South Korea's most prestigious university for women is lifting its 57-year-old ban on married students, saying the rule was aimed at giving women the freedom to study but had become outdated.

"These bans had been devised to defend women's rights to study in the old days," Chung Ha-young, a spokesman for Ehwa Women's University, said Wednesday. "Times have changed, and the rules are proving to have more negative effects than benefits now."

Until the mid-20th century, South Korea women were largely obliged to quit school after marriage. Educators of the era devised marriage restrictions as a way to keep women in school and resist familial pressure to marry early.

Ehwa is still working out several details of the new policy, such as whether to readmit students expelled under the regulations. Administrators hope the new rules will take effect in the next semester, which begins in March.

The government's National Human Rights Commission had begun an investigation into whether the ban was discriminatory. After the university's announcement, it dropped the case.

Women's rights groups welcomed the move.

"The regulations were needed then, but not anymore," said KimKi Sun-mi, an official with Korea Women's Association United.