 実践女子短期大学紀要 第35号(2014) University) or the private universities. To deal with this discrepancy, mission schools became the source as major providers of education for Japan’ s women. Umeko Tsuda: Japan’s Study Abroad Trailblazer As part of the Iwakura Mission, five young women travelled to the United States and Europe on a fact-finding and educational tour in 1872. These five women were left in the United States to receive an education. Three of them stayed for a full ten years. Kuroda Kiyotaka, deputy head of the Hokkaido Colonization Board, was one of the supporters of the proposal to send the young women to be educated in the United States. Kuroda Kiyotaka stated clearly the importance of women’ s education from the standpoint of nation building:‘efficient colonization requires able men; able men are raised by educated mothers; to produce which schools for girls must be founded’(Furuki 1991, 9-10 in Mackie 2003, 26). He went on further to state that in Japan, like other imperial nations as,‘few who were educated could escape interpellation as colonizing subjects’(Inderpal 1996, 8 in Mackie 2003, 26). In spite of all the effort and time spent acquiring language and other skills while in the United States, upon their return to Japan in 1882, there was little official interest in taking advantage of the new-found skills these women had worked so hard to obtain. Two of the five married, while Tsuda Umeko(1865-1929, born Tsuda Ume), the youngest, was initially employed as an English tutor and interpreter to members of the Meiji government. In 1885, a private Christian girls’ school, Meiji Jogakko, was established by Iwamoto Yoshiharu. The school stated a commitment to the principles of a liberal education:‘For all students to develop freely, for each student to follow their chosen path, to develop their natural talents to the utmost...’(Maruoka 1985, 45 in Mackie 2003, 26). In 1885, the Peeresses’ School( Kazoku Jogakko) was also established and provided Tsuda with her first government position. After teaching at the school for several years, Tsuda returned to the United States to continue her studies in biology at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania. In 1899, another prominent intellectual during the Meiji era, Shimoda Utako (1854-1936, born Hirao Seki), founded the Jissen Girls’ School and the Jissen Girls’ Polytechnic (presently Jissen Women’s University and Jissen Women’s Junior College). In 1900, Tsuda Umeko established Joshi Eigaku Juku(Women’ s English College, now known as Tsuda Juku Daigaku, or Tsuda College) as Japan’s first tertiary educational institution for women.