(A protester holds up a sign saying “Just because we are women”, photo from: Kyodo News article)
Tokyo Medical School would rather have “average” male students than good female students who might drop the medical profession after starting their own families!
Tokyo Medical School has recently admitted that all entrance exam results were manipulated to restrict the number of women since at least 2006.
The justification behind such discrimination against women was based on worries that women would drop the medical profession after starting their families.
As if there were not enough obstacles in front of women pursuing their dreams, Tokyo Medical School put another big obstacle in front of highly educated women who were qualified to become good doctors. Instead Tokyo Medical School prefers to have more men with lower scores. It’s totally unfair to these women! It is also unfair to Japanese society to deprive it of higher quality care that these women doctors could have provided.
This kind of hurdle is what I call a “Hidden Obstacle”. Nowadays, there are many self-help/advice based books to help women succeed. One the most popular is Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg, the CEO of Facebook. This book is so popular, it created the Lean In Movement.
I read this book with great interest and found it quite helpful. However, I felt as the author blames women if they are not succeeding at the top level. I found nothing in this book about the Hidden Obstacles put in front of women. No matter how motivated and good you are, if institutions modify exam results to fail you on purpose, you can’t go on with your dreams!!
Why are there Hidden Obstacles for women?
Many people avoid talking about these Hidden Obstacles that are put in front of women. Mainly these obstacles are based on wrong assumptions. In the case of Tokyo Medical School, the assumption was that women will leave the school or the workplace after starting their families because they must be the principle caregiver. A large portion of these women won’t handle the pressure of the demanding medical profession and family responsibilities and will eventually leave.
There is a lot of truth in this assumption but nobody questions them. Why do women have to be the principle caregiver? They carry a baby for 9 months and some spent several months breastfeeding. Why don’t we expect men to take over most of the caregiving for few months? Why do we pressure men to be the principle breadwinner? Does the workplace in Japan has to be hostile to women AND men who are caring for their families?
The head of the Japan Medical Women’s Association, Yoshiko Maeda summarized the solution as follows, on the association’s Facebook page:
Instead of worrying about women quitting jobs, they should do more to create an environment where women can keep working. Work reform should not be strictly limited only for “karoshi” [overwork death] prevention but must also aim to make the workplace a more inclusive environment where individuals can demonstrate their talents regardless of one’s gender.
After working in Japan for several years, I am a bit skeptical that any reform can change the working-style. If the government tries such a reform, my guess is that they will face a huge resistance.
What about Japanese dads?
I have heard several young Japanese men say that they grew up hating their fathers because the fathers spent their time at work and rarely made time for their kids. Yet these young men do exactly the same to their kids later! Do they really have a choice… ?
Some of my most precious childhood and adolescent memories were with my dad. He was dedicated to his work and made time for us. He loved every second he spent with us. It made me sad to think that many Japanese kids were deprived of this love and grow up angry. I feel sorry also for these men who spend their time at work and were also deprived of the love of their kids. It doesn’t have to be that way.
One of my friends told me that when she was born, her mother told her father, “I take care of the baby from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. that’s all”. So her father took care of her during the night when her mom was asleep until 8 a.m., when her mother woke up and took over. I was really surprised by this story because it took place in Japan over 40 years ago. My friend reassured me, it was and still is exceptionally rare that Japanese dads take care of babies. Her dad was a scientist and could work during the night while taking care of her. During the day, he would have a nap in the afternoon. In other words, he had much more control of his time than salarymen in Japanese companies have.
It’s all about promotion…
Indeed, in most Japanese companies working long hours is a valued sign of dedication and will lead to promotion. This puts a lot of pressure on men to work long hours and be away from their families. Women caring for their kids cannot afford as long hours as men work and tend to be left behind for promotions. This is, again, under the assumption that men have to be the breadwinner and women the caregiver. I have addressed the struggle of mothers in science and the unfair competition they face with men in a previous article.
What is the solution?
As Yoshiko Maeda mentioned, the Japanese workplace needs to reform. So how do you create an inclusive environment where women can keep working, and men can be more present for their families?
This issue is not unique to Japan. All over the world, even in the most gender-egalitarian countries, women still find themselves in the position of giving up their careers and men of giving up time to care for their families (see stats in this link).
How do you find the balance where both women and men can thrive in their careers and care for their families? This is a very complicated and delicate equation that Anne-Marie Slaughter has addressed in her essay “Why Women Still Can’t Have It All“ published in the Atlantic Magazine and in more details in her book “Unfinished Business: Women, Men, Work, Family”.
In the next blogpost I will make a summary of her book and discuss the solutions she is proposing. So stay tuned… (Article is available now, here)
#You can subscribe to the newsletter and get the next blogpost directly in your Inbox