Yoshioka Yayoi’s Womanhood: Women, Health, and the State in Pre-war Japan

Abstract

This study examines the writings of Yoshioka Yayoi (1871-1959) on the relationship between women, health, and the state in the first half of the 20th century. Yoshioka was a doctor and founder of the first Japanese women’s medical school, Tokyo Women’s Medical University today. She was also a women’s rights activist and held key positions in various government groups during World War II. Yoshioka was purged from both public office and the education sector from 1947 to 1951 as a result of her enthusiastic support for the war, under the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (SCAP). Scholars have paid attention to Yoshioka’s wartime role and educational contribution. This thesis explores an overlooked field of Yoshioka’s connection to women’s everyday lives, especially her communication with a mass audience through popular magazines. It will particularly focus on Yoshioka’s insightful advice as an obstetrician-gynaecologist on women’s sexual health, birth control, and mothers’ health. Her views are also important because health matters were linked to policies designed to build national strength. Thus, women were connected with the state through their role as agents in implementing health policies. After 1868, the government sought to develop the state by controlling women’s bodies, aiming to incorporate their health as part of efforts to achieve economic and political goals. However, this thesis also pays close attention to how Yoshioka embraced the positive influence of state regulation of women’s health and tried to further women’s interests. It will also offer an in-depth examination of how women increased their empowerment and agency under the influence of state health policies, rather than being confined by them. Analysing the topic of women’s health sheds light on not only the path of women’s self-development but also the complex and dynamic relationship between women and the state.