“COMFORT WOMEN” HISTORY AND ISSUES
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The study of history connects us to our past, contextualizes our present, and serves as a compass for our future. It provides students with the critical framework to navigate the world, examine their individual roles within it, and choose the impact they wish to make. Yet history is rarely a complete record; it tends to preserve the narratives of the dominant while marginalizing others. These disparities can be addressed by reclaiming diverse voices, making historical connections through inquiry-based learning, and drawing evidence-based conclusions. Through this process, students gain a deeper, more expansive understanding of history while reflecting on their values and the choices they face today and tomorrow.
The mission of the Education for Social Justice Foundation (ESJF) is to educate about past injustices that have too often been relegated to the margins of history. This publication focuses on both the history of Japanese military sexual slavery and the ongoing issues related to it.
The Japanese military sexual slavery system, established and operated by the Japanese Imperial Armed Forces from the 1930s until the end of World War II, forced hundreds of thousands of women and girls from a minimum of thirteen countries in Asia into military sexual slavery. The women and girls forced into this system are commonly referred to as “comfort women.” Although this term obscures the brutal and inhumane reality of their experiences, it was widely used in official documents and studies for decades. Therefore, this resource guide uses the terms “comfort women” and Japanese military sex slaves interchangeably. The term “comfort women” is enclosed in quotes to indicate its use as a euphemism.
The widespread and chillingly methodical nature of Japanese military sexual slavery, combined with the mass murder of numerous victims as the military faced defeat, make this system one of the most egregious instances of human rights violations in history. In 1998, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights formally recognized Japanese military sexual slavery as a crime against humanity. UN Special Rapporteur Gay McDougall added that this system forced more than 200,000 women and girls across Asia into Japan’s military sexual slavery.
After the Korean War Armistice in 1953, the Republic of Korea, the official name of South Korea, experienced prolonged political instability. In 1961, Park Chung-hee seized power through a military coup and became president in 1963, marking the beginning of a military dictatorship in South Korea. In 1987, nationwide democratization movements led by students and citizens brought an end to decades of military rule. With democratization, numerous suppressed human rights issues surfaced, including the Japanese military sexual slavery system. Supported by the democratization movement and a growing civil society, Kim Hak-soon of South Korea broke more than fifty years of silence in 1991, becoming the first survivor to publicly testify about her experience. In the 1990s, amid heightened attention to historical accountability in Japan, Kim Hak-soon’s testimony was widely reported and taken seriously within Japan. However, beginning during the administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of the Liberal Democratic Party, Japan’s major conservative governing party, the Japanese government’s official position on the “comfort women” system increasingly diverged from the testimonies and lived experiences of survivors. Rather than formally acknowledging responsibility for Japanese military sexual slavery, the Japanese government has misrepresented, minimized, or denied this history.
Despite persistent denial and distortion, survivors and civil society organizations have continued to demand an official apology and reparations from the Japanese government. Furthermore, they transformed a grassroots advocacy effort into a transnational movement for women’s human rights, justice, and empowerment.
The state-sanctioned Japanese military sexual slavery system exposes the devastating impact of World War II in Asia on women and girls at the intersection of imperialism, human rights violations, conflict-related sexual violence, discrimination, and ongoing injustice rooted in historical distortion and denial. The section Central Themes and Research Topics is particularly useful in addressing these interconnected issues.
Aligned with the Common Core Standards, the History–Social Science Content Standards for California Public Schools (K–12), and the 2016/7 California History–Social Science Framework, this resource guide offers lesson plans and instructional materials for teaching the history of “comfort women,” while also serving as a vehicle for examining sexual and gender-based violence across historical and global contexts.
Comparative thinking approaches are extensively integrated throughout the guide, prompting students to question, reflect, and reconsider assumptions. Open-ended questions before and after each subsection further support inquiry-based learning. Beyond deepening understanding of Japanese military sexual slavery, this resource guide seeks to cultivate students’ analytical, critical, and comparative thinking skills, while strengthening their sense of agency and informed civic engagement.
