Japan gender bias report deals new blow to Abe agenda

Bloomberg

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s pledge to empower women hit a fresh obstacle as more evidence was released of ‘admissions policies’ at the nation’s medical schools.
Three of Japan’s 81 medical schools manipulated their admissions systems to exclude women, while another is suspected of doing so, according to an Education Ministry report. Another six were cited for unfair practices such as discriminating against repeat applicants or favouring the children of alumni.
The findings highlight complications facing a campaign by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to get more women into management as part of a solution to the “national crisis” of Japan’s rapidly aging population and shrinking labor force. While more women are working outside the home in Japan, they are struggling to gain promotion to senior positions in companies and other organisations.
“It’s extremely regrettable that these inappropriate admissions policies have been discovered,” Education Minister Masahiko Shibayama told reporters. “I want the universities concerned to deal with applicants swiftly and carefully.” He added that there was a need to examine admissions procedures at other university departments as well.
The report came four months after a scandal emerged over Tokyo Medical University’s rejection of female applicants in favour of less qualified men.
Other universities already had come forward to acknowledge unfair policies following third-party investigations. Juntendo University, attached to a Tokyo hospital known for treating politicians and celebrities, was the latest to hold a press conference. It followed an investigation of admissions procedures that showed rigging of results against women and older students had unfairly excluded 165 candidates over the past two years.
The university had received an award from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government for empowering women in January.
Only 20 percent of Japan’s medical doctors are women, compared with an average of 46 percent for member countries of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, 34 percent in the US and more than 70 percent in Latvia.
Government data in Japan has long indicated that male applicants tacitly receive priority for entry to some medical schools. The proportion of female medical students in Japan swelled between the 1970s and the 1990s, only to level off at about one-third — where it has remained for two decades. That’s despite the fact that female applicants are more likely than men to have successful college applications in general.