Right at the beginning of the Meiji period, schools for women were set up by government as well as individuals and missionary groups (Patessio). But what’s disappointing was the numbers of girls who attend was pretty small. Some of the girls even carried their little sisters or brothers with them since nobody in home can do this task and then not all of them can finish their courses with different problems in families like their mothers got sick and need their help at home. Some schools had to close since had too less students.
Despite the tough conditions, the higher education for women was developing rapidly. In 1899, it’s required by the government that each prefecture at least had one higher school for girl (Gordon).
However, the set up of schools for girls didn’t mean that the equality between male and female was realized. Because of the traditional role of female, in schools, the girls were taught how to handle finances and manage a family in order to make them prepared for being a good wife, just like the women’s education in United States in the early time. One of the mothers said that: “Having an education but being unable to take care of practical matters, she concluded, was not good.” (Patessio).
The higher education for women had some drawbacks, let alone the college education. Seven imperial universities, representing the climax of the educational system, were still exclusive to men. Especially the Tokyo Imperial University, aiming at providing the country with the talents in the field of polity and business, seemed to have no connections with women. When the question of women’s university education turned out, again, the idea that women were destined to get married jumped out. Some objectors said that it’s unnecessary for a woman to obtain an education since she had no chance to apply the knowledge in reality. Some scholars even argued that it’s acceptable for the women in the Western world to receive education, get a job and never get married because the number of women was bigger than that of men. That’s why, in Japan, women were no need to attend schools since they finally should get married under the condition that women are less than men in Japan (Patessio). Some may argue that what if the woman just wants to improve herself and go to the university purely out of interests? Then those dissenters would warn you that you, as a woman, had been too late to get married after graduation! And “late marriage” was said that it was not good for the marriage since the couple were difficult to adapt to each other. Beyond this, the anti-pressure and intellectual abilities of women were in doubt as well. According to some researches done in female higher school, quite a few students couldn’t endure the pressure and even fainted during the examinations. Even though the women finally survive from the education, it was believed that those educations would turn a woman into tomboy or be conceited. Those women with the talent of learning were criticized as “a physical malformation, or a loathsome disease” (Patessio).
However, some women with some particular reasons can’t get married so that it’s good for them to learn a kind of skill to support themselves instead of being a burden to the society. So the women’s employment should be included in these discussions. If the woman just had no intentions to get married, it’s good for them to have a job. But it was unacceptable for a wife or a mother to earn money outside. The old view that women at home while men in society implied that a woman should not work outside since it may cause the instability in the family if the wife can’t put all her energy in running the housework.
Given the reasons mentioned above, when the young ladies at last got the chance to obtain their university educations, the only choice for them was taking the individual courses rather than getting entire degrees.
Yet here came the turning point. Just like the independence war happened in America, as time went by, in the construction of modernization, Japanese government and officials realized that in order to develop a strong country, promoting the female education was essential since the population was not enough. The change of mind was proved by the rising number of female school, teachers and students.
Besides, even if some obstacles still existed, the power of supporting the equality in women education became more and more formidable. Above all, those female scholars and students who were influence by the western culture and got enough knowledge from the education had already known how to strive for their own right. They, with their own success, proved that girls were not born to be unsuitable for being educated but because they were neglected when they grow up. In other words, girls can be as successful as boys as long as they got the chance and were encouraged (Nwhm.org).
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