Irish Catholic Order's Contribution to Women's Education - particularly on a sister dispatched to Japan

2013 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24652062
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Research Field: Literature in English
• Research Institution: Kyoritsu Women's University
• Principal Investigator: MIZUNOE Ikuko 共立女子大学, 国際学部, 教授 (40229711)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2014-03-31
• Keywords: アイルランド研究 / 国際研究者交流 / 国際情報交換 / カトリック修道会 / 聖心会 / 女子教育

Research Abstract

In Ireland the Catholic Church's influence on school education cannot be overlooked. Even when Ireland had become a republic after a fierce fight against England, women's rights were very limited and oppressed. However, there were a certain number of women who received excellent education almost equal to men in the confused society in the beginning of the 20th century.
One sister, descendant of the Sheehys whose daughters were well-known around the times of revolts and wars, came to Japan in 1960, and contributed to women's education, stressing an open-heartedness which may have gone some way to change the Japanese idea of Catholic education. She worked until her death in Japan, always with fairness and social justice in mind.