As part of our ongoing efforts to expand our reach internationally and learn about the issues facing women in technology around the world, ABI participated in November in a Symposium by Tsuda College in Tokyo. ABI was invited by Prof. Takahashi and Prof. Kishi from Tsuda College. Prof. Yuko Takahashi is the Director of the newly established Center for Women in Research and is Vice-President of Academic Affairs at Tsuda College. Prof. Nobuko Kishi is a faculty member in the Department of Computer Science at Tsuda College.
Tsuda College is one of the oldest private institutions of higher education in Japan. Tsuda established a Computer Science Department in 2006 and is working in close partnership with other educational institutions in Japan to recruit, retain, and advance women in science. The President of Tsdua College, Prof. Masako Iino, was also in attendance and emphasized the importance of these initiatives.
The Symposium featured speakers from academia, industry, and government. I provided a keynote about the issues facing technical women in the US, as well as the solutions that work to support technical women in the US. We had a lively dialogue about the similarities and differences in the US and Japanese situations.
The first speaker was Mr. Shigeyuki Kubota, Deputy Director-General Information and Communications Policy Bureau, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. He discussed the history of innovation in Japan in Information and Communication Technology. He presented economic data that shows the clear link between ICT innovation and GDP growth. He claimed that increasing ICT competitiveness in the country is crucial. Japan also sees the trend of an aging population, and establishing the next generation of technology and science talent is a clear mandate of the Japanese government. Therefore, the MEXT (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology) has taken a bold stance and established a national goal to increase the proportion of women in scientific disciplines to 25% by 2012. The MEXT is funding cross-university initiatives in Japan to increase female representation with a fund called ”Special Coordination Fund for Promoting Science and Technology, Fiscal Year 2008, Supporting Activities for Female Researchers. The newly established Center for Women in Research at Tsuda is one of these major initiatives.
A keynote was then given by Prof. Yoshikazu Toyama, a long-time Fujitsu executive and now a Visiting Professor at Japan Women’s University, where he directs the Multi Career Path Support Model Project for Female Researchers. Dr. Toyama is well known for his support of women in careers – his wife, Ms. Atsuko Toyama, held the post of Japan Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. Dr. Toyama discussed the data on women in science and technology in Japan. He presented large scale survey results from a major report produced by the Japan Inter-Society Liaison Association Committee for Promoting Equal Participation of Men and Women in Science and Engineering. He is Vice-Chairman of this committee and led this data collection effort.
This research, with 20,000 respondents, provides an unprecedented snapshot of the challenges facing women in science in Japan. Some of the findings:
- Among survey respondents, the proportion of women remains at or below 10% across all scientific disciplines in Japan, with the exception of the Life Sciences and Biology, where women make up almost 30% of the scientists. The lowest representation (below 5%) is found in Mathematics and Mechanical Engineering.
- The ratio of women is higher among the younger age groups, indicating that the field is losing women scientists at the mid-career. This finding echoes the ABI report on technical women in industry in the US, where we focused on the mid-level as a critical point of intervention.
- Female scientists in Japan are significantly more likely to be single and to have no children than are male scientists (again, this trend was seen in our US study, as women delay partnership and family to achieve career goals).
- Female scientists are significantly less likely to be full time employees and are more represented in entry-level positions – their proportion declines at the higher level positions, a finding that also echoes our research on technical women in industry in the US. Women respondents also had lower research budgets.
- The standard of long working hours for scientists is significant in Japan, much like in the US, with respondents spending between 50 and 70 hours a week working.
- Male scientists relied on their spouse for childcare (85% of men respondents compared to 4% of female respondents), whereas female scientists assumed the responsibility of the household and relied on child care centers. The challenges of work-life balance are especially salient in Japan – 30% of the women who had taken family leave reported that their advancement suffered as a result.
- The younger generation pointed to a supportive work environment for work-life balance as crucial.
- When asked about ways to promote gender equality, most women pointed to the need for a “Change in Men’s Mindset” so they can be viewed as equal participants. Men and women also pointed to a need of “Improving the Workplace Environment”.
Despite significantly different cultural contexts, I was struck between some of the similarities between our research findings and this report and when I provided a keynote on the US situation, I highlighted many of the same trends in the US (although the gender gap in the US is not as pronounced).
In the afternoon, we heard from a panel of senior women scientists who represent the much needed role models of success:
- Dr. Takako Hashimoto is an R&D Engineer at Ricoh Company. She discussed her career path, her passion for science and technology, and the challenges she faced in her career especially around work-life balance. She also pointed to the diversity initiatives at Ricoh, and her involvement with the IEEE Japan Council Women in Engineering Affinity Group.
- Ms. Rieko Yamamoto, a Senior Research Fellow at Fujitsu, also discussed her career trajectory and emphasized her company’s commitment to develop women scientists. She emphasized transparency as a crucial component of the effort, and indeed shared concrete data on women’s representation at Fujitsu.
- Dr. Nathalie Cavasin, an invited Research Scientist at Waseda University Global Information and Telecommunication Institute, discussed her career path and emphasized the specific challenges faced by foreign female scientists in Japan. She also provided interesting data points about the efforts to promote women in science in France, her country of origin.
The combination of research on the problem, role models, multiple career pathways, and the creation of networks and community and mentoring initiatives were key strategies discussed by the group. They are important cornerstones of the work done in the US and in Japan alike. We at ABI hope to continue collaborating with this distinguished group. We thank Tsuda College for initiating this knowledge exchange.
On November 27, I joined the leaders of the Center for Women in Research at Tsuda College and visited the MEXT (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology). We had the honor of meeting Kimikazu Iwase, Deputy Director-General of the Science and Technology Policy Bureau. This Bureau is in charge of setting the science and technology policy direction of Japan, and of setting R&D priorities and the training of researchers and specialists and is funding this national effort to increase the proportion of women in science and technology. We discussed the importance of the Center for Women in Research in this effort, as well as talked about the work done by the Anita Borg Institute in the US.