A Comparative Study of the Historical Trends and Attributes of Women’s Colleges in the US, Japan, and Korea

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  • アメリカ・日本・韓国における女子大学の動向と特性比較
  • アメリカ ・ ニホン ・ カンコク ニ オケル ジョシ ダイガク ノ ドウコウ ト トクセイ ヒカク

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There are only a few women’s universities and 4-year colleges in developed countries. Only Japan, the US, and the Republic of Korea have above women’s higher education institutions. At present, while Japan has 75 such institutes, the US has about 30 and Korea only 7. The development and significance of women’s institutes varies widely across countries. This paper analyzes women’s higher education from a historical perspective and discusses the differences among the three countries. 　In the US, colleges established by religious groups and individual citizens are not chartered by the state but historically have been accredited through mutual regional authentication, allowing many colleges to easily be established. Women’s colleges began to appear in the late 19th century, increasing to over 200 in the 1960s. Thereafter, the number rapidly shrank. Many social and religious movements and measures (Women’s Liberation, Vatican II , Title Ⅸ, etc.) of the 1960s provoked this decline in women’s colleges in the US, of which there are only about 30 at present. Contrariwise, women’s colleges in Japan and Korea were established through charters by the Ministry of Education after World War II . Japan had more than 40 women’s Senmon Gakko (higher institutes for special training) under the pre-war educational system that became women’s colleges under the new educational system. These institutes have been evaluated positively and continue to remain significant in Japan. Meanwhile, because Korea was under the control of Japan from 1910 to 1945, the establishment of higher education institutes, especially women’s educational institutes, was strictly restricted. Even after WW II, Korea facedthe crisis of the Korean War, and was then governed by military governments, which further inhibited the development of women’s colleges and higher education in the country.

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