Taki Fujita (藤田たき) (23 December 1898 – 4 January 1993) was a Japanese educator and activist for women's rights. Fujita was president of

Tsuda College is a private women's university based at Kodaira, Tokyo. It is one of the oldest and most prestigious higher educational institutions for women in Japan, contributing to the advancement of women in society for more than a century. History The u ...

from 1962 to 1972.

Early life and education

Fujita was born in

Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region, the fourth-most populous city and third most populous urban area in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020. Located on the Pacific coast in central Honshu, it is the capital and the most pop ...

, and raised in

Okinawa is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi). Naha is the capital and largest city ...

and

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...

, the daughter of a judge, Fujita Kikue, and Fujita Kameki. Her parents were Christian and she was baptized as an infant; as an adult she was drawn to the

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...

tradition. She attended Tsuda College beginning in 1916, and graduated from

Bryn Mawr College Bryn Mawr College ( ; Welsh: ) is a women's liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Founded as a Quaker institution in 1885, Bryn Mawr is one of the Seven Sister colleges, a group of elite, historically women's colleges in the United St ...

in 1925. She returned to the United States in 1935 for further study at

Smith College Smith College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smith (Smith College ...

.Hastings, Sally A. (2013
"Women's Education and the World: Fujita Taki (1898-1993)"
''Asian Cultural Studies'' (39): 49-64.

Career

Fujita taught at Tsuda College. In 1946, she and American educator Lulu Holmes co-founded the Japanese Association of University Women, and Fujita was the association's first president. In 1962, she took office as the fourth president of Tsuda College. Fujita represented the

YWCA The Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) is a nonprofit organization with a focus on empowerment, leadership, and rights of women, young women, and girls in more than 100 countries. The World office is currently based in Geneva, Swi ...

at the Pan-Pacific Women's Conference in Honolulu in 1928. She was active in the Japanese women's suffrage organizations from 1929 to 1940, and translated Western suffrage writings into Japanese. She ran for a seat in the Japanese legislature in 1950 and in 1956, was president of the

League of Women Voters of Japan The League of Women Voters of Japan (''Nihon'' ''Fujin Yūkensha Dōmei'') is a Japanese NGO advocating equal rights for women. It was established by Senator Fusae Ichikawa and other feminists in 1945, when Japanese women obtained the right to vote ...

, and represented Japan at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women and at

General Assembly A general assembly or general meeting is a meeting of all the members of an organization or shareholders of a company. Specific examples of general assembly include: Churches * General Assembly (presbyterian church), the highest court of presby ...

. She served in the Labor Ministry from 1951 to 1955, as director of the Women’s and Children’s Bureau. Fujita was injured in a car accident in 1971 and retired from Tsuda University in 1972. In 1975 she headed the Japanese delegation to the World Conference of the International Women’s Year, held in Mexico City. In 1984, she was awarded the First Class Order of the Sacred Treasure.

Selected publications

* "The Higher Education of Women in Japan" (1938) * "The Spiritual Life of Japanese Women" (1939) * "The progress of the emancipation of Japanese women" (1947) * "Women’s Viewpoint: Leading the Way" (1954) * ''Japanese Women in the Postwar Years'' (1954) * "Prostitution Prevention Law" (1956) * "Women and Politics in Japan" (1968) * "Devoted to women's movement: A personality of Ichikawa" (1982)

Personal life

Fujita used a cane after her car accident in 1971. She was assisted in her later years by her niece and by an adopted daughter. She died in 1993, aged 94 years.

References

External links

* Jessica Pena
"Japanese Women's Fight for Equal Rights: Feminism and the U.S. Occupation of Japan, 1945-1952"
(Master's thesis, City University of New York, 2015) {{DEFAULTSORT:Fujita, Taki 1898 births 1993 deaths Japanese educators Tsuda University alumni Tsuda University faculty Bryn Mawr College alumni Japanese suffragists Japanese feminists