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The Women's Studies Association of Japan
Prospectus

We hereby inaugurate the Women's Studies Association of Japan in order to firmly establish Women's Studies in this count 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 from a women's points of view of all preexisting academic disciplines.

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, through the efforts of 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 professions. Moreover, as Japan is a major point of contact between other? Asian nations and the West, it 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 the participants, ever-greater exchange between researchers in the Women's Studies field.

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