The Changes Of Female Higher Education In Postwar Japan:A Gender Equality Perspective

As an important symbol to measure the level of social civilization and progress,educational equity has become the focus of the world,and has been attached great importance by international organizations and governments.However,gender bias in higher education has always been an international issue.In the history of higher education development for more than 300 years,women's higher education has a history of only 100 years.As the first Confucian circle country in Asia to realize the popularization of higher education,Japan has a unique development process of women's higher education from the form to the content.This dissertation uses literature,history,chart,case and factor analysis methods,through a large number of facts and data,from the perspective of feminism,to study the women's higher education in Japan after WWII.As a new theory,feminism challenges every field of human history development with its unique perspective and strong critical consciousness.From the perspective of feminism,it can be found that there is a very close internal relationship between gender equality and women's higher education.Based on this,this research puts forward four basic questions: first,what kind of gender equality concept has developed Japanese women's higher education after WWII? Second,how to implement gender equality in Japanese women's higher education after WWII? Third,what functions does the women's higher education play of Japan in promoting gender equality? Fourth,what are the main factors that affect the promotion of gender equality in the women's higher education in Japan after WWII?This dissertation takes the relationship between Japanese women's higher education and gender equality as the horizontal axis and the historical stages supported by the author as the vertical axis to establish the analysis framework,and systematically analyzes and discusses the changes of Japanese women's higher education and the process of women's acceptance of higher education after WWII for more than 70 years with the help of feminist theory and related theories of women's higher education.This dissertation focuses on the interaction between the development of women's higher education and gender equality society.The dissertation clearly defines the functions of Japanese women's higher education at all stages from the society as a whole and individual female students.It combines the three dimensions,that is,structure,value and discourse to look backward at the limitations of the social reality on the functions played by Japanese women's higher education and analyzes the division,contradictions and conflicts and the strategy to solve the problem of difference between the inside and the outside,which is of reference value to the development of women's higher education in the Confucian circle countries,especially to solve the bottleneck in the development process.Through comprehensive research and analysis,the following conclusions are drawn: in the Japanese higher education system after WWII,there has been a long-term way of knowledge distribution based on physiological gender,which,on the one hand,promotes the popularization of higher education in Japan in a short time,on the other hand,strengthens the existing gender value order.Looking at the history of women's higher education in Japan for more than 70 years after WWII,it can be found that in this male-centered society,the group of highly educated women has always been in a passive position.However,with the change of social environment in Japan,Japanese women,especially those with higher education,have met the unprecedented opportunities for development.This dissertation is divided into six chapters:The first chapter is the introduction.It is divided into five parts: research origin,research topics and significance,research methods and perspectives,research status and existing problems,concept definition and historical stages.On the basis of combing the problem awareness and summarizing the previous research,the dissertation makes detailed elaboration and explanation of the problem awareness,research concept and stage structure,etc.The second chapter is the theoretical basis and analysis framework.It is divided into three sections: the theory of feminism,the related theory of women's higher education,and the construction of the analysis framework.It systematically looks through the history,theoretical schools and philosophical connotation of the development of feminism,and on this basis,it explores the relationship between feminism and higher education to show the rationality and possibility of feminism as the research perspective and theoretical basis of this dissertation.Chapter Three,Chapter Four and Chapter Five are about the stages of the development of Japanese women's higher education.Among them,Chapter Three,the establishment period of Japanese women's higher education after WWII,focuses on the analysis of Japan's women's higher education from the early stage after WWII to the middle and late 1960 s.Chapter Four,the expansion period of Japanese women's higher education after WWII,focuses on the analysis of Japanese women's higher education from the mid-1960 s to the mid-1990 s.Chapter Five,the Japanese women's higher education reform period after WWII,focuses on the analysis of Japanese women's higher education since the mid-1990 s.In order to facilitate the stage comparison of Japanese women's higher education,according to the analysis framework established by this research,Chapter Three,Chapter Four and Chapter Five respectively analyze four factors: the background of the times and the value expectation for women,the implementation and change of Japanese women's higher education,the function and influence of Japanese women's higher education,and the influencing factors of Japanese women's higher education in promoting gender equality to analyze the four main contents,and the internal mechanism of the interaction and influence between the concept of gender equality in different historical periods and Japanese women's higher education is clarified.The sixth chapter is the analysis of the universality and particularity in the process of the change of Japanese women's higher education.According to the conclusion of Chapter Three,Chapter Four and Chapter Five about the periodical development of Japanese women's higher education,this dissertation looks through the overall context of the development of Japanese women's higher education,and responds to the research topics raised in this research.