Sep 20, 2017 (Japan Times) - It was at the end of 2015 when an all-girl junior high school affiliated with Japan Women's University received an inquiry from a mother of an elementary school student, asking if her daughter would be eligible to apply for enrollment.
The mother said her daughter has been diagnosed with gender identity disorder and is listed as male on the family registry.
After a few months of consideration, the school's officials concluded the child couldn't be admitted because the school didn't have a system or the knowledge to provide adequate support for GID students.
But the unexpected inquiry prompted the all-women university to launch a working group this year to consider for the first time opening its doors to students who were born male but identify as female.
"It will be a challenging task. But I also believe this will be a chance for us to think about the significance of being a women's university. ... It's an opportunity to update our campus as a place to truly think about gender equality in the context of diverse sex," Satoko Oyama, a professor at the university and head of the working group, told The Japan Times in a recent interview.
Women's universities that have remained strictly single sex are at a crossroads, facing shifting views on gender and growing awareness of sexual diversity.
Following the move by Japan Women's University, one of the nation's oldest universities for women, a few leading all-female institutions have officially begun discussions in recent months to clarify their admission criteria on gender, saying it is time for them to think about broadening their definition of women.
