Repository: UIHistories Project: SWE - Proceedings of the First International Conference of Women Engineers and Scientists [PAGE 292]

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PRESENT SITUATION OF WOMEN SCIENTISTS AND ENGINEERS IN JAPAN by Katsuko Saruhashi, Dr.Sc. Meteorological Research Institute Tokyo, Japan

After the Second World War, the number of women in Japan who have professional jobs increased rapidly. According to the census being carried out every ten years, the increase in the number of women who are dealing with secretarial and accountant businesses and other general affairs in offices is especially remarkable. While the total number of these jobs for women was 56,000 in 1930, it increased by 30-fold to 1,650,000 by 1960. The total number of teachers in elementary and secondary schools and nurses in kindergartens also increased from 90,000 to 260,000 in the same period. Other than the above jobs, there are professions for women such as physical doctors, apothecaries, midwives and nurses for public health and in hospitals, artists, lawyers, licensed accountants, scientists, and engineers. Among them, the number of women who are engaged in medical jobs is 350,000 of which 9,000 are physical doctors, or 10% of the total number in the same occupation in Japan in 1960. » It is a rather difficult task to estimate the accurate number of women scientists in Japan. The total number of women who are listed as voters in the election of members of the Japan Science Council is 1,760 whereas the total number of voters is 80,000. Therefore, the number of women is about 2%, of the total. Among the 1,760 women scientists, 180 are in the fields of basic research, 120 are engineers, 119 are agricultural scientists, and the largest number of 1,260 belongs to medical sciences. On the other hand, the number of women scientists who belong to the scientific societies is as follows: The The The The The The The The The Chemical Society, 940 or 3.5%, Biochemical Society, 221 or 8%, Society of Analytical Chemistry, 131 or 2.6%, Pharmaceutical Society, 133 or 2.8%, Physical Society, 73 or 1.7%,, Agrochemical Society, 89 or 2.6%, Mathematics Society, 56 or 3%, Mechanical Engineers Society, 5 or 0.01%, Electrical Engineers Society, only 3 or 0.02%.

The average number is 1.7%, which agrees with the value estimated from the number of voters in the Japan Science Council. The places in which most woman scientists are working in Japan are (1) institutes and laboratories in universities, (2) governmental institutions, and (3) private institutions in manufacturing companies. The number of woman scientists who work in governmental or semi-governmental institutions is increasing gradually because of the equality of terms for salaries between men and women. The total number is not quite clear,

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