A prestigious Japanese medical school has confessed to systematically rigging its entrance exams against women, in a scandal that has highlighted the nation’s deep problem with gender discrimination.
An internal investigation found that Tokyo Medical University had for more than a decade subtracted marks from female applicants in a deliberate effort to produce more male doctors, and falsified exams to help specific individuals.
The revelations have shocked the nation and turned a spotlight on a number of other Japanese universities that admit a suspiciously small number of women.
They show an ingrained culture of sexism in Japan, which is stuck at 114 out of 144 on the World Economic Forum’s rankings of gender inequality, despite frequent boasts from Prime Minister Shinzo Abe about his programme of “womenomics” aimed at boosting female participation in the workplace.
The manipulation at Tokyo Medical only came to light after prosecutors began a corruption investigation against university officials for allegedly admitting the son of a senior bureaucrat in return for government grants to the university.
“We have caused a great amount of trouble to everyone and betrayed the trust of society,” said Tetsuo Yukioka, managing director of the university. “I apologise from my heart.”
Source: FT
