御茶水女子大学

Our university has a history dating back more than 148 years to its establishment in 1875 as the Tokyo Women’s Normal School, Japan’s first national institution of higher education for women. Women aspiring to scholarship gathered here from all over the country. Our university has blazed a path as a pioneer in women’s education, even when it was difficult for Japanese women to receive a higher education and play an active role in society. Our role has been to educate women who recognize and respect people from diverse backgrounds in gender, age, race, nationality, culture, religion, and social class among others, and help them create a better society. As its name implies, the Tokyo Women’s Normal School was established as an institution for educating future teachers. However, its graduates went on to pursue successful careers not only as educators but also as excellent researchers and leaders in fields including economics, industry, and the media.

While it is true that Japan has made a progress in the advancement of women in recent years thanks to various initiatives, our country placed 120th out of 156 nations in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2021. This ranking places Japan the lowest among the G7 nations. Most notable was the slow advancement of Japanese women in political empowerment and economic participation and opportunity. Our country was also unable to achieve its goal of having women in at least 30 percent of leadership roles by the year 2020.

The percentage of female researchers in Japan, especially in STEM-related fields, also remains low compared to those in other countries. Cultural and systemic factors in Japanese society continue to hinder the success of the extremely capable and talented women who account for half of the country’s population. In this context, I believe that educating outstanding women at women’s universities has a great social significance.

When we became a national university corporation in 2004, we articulated a singular mission to “be a place where all women who are motivated to learn can realize their earnest dreams.” This mission is meant to help every woman and girl around the world realize her vision, and includes supporting the education of girls in developing countries and elsewhere—something our university has worked on for many years.

This mission is also directly connected to our goal of“leaving no one behind,” the central principle of the SDGs. Ochanomizu University aims to show the world that we are a leader in the drive to create a society in which all of humanity can happily coexist, and to become an educational institution that confronts and endeavors to solve social issues through our world-class education and research, and advanced university management.