Nadeshiko revisited
2021; Springer Nature; Volume: 22; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
10.15252/embr.202152528
ISSN1469-3178
AutoresNoriko Saitoh, Susan M. Gasser,
Tópico(s)Sex and Gender in Healthcare
ResumoScience & Society26 February 2021free access Nadeshiko revisited The situation of women in Japanese research and the measures taken to increase their representation Noriko Saitoh Corresponding Author [email protected] Division of Cancer Biology, The Cancer Institute of JFCR, Tokyo, Japan Search for more papers by this author Susan M Gasser Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, Basel, Switzerland ISREC Foundation, Lausanne, Switzerland Search for more papers by this author Noriko Saitoh Corresponding Author [email protected] Division of Cancer Biology, The Cancer Institute of JFCR, Tokyo, Japan Search for more papers by this author Susan M Gasser Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, Basel, Switzerland ISREC Foundation, Lausanne, Switzerland Search for more papers by this author Author Information Noriko Saitoh *,1 and Susan M Gasser2,3 1Division of Cancer Biology, The Cancer Institute of JFCR, Tokyo, Japan 2Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, Basel, Switzerland 3ISREC Foundation, Lausanne, Switzerland *Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected] EMBO Rep (2021)22:e52528https://doi.org/10.15252/embr.202152528 PDFDownload PDF of article text and main figures. ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareFacebookTwitterLinked InMendeleyWechatReddit Figures & Info Japanese parents are understandably proud that their 15-year-old boys and girls do equally well in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). In 2018, Japanese girls ranked second and third in Science and Mathematics, respectively, among the 40 participating countries, and Japanese boys ranked first in both subjects (https://data.oecd.org/japan.htm). However, Japanese boys and girls face different expectations and take different career paths as they grow up. In this commentary, we discuss how this affects the situation of female scientists in Japan. We start with the proportion of women in academic research and describe the problems they currently face. We underscore the tremendous measures developed and administered by the Japanese government to increase the participation and proportion of women in research. Finally, we mention an emerging grassroots initiative that is currently being implemented. We suggest that female empowerment may be one of the most promising strategies to improve the situation of women in the Japanese scientific community. A slow but steady increase It is now widely recognized that Japan’s ratio of female professionals trained in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) is the lowest among the OECD countries. This is consistent with the Global Gender Gap Report 2020 by the World Economic Forum, stating that “Japan’s gender gap is by far the largest among all advanced economies and has widened over the past year”. Japan ranks 121st out of 153 countries in the Global Gender Gap Index (http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GGGR_2020.pdf). This rank stems from a poor score in “Economic participation and opportunity” (115th) and “Political empowerment (144th)”. The report further mentions that in Japan, “only 15% of senior and leadership positions are held by women” placing the country 131st. The Japanese scientific society apparently has a two-step barrier to overcome: The first is to increase the total number of female researchers, and the second is to increase the number of female leaders in decision-making positions. This is not much different from what many Western countries have faced as they tried to improve the situation of women in research, yet the second step remains a key bottleneck. It is now widely recognized that Japan’s ratio of female professionals trained in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) is the lowest among the OECD countries. Although the ratio of female to male researchers in Japan is low, it has been steadily increasing since 1995, when the government enacted and implemented the Science and Technology Basic Plan. The fraction of female researchers in STEM, including Principal investigators (PI), non-PI, and graduate students, was 9.3% in 1996 and reached 16.6% in 2019—nearly a two-fold increase. It is frequently pointed out that Japanese culture and customs discourage an active role for women in society, and although this is partly true, it does not fully account for the low representation in research. Moreover, as in other parts of the world, social expectations are evolving. It is currently quite rare to see TV commercials in Japan in which only females wash dishes, do laundry, or cook. This sends a subtle message that both genders can and should perform household chores, making a clear break from the old adage “Men should not step in the kitchen”. Another example of change is the word “Nadeshiko” derived from the name of a small pink flower. It represented the ideal beautiful woman who speaks rarely, moves quietly, and follows men’s bidding without reward or credit. Nowadays, when contemplating Nadeshiko, many Japanese may rather embrace the image of the Japanese women’s football team, which is nicknamed Nadeshiko Japan. This team won the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup Championship, securing a victory that encouraged the entire country, which was suffering from the Great East Japan Earthquake that same year. Despite these social and cultural changes in Japan, the rate