Fall 2020

K o b eU n i v e r s i t y

Gender Equality OfficeNewsletter
Kobe University Gender Equality Oﬃce 1-1 Rokkodai-cho, Nada-ku, Kobe 657-8501 TEL：078-803-5471/5017

Gree�ngs from the Directorby RAFAX：078-803-5285

Ronni Alexander

The 2020 academic year began with the spread of the coronavirus and the declara�on of a state of emergency. How are you

doing? I am afraid that due to the introduc�on of distance learning, on-line mee�ngs, telework, concern about your own safety
and that of those around you, and changes to which you are not accustomed, you are suﬀering from both physical and mentalfa�gue.
This �ny virus has made a huge impact on the whole world, and caused extreme hardship, especially for those who are insocially vulnerable posi�ons. Looking at this situa�on from the perspec�ve of gender, we can ﬁnd many serious problems bothin Japan and in the rest of the world. The increase in domes�c violence and child abuse during isola�on and lockdown is one
example. The closing of schools and telework have increased care work such as food prepara�on, shopping, housework,eldercare, and caring for infected rela�ves and friends. The bulkof the burden of these tasks has fallen on women, even if they areliving with male partners. Balancing work and everyday life has
become even more diﬃcult for single parent households, single
mothers in par�cular. Numerous people have lost their jobs andmany businesses have collapsed. For the university, students havelost their part-�me jobs, leaving some unable to pay their tui�on.
Interna�onal students have not only lost their jobs, but many areunable to return to their countries or, in cases where they wereoutside of Japan, to return.
These problems aﬀect all members of the Kobe Universitycommunity. Ideally, at �mes of crisis like this universi�es shouldtake the lead for society, but most people, myself included, have their hands full with just their own situa�on. What is thereason for this?
The Kobe University Gender Equality Oﬃce has worked for many years to increase the hiring and reten�on rates for faculty
women. The “Ini�a�ve for the Implementa�on of the Diversity Research Environment (Advanced Type)” grant that we received
in 2018 has enabled us to further enrich the environment for women researchers to excel through giving them opportuni�es togo abroad. We have also been mee�ng with deans and execu�ve vice-presidents in order to deepen their understanding of thesitua�on of women researchers and enlist their support in giving women more chances.
One of the reasons that Kobe University has not been able to be a leader for the people of Kobe in dealing with the novel
coronavirus pandemic is, I believe, because the university has yet to embrace diversity. If, under ordinary circumstances, faculty
and staﬀ of diﬀerent genders, aﬃlia�ons and iden��es were working together and consul�ng one another regularly, then whensomething like the current crisis occurs, it would be possible to immediately determine the needs of diﬀerent people and work
toward mee�ng those needs. For Kobe University, the successful promo�on of diversity will not only result in growth for theuniversity as a whole, but it will mean that each member of the university community will be able to put her/his abili�es to gooduse. This cannot be achieved by men, or women, alone. It can only happen when there are a variety of people, all of whom arerespected for who they are. Living with the coronavirus is giving us an opportunity to create a truly diverse campus. I hope towork together with all of you to enrich our campus and make all of us safer.
Professor, Graduate School of Interna�onal Coopera�on Studies
Execu�ve Adviser for the President (Diversity)

Teach us, Dr. Woolley !
〜 Kobe University Women Faculty Retention Rate 〜? ??

Hi, Dr. Woolley. I was watching TV the other day, and they said that Japan has one of
the largest gender disparities in the world and ranked only 121st out of 153 countries.

GenderEquality

Is it really that low?

Little Uri

I guess you are referring to the World Economic Forum's Gender Gap

Japan GGI Score

Index (GGI) indicator, right?

4 Dimensions

2020 Score (Rank)

2019 Score (Rank)

Economic Participation& Opportunity

0.598 (115th)

0.595 (117th)

Political Empowerment

0.049 (144th)

0.081 (125th)

Educational Attainment

0.983 (91st)

0.994 (65th)

Health and Survival

0.979 (40th)

0.979 (41st)??
GenderEquality

Unfortunately, it's true. As you can see in the chart,

Japan has a very large gender gap in the economy andpolitics. The government has set numerical targets forincreasing the number of women in management

positions and women researchers, but in reality, there

Dr. Woolley

has been little progress.

Hmmm. I understand there is a huge gender gap in the economic and politicalspheres and the government is trying to improve it, but why do we need to promotewomen's participation in those areas in the ﬁrst place?

People have diﬀerent opinions. Some think it is strange that although women make up

half of the population, many cannot work in the same positions or receive the same pay

as men. There is also the opinion that including women's experiences and perspectives
will lead to innovation and increase the productivity of organizations, and from anotherpoint of view, it will create a safer and more secure society. Just recently, womenleaders who responded quickly and appropriately to the COVID-19 pandemic gathered
a lot of global attention.

《Current positions and retention rates for women faculty》

10.6％
Professors 65

Lecturers 30

15.4％

I see. it's important we have more women's

participation and their voice in the economic

and political ﬁelds. By the way, how is genderequality in universities?

Assoc. Professors 67

24.4％
Asst. Professors 91

Our women faculty retention rate isbelow average. We are 59th out of 86
national universities.

よろしくKobe University Gender Equality Oﬃce is working on

a variety of activities to increase the percentage of womenfaculty, so please support us.

しょんぼり…

22.9％?

GenderEquality

Gender Equality Oﬃce HP http://www.oﬃce.kobe-u.ac.jp/opge-kyodo-sankaku/