Shifting and Persisting Forms of Gender Inequality, Higher Education, and Women's Life Trajectory: Views from the United States and Japan

Title: Shifting and Persisting Forms of Gender Inequality, Higher Education, and Women’s Life Trajectory: Views from the United States and Japan

One of the most significant worldwide transformations in education over the past several decades has been the drastic increase in women’s access to colleges and universities. However, the narrowing gender gap in higher education does not necessarily mean that gender inequalities in various spheres of society are narrowing simultaneously.

This presentation, first, examines comparable data from the United States and Japan, concerning the following questions: How has women’s higher education enrollment changed over time in the context of higher education system development, transition, and expansion? How are men and women distributed across higher education? Which fields of study remain predominantly female (or male)?

The study then proceeds to explore the persisting patterns of gender segregation across different academic and professional fields of study, and considers their meanings from the perspectives of women’s labor market participation and the shifting gender forms of marriage, childrearing, and other family dynamics. It argues that we should take both labor and marriage market forces into account in order to understand women’s agency to make their own education and career trajectory choices.