Articles | Volume 53
https://doi.org/10.5194/adgeo-53-195-2020
https://doi.org/10.5194/adgeo-53-195-2020
04 Sep 2020
 | 04 Sep 2020

Progress and problems of gender equality in Japanese academics and geosciences

Rie S. Hori

Cited articles

Cabinet Office, Government of Japan: promotion of “Positive Action” – Aiming to arraign the target of “30 % by 2020” – from the “White Paper on Gender Equality 2011”, 2011, available at: http://www.gender.go.jp/english_contents/pdf/ewp2011.pdf (last access date: 15 January 2020), 2011. 
EPMEWSE (The Japan Inter-Society Liaison Association Committee for Promoting Equal Participation of Men and Women in Science and Engineering): Survey Report (2013) of the 3rd Large-Scale Survey of Actual Conditions of Gender Equality in Scientific and Technological Professions, 2013, available at: https://www.djrenrakukai.org/doc_pdf/2013/3rd_enq/3rd_enq_report130918.pdf, https://www.djrenrakukai.org/doc_pdf/3rd_enq_report_en.pdf (last access date: 3 March 2020), 2013. 
EPMEWSE: Survey Report (2017) of the 4th Large-Scale Survey of Actual Conditions of Gender Equality in Scientific and Technological Professions, available at: https://www.djrenrakukai.org/doc_pdf/2017/4th_enq/4th_enq_survey_report_en_v2.pdf (last access date: 3 March 2020), 2017. 
EPMEWSE: Understanding Unconscious Bias, available at: https://www.djrenrakukai.org/doc_pdf/2017/UnconsciousBias_leaflet.pdf, https://www.djrenrakukai.org/doc_pdf/2019/UnconsciousBias_leaflet_eng.pdf (last access date: 3 March 2020), 2017. 
Gender Equality Bureau, Cabinet Office: The White Paper on Gender Equality, available at: http://www.gender.go.jp/english_contents/about_danjo/whitepaper/pdf/ewp2019.pdf, http://www.gender.go.jp/about_danjo/whitepaper/r01/zentai/html/zuhyo/zuhyo01-00-15.html (last access date: 30 June 2020), 2019. 
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Short summary
A slow improvement in gender equality has occurred in Japan during the last 45 years. Only 16.7 % of academic staff in national universities were women in 2018. The percentage of female staff remains particularly low in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), accounting for 12.3 % in agriculture, 8.7 % in science, and 6.2 % in engineering. Japanese statistical data in academic and geoscience fields are described, with a discussion of possible causes such as unconscious bias.