The Contribution of Mission Schools to Women's Education in 19th Century: Comparative Case Studies in France, in Malaya and in Japan

长期以来，法国一直被英美两国视为女权主义的“欠发达”国家。当人们谈到妇女的选举权和女权主义者的活动时，这可能在一定程度上是正确的。直到1945年，法国妇女才被允许投票。但通过这项研究，我们发现，在慈善工作和儿童教育领域，法国妇女与盎格鲁·撒克逊社会的同行相比遥遥领先。有趣的是，这些领域的主要参与者是修女。他们早在15世纪就开始建立宗教秩序。但在17世纪，女性宗教团体蓬勃发展，修女们开始参与慈善工作和教育。在本研究中，我们以圣毛尔族修女会为例。姐妹俩于17世纪路易十四统治下的法国开始了她们的工作。他们在全国各地建立了许多女子寄宿学校，但在法国大革命时期，宗教教团受到迫害，被迫关闭学校。我们主要关注19世纪圣毛尔姐妹在马来亚和日本的传教活动。他们在这些地区建立了许多教会学校。我们认为他们的成功是有原因的。其中一个原因是法国的教会和国家分离。在法国的公共教育中，宗教教团被取消了。这是推动传教士走向海外的重要因素之一。另一个原因是东道国的需要。在这项研究中，我们分析了马来亚和日本的社会状况，使传教士能够在教育领域工作。最后，我们建议重新评估女性教团对日本女性教育领域的贡献。也是。

France has long been considered as an "under-developed" country by the U.K. and the U.S. as far as feminism is concerned. It might be partly true, when one talks about the suffrage of women and the activities of suffragettes. It was not until 1945 that French women were allow to vote. But through this research, we found out that in the fields of charitable works and education to children, French women were far ahead compared with their counterparts in Anglo Saxon Societies.Interestingly, the main actors in those fields were the nuns. They started to establish the religious orders as early as 15th century. But it was in the 17^<th> century that women religious orders flourished and the nuns began to be involved in charitable works and education. In this research, we took the Order of Saint Maur Sisters as an example. The sisters started their work in 17^<th> century France under Louis XIV reign. They established many boarding schools for girls all over the country but during the time of French Revolution, the religious orders were persecuted and forced to close the schools.We mainly focused on the missions of Saint Maur sisters in 19^<th> century in Malaya and in Japan. They established many mission schools in those areas. We think there are reasons for their success. One reason was the separation of the church and the state in France. The Religious orders were eliminated from the public education in France. That was one of the important elements to push the missionaries to overseas. The other reasons were the needs of the host countries. In this research, we analyzed the social situations in Malaya and in Japan which enabled the missionary to work in the educational fields. Lastly, we suggest to re-evaluate the women's religious orders' contribution to the field of women's education in Japan. As well.