Japanese medical school ‘rigged entrance test scores to keep out women’
University official says lowering all female applicants’ marks was ‘necessary evil’
A medical school in Japan is under fire for allegedly lowering all female applicants’ exam scores in order to reduce the number of women doctors.
The exam rigging is reported to have been going on since 2010, when the percentage of female candidates admitted to Tokyo Medical University (TMU) began to increase above the 30% ratio desired by university officials, according to The Japan Times.
University authorities apparently feared that having too many female doctors could lead to staffing shortages at affiliated hospitals, as women are seen as “more likely to take leave or quit to give birth or raise children”, says Asian Review.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
An unnamed TMU official told Japanese media that the practice had been a “necessary evil” and that it was done with “quiet consent”.
In this year’s entrance exam, only 30 women were accepted, compared with 141 men, the Asahi Shimbun newspaper reports.
The revelations have sparked widespread anger.
“Deliberately lowering the number of women who pass the exam runs counter to the times,” said Kyoko Tanebe, a board member at the Japan Joint Association of Medical Professional Women. “Women’s viewpoints are needed to achieve work reform for female doctors.”
Fellow board member Ruriko Tsushima said that such discrimination against “people who studied hard to get into the university” was unforgivable. “It shouldn’t happen in a democratic country that is supposed to provide equal educational opportunities,” she added.
Universities in Japan are allowed to set a gender ratio as long as they make such quotas public when taking in new students, according to the country’s education ministry.
The Tokyo medical school is already under investigation over claims that authorities “inflated the test scores of the son of an education ministry bureaucrat in order to admit him”, according to Quartz.
TMU has pledged greater transparency about its admissions practices.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
'Consumers fed up with food costs ditch big brands'
Today's Newspapers A roundup of the headlines from the US front pages
By The Week Staff Published
-
What would it be like in jail for Trump if he's convicted?
Today's Big Question The Secret Service has begun grappling with how to protect a former president behind bars
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
How much can you save shopping secondhand?
The Explainer Many Americans are buying pre-owned items to counteract the effects of inflation
By Becca Stanek, The Week US Published
-
Puffed rice and yoga: inside the collapsed tunnel where Indian workers await rescue
Speed Read Workers trapped in collapsed tunnel are suffering from dysentery and anxiety over their rescue
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
Gaza hospital blast: What the video evidence shows about who's to blame
Speed Read Nobody wants to take responsibility for the deadly explosion in the courtyard of Gaza's al-Ahli Hospital. Roll the tape.
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Giraffe poo seized after woman wanted to use it to make a necklace
Tall Tales And other stories from the stranger side of life
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
Helicopter sound arouses crocodiles
Tall Tales And other stories from the stranger side of life
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
Woman sues Disney over 'injurious wedgie'
Tall Tales And other stories from the stranger side of life
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
Emotional support alligator turned away from baseball stadium
Tall Tales And other stories from the stranger side of life
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
Europe's oldest shoes found in Spanish caves
Tall Tales And other stories from the stranger side of life
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
Artworks stolen by Nazis returned to heirs of cabaret performer
It wasn't all bad Good news stories from the past seven days
By The Week Staff Published