Building International Bridges

Woman's Week, an Extension Program at Montana State University, has established a Japanese connection that has promising educational benefits for women in both nations. In June of 1989, Hiroko Mabuchi from Japan taught Sumie Painting to a capacity class at Woman's Week and took classes and tours herself. Meanwhile, more women in Japan were interested in the same thing-teaching and learning. They also were intrigued with the whole concept of a week at the university for women when school was on holiday. This led to the larger more systematic exchange for 1990 and future years.

Woman's Week started in June 1965 as a College Week for Women sponsored by the Extension Service in conjunction with the annual meeting of the Home Demonstration Council. Many things have changed since 1965, but women still feel a need for intellectual stimulation and a broadening of their horizons even though many hold full- or part-time jobs. As our world grows smaller, the need for international understanding grows broader and having women from Japan teach a class about their country was a wonderful opportunity for this understanding to develop.

The class, called Women of Japan, included three 1 1/2 hour sessions. The first session was titled "Traditional Aspects" and featured the Kimono, including reports on history, fabric, and a kimono dressing demonstration. The second session focused on environmental problems and included a video and reports on recycling and garbage and post cards made from recycled milk cartons. The last class was on women's roles, the working woman, and education. This topic needed more time, as did the whole program. The Montana participants were enthusiastic about bringing these ladies back next year. Another measure of success was the fact that attendance grew from 36 at the first class to 55 at the last one. In addition, they offered a cooking demonstration to a capacity audience.

Housing and meals were provided in the dorm on campus at MSU and each Japanese woman had a Montana "buddy" to help her find her way around and meet people. The weekend following Woman's Week, a homestay experience was provided. These one-to-one contacts made the program a special one for all involved.

Respondents in the final evaluation all felt the class was worthwhile. Some comments about the most important things learned included:

1. How much Japanese and American women are alike.
2. Japanese and American women have many of the same values and problems.
3. There is much change in Japan, especially for women.
4. Japanese women were so gracious and willing to share about their culture.

Some changes participants experienced included a development of respect, admiration, and tolerance as well as a clearing of some negative feelings towards the Japanese. The comments about improvements needed included such things as bring them back again, continue this class, do more classes of this type, use a microphone, and have a smaller class size so more interaction could occur.

This project could spin off many benefits-an increase in goodwill and understanding, an increase in tourism for Montana, and a new and expanded audience for Woman's Week. There's talk of starting a Woman's Week program in Japan in the near future. Plans are under way for a group of Montana women to visit Japan and experience their culture and lifestyle first hand. As a result of their trip to Montana, Japanese women are ready to provide a homestay experience for Montana visitors. And, plans are already under way for a group from Japan to attend Woman's Week 1991.

Kimono dressing demonstration.