Japan's first woman president of a major coed university said Thursday that national policies being drawn up for education reform should cover gender issues to create a society where all individuals are respected.
Speaking at a luncheon at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan, Toyo University President Michiko Kanda criticized an interim report submitted by the National Commission on Educational Reform to Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori in September for its lack of sensitivity toward gender issues.
"The basic principle in Japan's postwar education has been respect for individuals. Such a goal will never be achieved as long as women are subjected to division of labor by gender," she said.