Shaw was particularly moved by the concerns of women in Japan: college girls wishing for equal educational opportunities, wives hurt by their husbands' relations with Geisha, and Geisha themselves "utterly ignorant of the precious worth of womanhood, given over by their parents or relatives to a life of shame." All of these cases touched a chord with Miss Shaw and kindled her activism. She vivaciously supported educational efforts for girls and women, advocated women's suffrage, and promoted moral reform that would end legalized prostitution and make divorce less convenient for adulterous men. Such measures, she hoped, would arouse a collective moral conscience, restore Japanese women to a position of dignity, and improve family life. Loretta Shaw did not marry, nor did she have children of her own. But for her it was motherhood – defined broadly as caring for the next generation by shaping a better world – that characterized the "ideal" woman.