of increase in female scientists is insufficient. At the current rate, it will be 2028 before the ratio of women in academia reaches 20%, and it will be 2060 before the country reaches the 30% goal set by the government in 2011. What is blocking change? According to Iris Bonnet, the author of What works: Gender Equality by Design, anything that is not measured, cannot be fixed. Fortunately, a large consortium called the Japan Inter-Society Liaison Association Committee for Promoting Equal Participation of Men and Women in Science and Engineering, or EPMEWSE has conducted large-scale surveys of the Japanese STEM fields, assembling sizeable data sets every 4–6 years (https://www.djrenrakukai.org/en/studies.html#enq). EPMEWSE was established in 2002 to promote gender equality, starting with 67 Japanese academic societies in STEM, and now includes nearly 100 such societies (Homma et al, 2013a). In the following, we discuss the problems their data reveal. We think that these problems are not unique to Japan but occur worldwide in the form of work–life balance, unconscious bias, and gendered cultural expectations, which generally hold back the research careers of women. Although the ratio of female to male researchers in Japan is low, it has been steadily increasing. Work–life balance Parents must seriously address their work–life balance when starting a family. This is clearly a challenge for both sexes, but is much harder for females in Japan, and may be reflected in the low number of babies born in Japan (Fig 1). Approximately 80% of female and 60% of male researchers are childless or have only one child. There may be several reasons for this, but one is surely the strongly held concept, consciously or unconsciously, that certain jobs are gender-specific: for example, that mothers take care of the children. For 80% of male researchers, the person responsible for daytime childcare for under-preschool age children is their spouse, while for 80% of female scientists, it is a daycare center (Fig 2). Consistently, very few—fewer than 10%—of male scientists take childcare leave, and when they do, it is generally for less than a month. When traveling on business, about 90% of men leave childcare to their spouses, whereas only 50–60% of women can rely on their spouse, and about 50% must ask other family members or friends for help (Fig 3). These hurdles may also explain why Japanese women are under-represented both at domestic and international conferences. Figure 1. Desired versus actual children born to parents in STEM The ideal or desired number of children for both genders is two or more (upper panel) but the actual number is significantly lower (lower panel), especially among female scientists. (The 4th Large-Scale Survey of Actual Conditions of Gender Equality in Scientific and Technological Professions, EPMEWSE (2017) pp. 43 and 46). Download figure Download PowerPoint Figure 2. Pre-school childcare solutions by gender of working parent Who is responsible for daytime childcare for under-preschool age children? (The 4th Large-Scale Survey of Actual Conditions of Gender Equality in Scientific and Technological Professions, EPMEWSE (2017) p. 47). Download figure Download PowerPoint Figure 3. Child-care solutions when a scientist parent travels, by gender Who takes care of children when a researcher attends an academic meeting? (The 4th Large-Scale Survey of Actual Conditions of Gender Equality in Scientific and Technological Professions, EPMEWSE (2017) p. 76). Download figure Download PowerPoint Dual career appointments that address the so-called “two-body problem” are a challenge for universities or research institutes worldwide, as it means that upon hiring a new faculty member, an institution must simultaneously find suitable employment for his or her partner. These measures have served to keep families together in the USA and Europe, but not in Japan. Instead, many couples and families where both parents are employed, live apart, particularly if one parent finds a new job in a distant location. According to the EPMEWSE survey in 2017, 30% of male researchers lived apart from their spouses. This is problematic because people perform best when they live comfortably, which usually means living with one’s family. Sadly, 50% of female researchers in Japan also find themselves living apart from their spouses. The fact that this is higher for women may stem from the fact that many Japanese women stay at home or leave their jobs when their husbands move, while men tend to keep their jobs. Thus, a larger fraction of those women who stay in research find themselves in a two-residence situation (Fig 4). Figure 4. Half of women scientists must live apart from their husbands Female researchers live apart from their spouse (answered “yes”) more often than male researchers. (The 4th Large-Scale Survey of Actual Conditions of Gender Equality in Scientific and Technological Professions, EPMEWSE (2017) p. 38). Download figure Download PowerPoint 50% of female researchers in Japan also find themselves living apart from their spouses. Under-representation of women in research As in many Western countries, the proportion of female researchers decreases as one ascends the academic ladder. Women comprised 35% of graduate students, 29% of assistant professors, 20% of associate professors, and 14% of full professors in STEM fields in 2013. There are again various reasons for this, including the challenges women face in achieving a reasonable work–life balance (Fig 5). However, the impact of unequal or biased evaluation processes must be considered as well. More than 30% of women