Japan

This chapter explores the interaction between women's education and economic development by defining the ryosai kenbo ideology as a key concept in women's education, as well as a crucial instrument in Japan's modernization since the Meiji Restoration. It presents an overview of the historical background of the ideology in relation to prewar women's education. The chapter examines how the ideology has revived in the context of postwar economic and educational development. It describes the extent to which the Equal Employment Opportunity Law of 1986 has expanded women's access to education, particularly in nontraditional fields. The new Constitution and the Fundamental Law of Education of 1947 granted women equal rights to pursue their educational goals. The Women's High School Ordinance of 1899, aiming at tightening state control over women's education, requested local governments to open at least one high school for women in each prefecture.