Call Number:

M28

Repository:

Bryn Mawr College

Extent:

1 boxes

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Cite as Japanese Women in Politics after World War II collection, Bryn Mawr College Special Collections.

Date:

1945-1951 (inclusive)

Creator:

Beard, Mary and Weed, Ethel B.

Abstract:

Mary Ritter Beard (1876-1958) was an historian and a campaigner for women's suffrage and Ethel B. Weed was a lieutenant in the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces Civil Information and Education Office in Japan. Beard and Weed corresponded, with Weed providing research assistance to Beard for a proposed book on Japanese women's history and Beard providing advice to Weed regarding her activties with the Civil Information and Education Office. The collection consists of documentation regarding the activities of women in politics in Japan after World War II including reports from the General Headquarters of the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces, election results, documentaion of activities of politicians in the form of reports and newspaper articles, and statements and interviews from Japanese women on the subject of women's involvement in politics.

Mary Ritter Beard (1876-1958) was an historian and a campaigner for women's suffrage. She was the author of Women's Work in Municipalities (1915), A Short History of the American Labor Movement (1921), On Understanding Women (1931), America Through Women's Eyes (1933), and Woman as Force in History (1946), among other publications. She also collaborated with her husband, economic historian Charles A. Beard, to produce The Rise of American Civilization (1927), a celebrated two-volume history of the United States. Ethel B. Weed, a lieutenant in the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces Civil Information and Education Office in Japan, provided research assistance to Beard for a proposed book on Japanese women's history. In exchange Beard offered advice to Weed regarding her activties with the Civil Information and Education Office.

This collection consists of documentation Beard and Weed compiled on the activities of women in politics in Japan after World War II. Materials include reports from the General Headquarters of the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces: Civil Information and Education Section on the women's bureaus of Japan's political parties and on the individual elected women members of Japan's Diet. Activities of a group of these politicians, under the name the Women's Representatives Club, are documented in reports and newspaper articles. The collection also includes a series of statements by and interviews of various Japanese women on the subject of women's involvement in politics. The collection is organized chronologically.