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'' ' JAPAN'S EMBEDDED JARRING ' ''
JAPAN'S UNIVERSITIES LAG BEHIND other selective institutions across Asia. In status -conscious Japan, a diploma from ''The University of Tokyo'' is the ultimate pedigree -
The equivalent in the United States of Harvard, Stanford, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology rolled into one.
It opens doors in politics, business law and science. More prime ministers have graduated from The University of Tokyo, than any other school, and more than half of the country's Supreme Court justices are alumni.
The university has the highest number of graduates to go on to Parliament or to win Nobel Prizes.
Women make up close to half of the students body at Peking University in China, 40 percent of Seoul National in South Korea and 51 percent of the National University of Singapore.
WHERE GIRLS FEAR TO STUDY : A SEVERE IMBALANCE at Japan's top universities illustrates and magnifies embedded bias.
From a young age, Satomi Hayashi studied hard and excelled academically. It seemed only natural that she would follow her father's footsteps and attend the University of Tokyo, Japan's most prestigious institution.
As soon as she was admitted, her friends warned her that she was spoiling her marriage prospects,.
Men, they said, would be intimidated by a diploma from Todai, as the university is known in Japan. Spooked, she searched Google for ''Can Todai women get married?'' and discovered that prediction was well trod stereotype. The admonition didn't stop her. But Ms. Hayashi, 21, wondered if other women had been scared off.
When she arrived three years ago fewer than one in five undergraduates at the university were women.
The dearth of women at Todai is a byproduct of deep-seated gender inequality in Japan, where women are still not expected to achieve as much as men and sometimes hold themselves back from educational opportunities.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has promoted an agenda of female empowerment, boasting that Japan's labor force participation rate among women outranks even that of the United States. Yet few women make it to the executive suit or the highest levels of government.
The disconnect starts at school. Although women make up nearly half the nation's undergraduate population, the oldest and most elite universities reflect - and magnify - a lackluster record in elevating women to the most powerful reaches of society.
The equivalent in the United States of Harvard, Stanford, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology rolled into one.
It opens doors in politics, business law and science. More prime ministers have graduated from The University of Tokyo, than any other school, and more than half of the country's Supreme Court justices are alumni.
The university has the highest number of graduates to go on to Parliament or to win Nobel Prizes.
Women make up close to half of the students body at Peking University in China, 40 percent of Seoul National in South Korea and 51 percent of the National University of Singapore.
WHERE GIRLS FEAR TO STUDY : A SEVERE IMBALANCE at Japan's top universities illustrates and magnifies embedded bias.
From a young age, Satomi Hayashi studied hard and excelled academically. It seemed only natural that she would follow her father's footsteps and attend the University of Tokyo, Japan's most prestigious institution.
As soon as she was admitted, her friends warned her that she was spoiling her marriage prospects,.
Men, they said, would be intimidated by a diploma from Todai, as the university is known in Japan. Spooked, she searched Google for ''Can Todai women get married?'' and discovered that prediction was well trod stereotype. The admonition didn't stop her. But Ms. Hayashi, 21, wondered if other women had been scared off.
When she arrived three years ago fewer than one in five undergraduates at the university were women.
The dearth of women at Todai is a byproduct of deep-seated gender inequality in Japan, where women are still not expected to achieve as much as men and sometimes hold themselves back from educational opportunities.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has promoted an agenda of female empowerment, boasting that Japan's labor force participation rate among women outranks even that of the United States. Yet few women make it to the executive suit or the highest levels of government.
The disconnect starts at school. Although women make up nearly half the nation's undergraduate population, the oldest and most elite universities reflect - and magnify - a lackluster record in elevating women to the most powerful reaches of society.
For nearly two decades, enrollment of women at the University of Tokyo has hovered around 20 percent, a lack of parity that extends across many top schools. Among seven publicly funded national institutions, women make up just over one quarter of undergraduates. At the exclusive private universities Keio and Waseda, a little over a third of students are women.
At Todai, ''you can see right away there is something completely out of balance,'' said Ms. Hayashi, a literature major. ''Because women are half of society, there is something strange about a university that is only 20 percent women.''
''We have the most powerful education that we can dangle'' in front of anyone, said Nobuko Kobayashi, a 1996 Todai graduate and a partner at EY Japan, where fewer than 10 percent of partners are women.
''We were branded with it,'' she said. ''We almost bask in its glory unconsciously.''
Speaking this year to freshmen at Todai, Chizuko Ueno, a retired professor of gender studies, suggested that the imbalance was a symptom of inequality that extended beyond higher education. ''Even before the students enter the university, there is already hidden sexism,'' Ms. Ueno said. ''Unfortunately,'' she added, ''the University of Tokyo is an example of this.''
Her sentiments touched a nerve in the audience. On Twitter, male students complained of being harangued. ''Why is she not celebrating us, the male students?'' one wrote.
Another called the remarks ''feminist propaganda.''
The Honor and Serving of the latest Global Operational Research on Education, Japan, Gender Concerns, continues. The World Students Society thanks author, Motoko Rich.
With respectful dedication to this great nation, Japan : Leaders, Students, Professors and Teachers of Japan, and then the world
See Ya all prepare and register for Great Global Elections on The World Students Society : wssciw.bogspot.com and Twitter - !E-WOW! - The Ecosystem 2011:
''' Gender Gyrates '''
At Todai, ''you can see right away there is something completely out of balance,'' said Ms. Hayashi, a literature major. ''Because women are half of society, there is something strange about a university that is only 20 percent women.''
''We have the most powerful education that we can dangle'' in front of anyone, said Nobuko Kobayashi, a 1996 Todai graduate and a partner at EY Japan, where fewer than 10 percent of partners are women.
''We were branded with it,'' she said. ''We almost bask in its glory unconsciously.''
Speaking this year to freshmen at Todai, Chizuko Ueno, a retired professor of gender studies, suggested that the imbalance was a symptom of inequality that extended beyond higher education. ''Even before the students enter the university, there is already hidden sexism,'' Ms. Ueno said. ''Unfortunately,'' she added, ''the University of Tokyo is an example of this.''
Her sentiments touched a nerve in the audience. On Twitter, male students complained of being harangued. ''Why is she not celebrating us, the male students?'' one wrote.
Another called the remarks ''feminist propaganda.''
The Honor and Serving of the latest Global Operational Research on Education, Japan, Gender Concerns, continues. The World Students Society thanks author, Motoko Rich.
With respectful dedication to this great nation, Japan : Leaders, Students, Professors and Teachers of Japan, and then the world
See Ya all prepare and register for Great Global Elections on The World Students Society : wssciw.bogspot.com and Twitter - !E-WOW! - The Ecosystem 2011:
''' Gender Gyrates '''
Good Night and God Bless
SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless
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