抄録
In the early Meiji period, many missionaries were sent to Japan by American evangelist groups. These missionaries established mission schools particularly for girls. At these girls’ mission schools, female missionaries conducted education on Christian principles. At the same time, at schools such as Kobe College, they also promoted women’s entrance to higher education and study abroad. Upon returning to Japan from their studies abroad, they became teachers or professors at institutions of higher education. In addition, in the first half of the Meiji Period, when women could not receive formal medical education nor obtain a license to practice medicine, some women studied abroad in the United States or Germany seeking to obtain a Doctor of Medicine (MD) from a foreign university. Further, private hospitals spearheaded studies abroad for the discipline of nursing in order to achieve nursing of the same quality as that of Europe and the United States.
This phenomenon can also be observed in the study-abroad behavior of European and American women from the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century.