Fukuzawa Yukichi on Japanese Women: Selected Works

Fukuzawa Yukichi (1835-1901), the prominent educator and propagator of Western civilization, was also an influential social critic whose writings inspired the earliest leaders of the women's liberation movement in Japan. Fukuzawa had visions of an egalitarian society, where men and women would stand as equals. To him, Western society, where women were respected, were educated, and enjoyed a higher status than in Japan, was a model to be emulated. He wished to Japanese women freed from the shackles of Confucian family order, and he spoke out strongly for the legal and economic independence of women. This translation includes eleven representative works from Fukuzawa's writings on women. His criticism of Meiji society and the position and treatment of women in it serves as a mirror of his times and provides a wealth of information on not only contemporary Japanese women but also men, marriage, family, and social mores.