believe that evaluators tend to give priority to men. This problem is not unique to Japan and may be a manifestation of unconscious bias. It is especially interesting that even women in higher positions tend to think that evaluators generally favor men. Figure 5. Possible reasons why women do not become leaders in STEM fields Family concerns and lack of role models may dissuade women from taking leadership roles (The 4th Large-Scale Survey of Actual Conditions of Gender Equality in Scientific and Technological Professions, EPMEWSE (2017) p. 55). Download figure Download PowerPoint In terms of leadership, 20% of women—more than men—think that females are not desired as leaders (Fig 5). This attitude may be caused by a lack of role models and precedents, by low self-confidence, or prejudice and unconscious bias in themselves. Thus, one major barrier for the advancement of women may come from within: women may need to be convinced to take over leadership roles in science. This is surely not only relevant to Japan. Indeed, according to the 2017 Gender in the Global Research Landscape report (https://www.elsevier.com/research-intelligence/campaigns/gender-17), the scholarly output per female researcher in 2011–2015 was higher than that of their male colleagues. In a fair and equal research environment, women perform as well as men, and sometimes even better, yet they are less frequently found in leadership positions. This is particularly pronounced in Japan. … one major barrier for the advancement of women may come from within: women may need to be convinced to take over leadership roles in science. Another study examined how gender, performance, and other factors affect promotion to professorships (Fujiwara, 2017). It found that the rate at which Japanese female researchers advance to professorships is approximately 80% that of males in the humanities and sociology, 70% in biomedical research, and 50% in science and engineering, even though the women were as productive as their male colleagues. The same study found no significant differences between the sexes with respect to (i) the years needed to become a full professor after first publication, (ii) the number of publications, and (iii) research budgets. Only women who are full professors were taken into consideration; the study did not take account of the large number of women never promoted. Yet, even at the professorial level, female scientists receive fewer awards, present less often at conferences, and are less frequently invited to co-author papers. These differences suggest the existence of a “Matilda effect” through which women are under-recognized, with their work often being attributed to male colleagues. A further point of inequality concerns research funding: in Japan most female scientists receive less funding than men or none at all, and large research budgets are more often awarded to male lead investigators. Over 5% of male scientists receive funding in excess of 50 million JPY, compared to 3% of female researchers. By way of example, the recipients of the most prestigious basic science grants in Japan, PRESTO and CREST in 2020, had but 15 women recipients out of 167, and 4 women out of 56, respectively (https://www.jst.go.jp/kisoken/presto/application/2020/201019/201019.html). The fact that women face reduced chances for promotion and funding is undoubtedly discouraging for young female researchers and may create a negative feedback loop that leads to prematurely curtailed careers. Changing the situation We do appreciate the tremendous initiatives taken by the Japanese government to change this situation (Fig 6; Homma et al, 2013b). Ever since the first Science and Technology Basic Plan was drawn up by the Cabinet Office in 1996, each five-year plan has included measures to increase step-by-step the percentage of female researchers. The first plan (1996–2000) aimed to secure employment and to improve the working environment for women. The second plan (2001–2005) had measures that encouraged female researchers to return to academia after childbirth. The third plan (2006–2010) set a clear numerical goal (25%) for hiring female researchers across all life science disciplines, and the fourth (2011–2015) was designed to maintain the previous measures and to raise the hiring rate to 30% in the life sciences. The fifth plan (2016–2020) sought to maintain the increased rate of hiring. Figure 6. Multiple measures were taken to increase the proportion of women in research in Japan Political measures and goals to increase female researchers in Japan (MEXT, https://www.jst.go.jp/shincho/koubo/2020koubo/diversityR2-koubosetsumeikaisiryo.pdf). Download figure Download PowerPoint In parallel, the Gender Equality Bureau Cabinet Office initiated a Basic Plan for Gender Equality in 2000, which has been renewed ever since. In 2015, the then-prime minister Shinzo Abe created a law on the Promotion of Women’s Participation and Advancement in the Workplace, based on the concept of “creating a society where all women shine”. Along the same line, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) launched several programs that aimed to improve the research environment for female scientists, namely Promoting Role Models to Support Female Researchers (2006–2012), the Program to Support the Research Activities of Female Researchers (2011–2016), and the Initiative to implement diversity in the research environment (2015–present). In addition, a 2009 program called Supporting Positive Activities for Female Researchers (2009–2013) tried to actively increase the number of female scientists and accelerate their promotion. This