Women and Educational Reform in History

This unique collection provides critical analyses of Japanese educational history by bringing together gender, transnational, and transcultural perspectives.

It illustrates how Japanese, European, and American women educators transcended national borders in seeking to reform and re-shape Japanese education and society in the midst of social and political change from the Meiji era (1868-1912) to 1948 and beyond, including during the American Occupation of Japan. It demonstrates how educational practice from Europe and the United States not only flowed into Japan before and after the First and Second World Wars but also became entangled with Japanese perspectives, as well as with nationalism, colonialism, imperialism, and regionalism, as some Japanese educators sought to reform education for Asian women beyond Japan’s borders. In an increasingly connected world, where, at the same time, opportunities for women’s education in some countries are declining, the volume provides insights for readers into how women educators have co-operated historically across national borders in pursuit of reform in education and society in periods of immense social and political change, including at moments when nationalism and imperialism were in the ascendancy.

This volume will be of interest to academics, researchers, and post graduate students in the fields of Japanese history, history of Japanese education, Japanese women’s history, gender perspectives, and transnational and transcultural research. It will also be of interest to readers curious about the history of Asia more broadly.

Joyce Goodman was Professor of History of Education at the University of Winchester and a research associate at CERLIS.eu (Centre de recherche sur les liens sociaux). She filled a range of roles at the University of Winchester, including Assistant Vice-Chancellor, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Dean of the Faculty of Education, and Director of Research and Knowledge Transfer. She was the former co-editor of the journals History of Education and History of Education Researcher, past president of the History of Education Society UK, and former secretary of the International Standing Conference for the History of Education (ISCHE). She was an honorary life member of ISCHE, as well as an honorary member of Network 17 (Histories of Education) of the European Educational Research Association, and of the British Federation of University Women.

Setsuko Kagawa is Emeritus Professor at Nishikyushu University and project tesearcher at Tsuda University, both in Japan. She has filled a range of roles at Nishikyushu University, including Dean of the Graduate School of Health and Welfare, Dean of the Faculty of Children’s Studies, and Director of the University Library. She is now a project researcher at the Institute for Research in Language and Culture at Tsuda University. She serves on the editorial board of two academic journals: Women and Gender in History and Gender Studies. She is past president of Japan Women’s History Network and now councilor at the Tokai Institute for Gender Studies.