We’ve translated some Japanese media and social media about recent moves for the Women’s Universities in Japan to welcome transgender women as students.
There are a group of Women’s Universities in Japan that have recently come out to say that they will soon start accepting transgender women. This is, of course, a major change in the country and has been covered in several major news outlets and provoked a lot of discussion, of a more or less civil nature, across social media.
Today we’ve translated some excerpts from Asahi News, The Huffington Post Japan, and a selection of tweets from twitter to get an overview of the coverage.
We present the selections in Japanese, then in English, then sentence by sentence in Japanese and English for those that are interested to get down in the weeds of the language a bit more
Approx Japanese level
Text Type
トランス女性OK、深化する女子大 課題はハラスメント
(２０２０年８月１３日付け朝日新聞より)
生まれた時の性別が男性で、性自認が女性のトランスジェンダーの学生の受け入れが今春、お茶の水女子大（東京）と奈良女子大の国立2大学で始まった。
実際に入学したかどうかは明らかにしていない。
来春は宮城学院女子大でも始まる。
受け入れを検討する女子大が増える中、大学側に当事者を保護する取り組みを求め声もあがる。
「全ての学びたい女性に開かれているのが女子大。それは、戸籍上の女性に限らないということ。女子大の使命の延長線上にある」
この4月、トランスジェンダー女性の受け入れを始めたお茶の水女子大の三浦徹副学長はそう話す。
同大は2018年7月に受け入れを表明。19年4月に対応ガイドラインを制定し、準備を進めてきた。
どう接すれば…受け入れ前は不安の声も
受け入れにあたっては「性自認が女性である」ことをどう認定するかが問われた。
同大では、受験前に申告書を出してもらい、性自認の確認や、受験時や学生生活を送る上での態勢などについて必要があれば面談をする形にした。
医師の診断書は必須ではない。「性自認は変化する。あえて多面的にした」と同大は説明する。
Trans women allowed, Women’s Universities Deepen, Harassment Challenge Remains
From this Spring, two public universities, Ochanomizu Women’s University (Tokyo) and Nara Women’s University, have begun accepting transgender students whose sex at time of birth was male but who identify their gender as female.
It is not clear whether any transgender students have yet been admitted.
From next Spring, Miyagi Gakuin Women’s University will also begin admitting transgender students.
As women’s universities that accept transgender women increase, so do the voices calling for safeguards for students.
“It’s the Women’s Universities that provide all women wishing to learn a safe place. That does not apply only to women who are listed as such on the official Family Register. This is an extension of the mission of Women’s Universities.”
So spoke Ochanomizu University Vice Head of School Toru Miura in April.
The university announced that they would accept transgender students in July 2018. Since drafting guidelines in April 2019, preparations have been proceeding.
Prior to the changes, voices expressed their unease at how they should interact with the students
Questions have been raised about how “people that identify as female” should be validated under the new system.
At Ochanomizu, prospective students are asked to submit an application document prior to sitting the entrance exam and, where necessary, are asked to have an interview to confirm status of their gender identity in relation to exams and student life.
There is no necessity for a medical certificate from a doctor to be produced. “Gender identity changes. We now presume that it is versatile.”
室伏学長(お茶の水女子大学) は会見の冒頭で次のように述べた。
学ぶ意欲のあるすべての女性にとって、真摯な夢の実現の場として存在するという国立大学法人としての本学のミッションに基づき判断した。
今回の決定を『多様性を包摂する女子大学と社会』の創出に向けた取り組みと位置づけており、
今後、固定的な性別意識にとらわれず、ひとりひとりが人間としてその個性と能力を十分に発揮し、『多様な女性』があらゆる分野に参画できる社会の実現につながっていくことを期待している。
はるか以前の社会と比べると格段に進歩したが、それでも様々な場で女性が職業人として活躍するには困難がある。
その現状を変え、女性たちが差別や偏見を受けずに幸せに暮らせる社会を作るために、大学という学びの場で、自らの価値を認識し、社会に貢献するという確信を持って前進する精神をはぐくむ必要があると考える。
それが実現できるのは、女性が旧来の役割意識などの、無意識の偏見、そういったものから解放されて自由に活躍できる女子大学だろうと考えている。
本学はすべての女性たちがその年齢や国籍等に関係なく、個々人の尊厳と権利を保障されて、自身の学びを進化させ、自由に自己の資質能力を開発させることを目指している。
その意味からも、性自認が女性であって、真摯に女子大学で学ぶことを希望する人を受け入れるのは自然な流れだろうと思うし、多様性を包摂する社会としても当然のことと考えた。
As a national university corporate body, this decision was based on our mission of providing a place to all women who have a sincere desire and dream to learn.