initiative contained an affirmative action plan through which academic research positions were reserved for women. The Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) is a major funding agency that implements a special Postdoctoral Fellowship Program to foster talented young researchers. In the early 1990s, it was apparent that women almost never returned to their jobs after childbirth and early child-caring. This was not unique to academia but was true throughout Japanese society. However, because part-time researchers and fixed-term postdoctoral fellows were not eligible for maternity or childcare leave, they had no choice but to leave their positions. As a result, Japan lost an enormous amount of talent. To address this, the Restart Postdoctoral Fellowship (RPD) program was established in 2006, which supports the smooth re-integration of outstanding young researchers to academic research after interruptions due to childbirth or childcare. This was quite effective, and many female applicants, their families and their supervisors were immensely relieved when they received an “acceptance” letter from JSPS. This program also sent the message, probably not intentionally but successfully, that women can expect to be partners in research their entire lives, and not only transiently. A further plan has encouraged female junior and senior high school students who are interested in science by supporting high school classes taught by women at the forefront of science and technology, exposing budding scientists to female role models. … because part-time researchers and fixed-term postdoctoral fellows were not eligible for maternity or childcare leave, they had no choice but to leave their positions. Not only words, but actions The early plans of the government to advance gender balance were designed to establish principles, but were once considered ineffective, because they only involved women. Some women thought it was unfair that only women attended the meetings related to these plans, which took time away from research and teaching, posing an additional burden that male colleagues did not share. However, the long-term governmental support of these programs has changed many minds. A survey revealed that once it was understood that the government was making a sustained effort with numerical targets for female professors, more people, especially women, had more optimistic expectations concerning these initiatives (Fig 7). Figure 7. The evolution of acceptance of governmental measures among scientists The measures and plans gain more appreciation, especially from females, as they recognize that the numerical goal is set by the government. (The 4th Large-Scale Survey of Actual Conditions of Gender Equality in Scientific and Technological Professions, EPMEWSE (2017) p. 129). Download figure Download PowerPoint The situation has certainly changed since the 1990s. Now, most universities have a gender equality office which seeks to improve the research environment for women. Official research societies also have gender equality activities, and research societies’ annual meetings often include childcare rooms, enabling members to bring their children and not miss out on opportunities to present data or to participate in discussions. A representative example of the change in Japanese society concerns the Molecular Biology Society of Japan (MBSJ). This society recognized that female members were underrepresented and introduced several innovations. For example, in 2009, the 16th president, Kiyotaka Okada, stated that more than 10% of the MBSJ Board members should be women, at a time when there was only one woman among the 30 Board members. The female members increased, and in 2019, the 21st president, Kiyokazu Agata, announced that now more than 20% of Board members should be women, as more than 25% of the society members were women. This was agreed upon and now top-down adjustments will be made, if the number of elected females drops below a certain percentage. Fortunately, it has not been necessary to make this adjustment. Another successful example is the “Nagoya University President’s Initiative”, which includes positive actions by top leadership to increase the percentage of female faculty members to 20% by 2021 and to promote women in leadership positions. Nagoya University built a Center for Gender Equality and revised its internal regulations to set the preferred percentage of female members of the Education and Research Council at 20% or more, increasing the participation of women in the university’s political decision-making processes. The regulations have set a target number for female faculty members for each department and give incentives for achieving that target, and penalties for failure. These incentives include providing a university job position and additional financial resources from a specific fund called the Gender Equality Fund for exceeding the target. On the other hand, departmental budgets could be reduced if the target was not achieved. Their goal is now a 30% female faculty by 2027, which is more ambitious than the aim mentioned above. In 2015, Nagoya University was selected as one of the top 10 universities by HeForShe, a global gender equality movement (https://www.heforshe.org/en), established by the United Nations agency UN Women. This group encourages men to be actively involved in pursuing gender equality, making it clear that men have an equal role to play as “male allies” in the empowerment of women in academic roles. An emerging grassroots movement, WiSJ An independent grassroots movement is also having an impact. In the spring