Date: September 28, Sun, 1:00pm-3:00pm
Place: Kumamoto University D203
(held as a workshop relating to the Japan Society of Physical Education、Health
and Sport Science)
Host: Japan Society for Sport and Gender Studies
Theme: Clothing for Physical Education, School Uniforms and Gender
Reporter: Miyoko Hagiwara (Bunka Women's University)
<Abstract>
Nowadays, junior high schools are discussing the idea of "eliminating uniforms". I heard some school girls appeal for permission to pants.
Why should girls wear skirts?
The question has existed for 150 years. When Amelia Bloomer popularized bloomers in the U.S. in the 1850s and when British women rode bicycles in bloomers in the 1880s, the argument that bloomers were inappropriate for women began.
In the same era in Japan, school girls wearing "Waribakama (similar to culotte or pedalpushers)" in early Meiji Period were bitterly criticized by society and returned to wearing only Kimono.
In the modern era, pants were considered to be "not feminine" and, therefore, inappropriate for women, especially for those of middle and upper class. However, two free legs were essential for exercise. Even after women's games were held in the 1920s and women athletes became common, the opposition to training pants in any form remained in Japan.
In this report, I examine the relationship between clothing in Physical Education and school uniforms, and discuss what influences the formation of gender represented by clothing, while surveying what kind of clothes were considered to be appropriate for physical education and school uniforms in modern Japanese education.