Tokyo Univ 'Altered' Women’s Marks In Medical Entrance

A renowned medical university in Japan has allegedly deducted female applicants’ entrance exam scores for over seven years to keep the number of women in the student body low. The authorities reportedly believed that once women get married or have children, they are less dependable workers as compared to men.

The Yomiuri Shimbun, one of Japan’s largest daily newspapers, said the manipulation came to light when prosecutors were investigating a separate scandal. The Tokyo Medical University was accused of illicitly admitting the son of an education ministry bureaucrat, for which investigations were conducted.

On Thursday, Yomiuri Shimbun published a report, accusing the Tokyo Medical University of deducting points from women’s entrance exams from 2011. The step was taken to ensure that women only account for 30 per cent of students at the university and raise the number of male doctors who graduated. The report also alleges that the authorities believed women would not contribute to the university’s hospital staff.

Fumio Azuma, a spokesman for the university, told AFP, "Following the report this morning, we asked a law firm to launch an internal investigation into the reported issue.”

A university official told NHK (State Broadcaster), "it was concerned that a large increase in the number of women posed a serious problem for the future of the university hospital, because female doctors tend to quit after marrying or starting families".

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Reports Expose Details

The Yomiuri, citing unnamed sources, said that after the 2010 results showed more females were winning places, the university began lowering the entrance test scores of female applicants to its medical school in 2011.

In 2010, approximately 40 per cent of the successful applicants in the medical were women, double the previous year. Post which, the university tried to keep the percentage of females admitted each year to around 30 per cent.

Justifying the alterations, a source told the Yomiuri, "Women often quit after graduating and becoming a doctor, when they get married and have a child. There is a consensus inside the university that male doctors support the university hospital, which often requires emergency duties and long shifts.”

According to the newspaper, the test scores of female applicants had been lowered across the board by administrators who applied a fixed coefficient to women's results. In 2018, the ratio of females accepted after the first round of entrance tests was 14.5 per cent, while men got an upper hand of 18.9 percent.

Outrage over reports

Yoshiko Maeda, head of the Japan Medical Women's Association, said in a statement to the Associated Press that she was astonished. She expressed, "Instead of worrying about women quitting jobs, they should do more to create an environment where women can keep working. And we need working style reform, which is not just to prevent overwork deaths. But to create a workplace where everyone can perform to the best of their ability regardless of gender."

Ruriko Tsushima, executive board member of Japan Joint Association of Medical Professional Women, condemned the Tokyo University’s alleged gender discrimination.

In an interview with the Japan Times, Tsushima  said, “I can’t forgive (what the institution is said to have) done to people who studied hard to get into the university, hoping to become doctors. It shouldn’t happen in a democratic country that is supposed to provide equal educational opportunities.”

The reports have also sparked anger on social media with one female Twitter user calling for a rally outside the university. While another female tweeted, "I feel deep anger and disappointment. We worked hard believing that our future will be bright if our grades our good. If it is being carried out at schools, it is fundamentally unfair."

Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been striving  to create a place "where women can shine". He has given priority to "womenomics", or boosting women's participation in the workplace and promoting women to senior positions. But the pace of progress has been slow and women still face an uphill battel in employment.

Women in Japan are highly educated in general. But the country's notoriously long work hours force many out of the workplace when they start families.

Megha Thadani is an Intern with Shethepeople.tv