The History of Women's Education and the Gender Characteristics Theory

In the history of Japanese education, the "gender characteristics theory" that men and women naturally have different characteristics rejected not only the "gender equality theory" which came from Western Europe in the early Meiji era, but also the traditional "male chauvinism" of East Asia. According to the theory of gender characteristics, men and women were seen as having "equal value," though not "equal rights." This theory became the main educational philosophy of women's education when the single-sex school system was established in the 1900s, and likewise permeated society as a scientific theory in the 1920s. After World War II, when gender equality became accepted, a coeducational system was introduced toward equal educational opportunities. However, the gender characteristics theory remained the basis for making home economics a compulsory subject for women, as the division of labor by gender expanded during the high economic growth period of the sixties and environs. Coeducation was a system intended for men and women to "respect" each other and "cooperate" (Article 5 of the Basic Act on Education), and gender differences in curricula in coeducational schools were seen as "reasonable" differences to ensure "essential equality" between men and women. Schools were also not considered places of gender inequality. Elsewhere, women's universities and women's junior colleges were established after the war with the expectation that they would play a new role in training women to support the democratic society. However, they also inherited the pre-war vocational school curriculum centered on literature and home economics. When these colleges increased during the period of high economic growth, this prewar curriculum spread further, based on the gender characteristics theory. As a result, women's universities and women's junior colleges were criticized as contrary to gender equality. It was only after the 1985 ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the spread of gender equality that the gender characteristics theory was finally rejected. Today, the raison d'être of girls' education is being questioned again. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women not only rejects the gender characteristics theory and fixed gender roles, but also defines "discrimination against women" as "discrimination, exclusion or restriction based on sex." As the concept of gender spreads, the view that separating men and women is itself "discrimination" is also spreading. If women's education is to continue to exist, its raison d'être will depend on its ability to contribute to the elimination of gender disparities.