We see this decision as part of a movement to create a women’s university and society that embraces diversity
We dream of a society where “diverse women” can participate in a variety of fields and where each person can achieve their own expression of their own unique human abilities, unrestrained by rigid concepts of gender.
Though we have come a long way in comparison to societies of the distant past, there are still many barriers to women’s fruitful participation in the workforce.
We believe that we must change the status quo by fostering women’s sense of self worth and resolve to contribute to society, so that they can take their place in society to lead happy lives free from discrimination and prejudice.
We believe that it is the freely functioning women’s university that is able to free women from the conceptions of women’s traditional roles and from unconscious bias.
Our university aims to develop all women, regardless of age or nationality, by guaranteeing each and every individual’s dignity and rights, and pushing forward their learning to create people with the ability to freely express their innate abilities.
In this respect, we consider that it naturally flows that women who identify as female, who hold sincere desires to study at a women’s university, should be welcomed and that this should happen as a matter of course within a society that embraces diversity.
Some Twitter Comments
@milk_and_wine
Trans女子大のトランス女性受け入れに当事者でもないのに(当事者ってのはこの場合、その大学の学生たちのこと)「女子大終わった」みたいなこと言ってるトランスヘイターこっわ。
普通に学生やってるトランス女性より、こういうひとたちの方がよっぽど一緒に学びたくない…こわいし…
@ripo0079
トランス女性がお茶大入るのは女性の権利の侵害などと訴えている方は概ねお茶大には縁がない程度の知的階級さを感じさせますね。
@horry_a
「人の生命に関わることがらについて『コスト』という言葉を使う」って、ほんとにダメだと思う。
去年、お茶大の報道時に、誰でもトイレの増設は必要（でもトランスを閉じ込めてはいいけない）って書いたら「コスト」がかかるって非難がきた。
それはコストじゃない。必要なもの。
@MJunko0523
お茶大のトランスウーマン受け入れの件で、トランスウーマンになりすます奴がいるから駄目だという人たち。
たとえば、ある国で「日本人になりすました奴が犯罪を行ったから日本人は全員入国禁止」と言われたら、「はいそうですか」と納得するのですか？
私は納得できません。
要はそういうことです。
@milk_and_wine
I find the Trans-haters, who, without being in any way the ones that are personally affected by the admitting of transexual women (which is to say, students), and say things like “It’s the end of Women’s Universities”, just give me the creeps. I find the idea of studying with them a lot more scary than studying with transexual women.
@ripo0079
I find that the ones who say that allowing transexual women into women’s universities is a breach of women’s rights are generally those of the intellectual class with no connection with the university whatsoever.
@horry_a
I think that the use of the word “cost” when talking about matters that affect people’s very being is just not on.
When it was reported last year about Ochanomizu University, I wrote that it is necessary to extend the provision of toilet amenities and I took criticism over the cost that this would entail.
That is not a “cost”. It is a necessity.
To the people who say that it won’t do to have trans women at Ochanomizu because there are men that will make themselves out to be transgender to get access.
If you heard that there was a country where they said “There are people making themselves out to be Japanese citizens that are coming to our country and committing crimes, so we will ban entry to all Japanese Citizens”, would you just say, “yes, that’s fair enough” and accept it.
I would not.
It’s a similar thing.
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