of 2011, three female researchers had dinner with Susan Gasser, who was spending a month as guest professor at Osaka University. This was the beginning of a network of female researchers that has since grown into a group called WiSJ (Women in Science Japan). In 2019 and 2020, WiSJ hosted the International Symposium for Female Researchers in Chromatin Biology (ISFRCB) as a satellite event of larger scientific society meetings. The ISFRCB provided opportunities for female Japanese researchers, both established group leaders and beginners, to give talks in front of a large international audience that included highly recognized speakers and institute heads. It also created an opportunity for networking among female life scientists, with the goal of enhancing the international presence of Japanese female researchers and strengthening the bonds between Europe and Japan. One unique feature of ISFRCB 2019 was a 1-day version of the EMBO Laboratory Leadership Course for scientific management. This included smaller group discussions on specific challenges faced by research team leaders, led in part by invited speakers from Europe, and presentations on the skills needed for effective institute and laboratory leadership. An important feature of the symposium was that it welcomed male scientists, who similarly appreciated the useful insights of the EMBO course, and enjoyed the leading-edge science and open discussions. A key to change: evaluating institutes on hiring female leaders Top-down guidelines and bottom-up initiatives are having an impact, yet more than this is needed to accelerate change in Japan (Dilworth, 2020). Key may be hiring policies for new faculty in institutes or universities. Although the goal of 30% women among faculty members was set in 2011, it has not been achieved in most institutes. This might be changed by introducing evaluation methods similar to the Athena SWAN in the Equality Challenge Unit in England, genSET in Horizon2020 in Europe, or the NSF ADVANCE program in the USA. These programs evaluate gender diversity and monitor the visibility of female staff at the institution and their working conditions. A Japanese version, the Ochadai index was created by Ochanomizu University, which includes many of the same but also original sets of criteria (https://www.cf.ocha.ac.jp/igl-en/j/menu/propulsion/groupingmenu/d004708.html). By monitoring the situation of women in science across institutions, these tools provide a means to rank institutional success in terms of gender equity. Gender equality is not just a matter of concern for women. Involvement of both men and women in scientific research will improve the academic community as a whole and contribute to a country’s economy and productivity. True progress will come when men also recognize the importance of gender equality, propose strategies, and proudly support female colleagues. Women too can manage unconscious bias within themselves by embracing the notion that by providing their talents as leaders they will contribute to social diversity, which is known to foster the best science and yield a more balanced world. Involvement of both men and women in scientific research will improve the academic community as a whole and contribute to a country’s economy and productivity. Acknowledgements We would like to thank Daniela Rhodes, Geneviève Almouzni, Irina Solovei, Petra Hajkova, Hisako Ohtsubo, Miwako Kato Homma, Kaoru Sugimura, Asako Sugimoto, Tadashi Uemura, Ichiro Hiratani, and Hiroshi Kimura for their insightful input and discussions at ISFRCB. We also thank all of the members of WiSJ, Yuki Okada, Kiyoe Ura, Miho Ohsugi, Junko Kanoh, Noriko Yasuhara, Satoko Arakawa, and Masako Tada, for fruitful discussions. We also thank Keiko Yamaguchi, Takanori Namiki and Nobuko Oto for their assistance. References 1. Dilworth M (2020) Gender equality in science and technology: a critical issue for sustained economic growth and development of Japan. J Soc Jpn Women Sci 10: 19–24Google Scholar 2. Fujiwara A (2017) A consideration on the series of university reforms and expansion of professor's diversity: event history analysis on characteristics of researchers and promotion. NISTEP DISCUSSION PAPER, No.144, National Institute of Science and Technology Policy, Tokyo.Google Scholar 3. Homma MK, Motohashi R, Ohtsubo H (2013a) Maximizing the potential of scientists in Japan: promoting equal participation for women scientists through leadership development. Genes Cells 18: 529–532Wiley Online LibraryCASPubMedWeb of Science®Google Scholar 4. Homma MK, Motohashi R, Ohtsubo H (2013b) Japan's lagging gender equality. Science 30: 6131Google Scholar Previous ArticleNext Article Read MoreAbout the coverClose modalView large imageVolume 22,Issue 3,03 March 2021This month's cover highlights the article Modeling by disruption and a selected-for partner for the nude locus by Jian Li, Janice L. Brissette and colleagues. The cover illustrates flash-forward genetics (the paper's approach), which converts tractable organisms into genetic models for traits that they never evolved - traits that evolved in lineages of life that are unsuited to forward genetics ("intractable" organisms). The approach prompts tractable organisms to acquire traits of intractable organisms incrementally and thus to experience a kind of "flash forward" along another evolutionary path. The illustration shows a fruit fly acquiring traits of a mouse through the transforming power of Aladdin's lamp (representing flash-forward genetics). (Cover concept by Sydney Rodriguez and Ki Won (Ambrose) Kwak. 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