This resource guide represents the culmination of community collaboration. Without the input of justice-seeking individuals both locally and abroad, it would not have come to fruition. Education has always been a foundational pillar for human progress, and ESJF hopes this publication will help students deepen their historical and social awareness, fostering a commitment to peace, human rights, and justice.
Submitted by Sung Sohn
The mission of the Education for Social Justice Foundation (ESJF) is to educate about past injustices that have too often been relegated to the margins of history. This publication focuses on both the history of Japanese military sexual slavery and the ongoing issues related to it.
The Japanese military sexual slavery system, established and operated by the Japanese Imperial Armed Forces from the 1930s until the end of World War II, forced hundreds of thousands of women and girls from a minimum of thirteen countries in Asia into military sexual slavery. The women and girls forced into this system are commonly referred to as “comfort women.” Although this term obscures the brutal and inhumane reality of their experiences, it was widely used in official documents and studies for decades. Therefore, this resource guide uses the terms “comfort women” and Japanese military sex slaves interchangeably. The term “comfort women” is enclosed in quotes to indicate its use as a euphemism.
The widespread and chillingly methodical nature of Japanese military sexual slavery, combined with the mass murder of numerous victims as the military faced defeat, make this system one of the most egregious instances of human rights violations in history. In 1998, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights formally recognized Japanese military sexual slavery as a crime against humanity. UN Special Rapporteur Gay McDougall added that this system forced more than 200,000 women and girls across Asia into Japan’s military sexual slavery.
After the Korean War Armistice in 1953, the Republic of Korea, the official name of South Korea, experienced prolonged political instability. In 1961, Park Chung-hee seized power through a military coup and became president in 1963, marking the beginning of a military dictatorship in South Korea. In 1987, nationwide democratization movements led by students and citizens brought an end to decades of military rule. With democratization, numerous suppressed human rights issues surfaced, including the Japanese military sexual slavery system. Supported by the democratization movement and a growing civil society, Kim Hak-soon of South Korea broke more than fifty years of silence in 1991, becoming the first survivor to publicly testify about her experience. In the 1990s, amid heightened attention to historical accountability in Japan, Kim Hak-soon’s testimony was widely reported and taken seriously within Japan. However, beginning during the administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of the Liberal Democratic Party, Japan’s major conservative governing party, the Japanese government’s official position on the “comfort women” system increasingly diverged from the testimonies and lived experiences of survivors. Rather than formally acknowledging responsibility for Japanese military sexual slavery, the Japanese government has misrepresented, minimized, or denied this history.
Despite persistent denial and distortion, survivors and civil society organizations have continued to demand an official apology and reparations from the Japanese government. Furthermore, they transformed a grassroots advocacy effort into a transnational movement for women’s human rights, justice, and empowerment.
The state-sanctioned Japanese military sexual slavery system exposes the devastating impact of World War II in Asia on women and girls at the intersection of imperialism, human rights violations, conflict-related sexual violence, discrimination, and ongoing injustice rooted in historical distortion and denial. The section Central Themes and Research Topics is particularly useful in addressing these interconnected issues.
Aligned with the Common Core Standards, the History–Social Science Content Standards for California Public Schools (K–12), and the 2016/7 California History–Social Science Framework, this resource guide offers lesson plans and instructional materials for teaching the history of “comfort women,” while also serving as a vehicle for examining sexual and gender-based violence across historical and global contexts.
Comparative thinking approaches are extensively integrated throughout the guide, prompting students to question, reflect, and reconsider assumptions. Open-ended questions before and after each subsection further support inquiry-based learning. Beyond deepening understanding of Japanese military sexual slavery, this resource guide seeks to cultivate students’ analytical, critical, and comparative thinking skills, while strengthening their sense of agency and informed civic engagement.
This resource guide represents the culmination of community collaboration. Without the input of justice-seeking individuals both locally and abroad, it would not have come to fruition. Education has always been a foundational pillar for human progress, and ESJF hopes this publication will help students deepen their historical and social awareness, fostering a commitment to peace, human rights, and justice.
Submitted by Sung Sohn