ABSTRACT
This chapter explores a differentiated strategy for examining variations in the distribution of educational opportunities, first by locality and region, and second, by gender. Inequality patterns can be analyzed with regard to differences in access according to social class, with regard to gender equality of access or outcomes, or with regard to equality of locality or region. For examining how patterns of political equality affect patterns of educational equality we will contrast patterns of gender inequality in Switzerland and Japan. The homogenization of the Japanese educational landscape was facilitated not only by the centuries-old centralized traditions, but also by Meiji period policies, like the location of two of the newly founded imperial universities in the outlying islands of Kyusho and Hokkaido. The dynamics of intergovernmental finance are determinants of the great difference in inter-Land/Cantonal dispersion of educational provision as between Germany and Switzerland.
