Abstract
At the 8^<th> annual convention, a symposium was held with "The Gender History and the Oral History" as the main theme. Three factors of significance in Gender History studies are pointed out by Western learning so far. The first factor of significance is that the history of women or feminism has been the challenge against the history of men as the ruling view of history. The second factor in the meaning is that the Oral History is viewed as a gender related history. For example, the relationship history between husband and wife is a narrative story by oral history approach. The third factor in the meaning is the application of social constructionism in historical studies. The gender concept is that men and women's history is constructed by the social/cultural background and the time both genders lived in. Therefore, Gender History is soundly based on concrete Oral History. The first presenter at the symposium was Ms. Miyako Orii. She has reported about her activity on the Women's History and Oral History in certain local areas, since the 1980s. The second presenter was Ms. Noriyo Hayakawa, who spoke about her experiences of listening to the Chinese victims of sexual abuse by the Japanese Imperial Army in 1942-43. The third presenter was Mr. Yu Wada. He reported about the history of the movement to build a day nursery at the housing area in Osaka during the 1960s. He described the relationship history between husband and wife from the perspective of Gender History. After the three presentations, Ms. Junko Sakai and Mr. Tomiaki Yamada, commentators of the symposium, helped provide us with a wider context from the perspectives of history and sociology. In the future, I expect the development of the studies on Gender History and Oral History by the younger generation.
