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The Women’s Studies Association of Japan
Statement of Purpose

June 18, 1979
Inauguration Committee

We hereby inaugurate the Women’s Studies Association of Japan in order to firmly establish women’s studies in this country. By “women’s studies” we mean the inter-disciplinary study of women and of problems related to women, predicated on a respect for women as human beings and dedicated to a thorough reconsideration of all preexisting academic disciplines from women’s points of view.

Women’s studies has developed amidst the increasing world-wide demand for the recovery and respect of human rights in general, and we hope to see it continue to expand in the future.

The social condition of women in the East is different from that of the West in many respects, and includes various problems related to women in Japan, problems that must be investigated and corrected immediately. Women’s studies has finally come of age in Japan, and exchange between researchers and a forum for the establishment and development of women’s studies as a distinct discipline in this country have become urgently necessary.

We the undersigned have accordingly inaugurated the Women’s Studies Association of Japan and dedicated ourselves, on the basis of cooperation between both sexes, to increasing the participation of women in society, changing the social condition of women, and investigating future directions for man and womankind.

Women’s studies is directly related to daily life, and our association accordingly expects to go beyond the customary range of other scholarly associations and involve people from all sectors of society. Moreover, as a core center for international exchange, Japan is well placed to facilitate the continuation of such communication and the comparison of the women’s studies programs in a number of countries.

We have established the Women’s Studies Association of Japan in accordance with the above purposes and look forward to making possible, through the democratic and independent activities of participants, ever-greater exchange between researchers in the field of women’s studies.