Chika Ezure faced gender bias from her own family when deciding to do a master's degree at Japan's top-ranked university. After arriving on campus, she realised the resistance she faced as a woman was commonplace.
She was surrounded by men: just one in 10 researchers at the prestigious University of Tokyo are women, and one in five students.
The figures are stark but perhaps not surprising in a nation where women leaders are rare in business and politics -- including just two out of 20 ministers in the new cabinet.
But faculty members who have had enough recently launched a poster campaign highlighting sexist remarks made to female scholars, calling out the university's gender imbalance.
"I prefer cute, silly girls over smart ones" and "you're a girl, so local college is good enough" were among the comments, described as "headwinds" by the campaigners.
Ezure, who is studying the use of technology in women's healthcare, faced similar attitudes when applying for the course -- even from her family.
"My parents said to me, 'what's the point of a girl going to graduate school?'" the 23-year-old told AFP, describing their reaction as "very disappointing".
"But they say boys should definitely take the opportunity. I have a brother, and I was shocked to discover it's him they want to invest in," she said. "It's not fair."
At the University of Hong Kong, 55 percent of students are women. The rate is 48 percent at the National University of Singapore, and 42 percent at Seoul National University.
All three lead the ranking tables in their country or territory.
Gender bias begins early in Japanese education, Ezure said.
A cram school teacher once told her "girls don't need to be good at maths" and she ended up focusing on humanities, despite later becoming interested in programming.
"I felt disempowered. I'm not sure if they were just trying to be kind, but I felt they were denying my potential."
The University of Tokyo poster campaign was based on a survey with nearly 700 staff and students, male and female.
"I read stories from students still scarred by these negative words, who had to change their career path because of them," said Asuka Ando, a project researcher at the university's office for gender equity. "I thought, 'this has to end.'"
The posters have sparked discussion online, with many commenters supporting the idea but some saying women do not apply for top universities, or are just not that clever.
Manaka Nagai, a French language major at Sophia University, said the University of Tokyo campaign made her realise that some remarks can be a double-edged sword.
"I used to think comments such as 'you can bring your female perspective' were positive," instead of highlighting the stereotypical differences between the genders, she said.
The situation at other Japanese universities is mixed -- but some with a more equal gender balance do not have a strong focus on science subjects.
Japan ranks lowest in 2022 data from the OECD group of developed countries for the number of women students enrolled in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics bachelor's programmes.
That is despite Japanese schoolgirls' performance in science and maths being among the highest of the OECD countries.
A scandal erupted in 2018 when the private Tokyo Medical University admitted it had deliberately lowered the entry test scores of women applicants.
The bar was raised because faculty members thought women doctors cannot work long hours, an internal probe found.
A government investigation prompted by the revelations found three other institutions had kept women out in similar ways.
Hiyori Sahara, a 20-year-old student at Tokyo University of Agriculture, told AFP she "takes it as a compliment" when people are surprised that she studies science.
"They don't mean it in a negative sense -- it's just that there are more men" in the sector, she said.
But during her schooldays, Sahara picked up on a more subtle bias.
"In my advanced high school classes, the teachers were mostly men and they often prioritised boys, picking them to answer questions," she said.
Japan is trying to improve its gender gap in leadership positions, with the country placed 118th out of 146 in the 2024 World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap report.
"There are many hurdles" to overcome, said Ginko Kawano, a professor in charge of gender equality promotion at Kyushu University.
If children are regularly exposed to gender-biased remarks, there is a risk they will internalise "the idea that girls do not have to study or go to university", she said.
Kawano called the poster campaign "groundbreaking".
"It's a message to women that they don't have to see such comments as normal," she said.
© 2024 AFP
24 Comments
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kurisupisu
Japan is a little bit misogynistic but so what?
Hervé L'Eisa
Of course the opportunity should be equal, regardless of gender, race, religion, etc.
But be honest, how many women want to be and are capable of being a firefighter? Should the fire departments also be "urged" to be staffed by 50% women?
Academia doesn't require the physical stamina of jobs like firefighting (as an example), but it's an individual choice.
Let's no ignore the shrinking and graying population with the birthrate well below the replacement rate of 2.
purple_depressed_bacon
It's unfair and appalling that such a mindset still exists in the 21st century but unfortunately for women in Japan, the chokehold of misogyny and patriarchy is still disappointingly strong, and I doubt it'll ever change.
リッチ
As long as the hours put in, productivity produced, profits etc are the same, and overall contribution is the same the. Everyone who be paid the same. Now if things are equal with profits and commitment and time, well that’s the difference. See this same argument with women’s sports but sadly women’s sports don’t earn the money that men’s sports do so there is a price gap which is based on business mind set.
Aly Rustom
Women at Japan's top university call out gender imbalance
Good for them.
Kurisu
This story reminds me of the Tokyo Medical University scandal from a few years back, in which the test results of female applicants were reduced by as much as 20%.
Meiyouwenti
Being a student of Japan’s top university, Ms Ezure is already privileged. Stop whining and try to excel in the field of your major.
Moonraker
In my experience, women are smarter than men. And it seems more obvious now in countries where there is more equal opportunity and girls regularly out-perform boys. Men seem to be desperately holding on to their former privileges in some spheres and countries by sophistry and denigrating women, even with remarks such as highlighted in this article, but given an equal playing field in education it would be men crying out for special assistance after a while. Men really need to be pulling their socks up instead of spending ridiculous energy on keeping women down. We need all the talent we can muster to get us through the hard times which, let's face it, have been mostly created by inept men.
carpslidy
Most master's degrees are a waste of time anyway
virusrex
That is not what privilege means, if you have to make double the effort to reach the same place only because you are a member of a group (no difference in capacity) then even if the person is at that position there is no privilege involved.
JeffLee
Aren't admissions overwhelmingly based on entrance exam scores?
owzer
as the article correctly points out, men tend to like the sciences more than women. So it goes without saying there will be more men there. Any time a woman is there it will be out of the ordinary. No problem with pointing that out.
and few people, men included, really need a masters degree.
Jim
Absolutely correct! Yours is the most sensible, factual and best comment I’ve seen in a while here on Japan Today comments section!
wallace
The scandal of the female medical students.
"The ministry has found that at least three universities rigged their tests for female examinees. An official at one of the universities explained to The Asahi Shimbun that the school uniformly deducted points from the scores of women, saying the goal was to limit the number of female students to about 30 percent."
https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/15192292#:~:text=The%20ministry%20has%20found%20that,students%20to%20about%2030%20percent.
proxy
@Moonraker
In countries where there is more equal opportunity people self sort so in the Nordic countries, the majority of nurses are still woman.
In North America, the education system, particularly at the elementary level is made up predominantly of woman and the system now has a strong anti-boy bias. It is problematic as the percent of post-secondary graduates that identify as male is only 40%. There is a generation of young men who were pushed down by the female dominated education system who will forever be excluded from high paying jobs.
Japan needs to improve and has an opportunity to create a system that truly offers equality to all students.
Some dude
A spokesman for Tokyo university commented "This accusation is unfair. A significant majority of our cleaning staff are women".
Some dude
The scandal of the female medical students.
"The ministry has found that at least three universities rigged their tests for female examinees. An official at one of the universities explained to The Asahi Shimbun that the school uniformly deducted points from the scores of women, saying the goal was to limit the number of female students to about 30 percent."
I remember telling a (female) friend of mine about this. She's from Sweden. You can fairly well imagine her reaction.
Jimizo
What a waste.
Getting as many of your best and brightest into STEM is important. You may not achieve a 50-50 split but there is clearly a problem here. Other countries clearly do better.
collegepark30349
I work at a women's university. About 70% of the teaching staff and 90% of upper-level administration - vice-presidents, deans, department chairs - are male. On the other hand, most of the office work is done by women...
factchecker
as the article correctly points out, men tend to like the sciences more than women. So it goes without saying there will be more men there. Any time a woman is there it will be out of the ordinary. No problem with pointing that out.
Yes, you can't force someone to study what they're not interested in. Success should be based on achievement, not DEI quotas.
OssanAmerica
Japan and South Korea are terrible in this respect because of the long history of patriarchy reinforced by confucianism. But most of Asia still drags behind the West. About the only good thing one can say is that they are better than the Taliban.
Jennie
Yawn, like men here are any better. It’s the mentality of settling that’s an issue.
Moonraker
My heart bleeds. Such weakness. Men bellyaching after years of privilege is laughable. Yet there are still boys who prevail in spite of your allegations. How come? I had mostly female teachers in elementary school and I am glad I did because the males were mostly inept and in some cases violent. So what if nurses are still women in Nordic countries? It just shows their adaptability.
Moonraker
That is for those who do them to decide; not you. Some may like learning. Not everything is done for instrumental or economic reasons, thank god.
BertieWooster
Do they count "trans-women" in these statistics?