Actions for Gender Equality in the Japan Society of Applied Physics
Nobuyuki Matsuki JSAP, Kanagawa University
Nahoko Kasai JSAP, NTT Basic Research Laboratories
Atsushi Masuda JSAP, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology
E-mailmembership@jsap.or.jp❑ The Japan Society of Applied Physics: Profile
Establishment
Number of members
Member affiliations
Current President
Regular meetings
Recent topic

1946 (Est. of the Society Journal: 1932).
JSAP URL
20,896 (13th July, 2017).
https://www.jsap.or.jp/english/index.html
Fig. 1 JSAP meeting.
Non-government/Companies: 34.2%, univ./colleges: 52.0%,
national Institutes: 8.3%, academic societies: 1.1%, others: 4.5%.
Prof. Dr. Kazuo Hotate (32nd), executive vice-president of the University of Tokyo.
Spring and Autumn, 6,000-7,000 attendees present at each meeting (Fig. 1).
Three Nobel laureates in physics (2014) from JSAP members:
Fig. 2 From the left: Prof. S. Nakamura,Professors Isamu Akasaki, Hiroshi Amano, and Shuji Nakamura (Fig. 2).

❑ Issues on Gender Equality in the Field of Applied Physics in Japan
Too small fraction of women in the field of applied physics (AP):i. Woman researchers% in the field of engineering (Fig. 3) [1]: 5.0%
ii. Univ./college woman students% in the field of engineering [2]: 14.0%
iii. Woman Professors% in the field of engineering [3]: Prof. 3.1%, Assoc.-Prof. 8.3%,
Lecturer 13.6%, Assist.-Prof. 11.3%, Res.-Assoc. 21.2%.

Research fielda. Engineeringb. Sciencec. Agricultural Sci.
d. Medical Sci. anddentistrye. Pharmacy
f. Art and Social Sci.

Woman
researcher% (%)

Prof. H. Amano and Prof. I. Akasaki.
3530252015105025.1 26.4

28.0

19.6
12.65.0abcdef

Fig. 3 Woman researcher% in various research field in Japan.

❑ Commission for Gender Equality in JSAP1999
20012002

Jun.
JulyOct.

Members

Basic Act for Gender Equal Society, Act No. 78 of 1999, June 23, Cabinet Office, Japan.
Establishment of the Gender Equality Committee in JSAP.
Establishment of the Japan Inter-Society Liaison Association Committee for Promoting Equal Participation of Men andWomen in Science and Engineering (EPMEWSE) in cooperation with the Physical Society of Japan and other 12 societies.
Chairperson, vice-chairperson, 12 committee persons, 6 advisors and a vice-president of JSAP,from companies, national institutes, universities and a national agency for science and technology.

❑ Our Actions on Women’s Empowerment and Diversityi.

NEWMAP (NEtwork of Women and Men in Applied Physics, est. Mar., 2016): Luncheon
meetings to promote forming interdisciplinary network.
ii. Summer school for junior high school and high school girls to promote theirinterests in sci., technol., engineer. and math (STEM) fields as their career.
iii. On-site nursery service in every meetings.
iv. Presentations in international conferences: APPC-AIP (2016), ASEPS (2010), GenderSummit (2015, 2017), IUPAP-WIP (2008, 2014) and WIP of APPC12 (2013).
v. Publicity activities: An original website, booklets and columns in the membership
journal of JSAP.
vi. Awards for promotion and nurturing of woman researchers contribution (Fig. 4).
vii. Special symposiums in JSAP spring meetings to discuss various issues on women’s
empowerment and diversity in AP fields (Fig. 5).
viii. Discussion on a focused theme in each committee meeting.

Fig. 4 The award ceremony.

Fig. 5 At a symposium in 2017.

❑ Outcomes/Recommendations

The ratio of JSAP woman member shows an increasing trend (Fig.6 (a)). The ratio of therepresentatives (Fig. 6 (b)), once fell from ’05 through ’09, has been recovered recently. The
ratio of woman executive (Fig. 6 (c)) and editorial board members (Fig. 6 (d)) had beensteadily increasing until around 2013, however, it appears to be rather saturated. The
number of woman members in the gender equality committee of JSAP was higher than thatof man members in the earliest years; the difference has been eliminated (Fig. 6 (e)).
The gender equality in JSAP is being improved, while the gap remains significantly large;
essential change in the working and educational environment is required to shrink the gap.

Our recommendations derived based on the actions and discussion in 2016:
Work-life balancei. To provide suitableworking hours to each
person, but not to apply
uniformed shortening of
the working hours.
ii. To promote utilizing stayhome work and meetingsystems extensively.
iii. To implement personnel
decisions in view ofindividual life events suchas childbirth, caregiving
and work-life balance.

Assessment system
i. To emphasize
qualitative assessmentthan quantitative one.
ii. To introduce various
evaluation axes fordiverse humanresources.
iii. To compensate(extend) contract
period if a fixed–term
employee was involved
in individual life events
such as caregiving.

Science educationi. To provide balanced
education opportunity
both inscience/engineering andliterature/culture.
ii. To promote participationof high school students in
JSAP meetings.
iii. To leverage post-docs. foreducation in schools to
promote student’s
interests in STEM fields.

References[1] From the Statistical Topics No. 80, Statistics Bureau, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Japan (2014).
[2] From the Basic Survey on Education, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology , Japan (2012).
[3] From the White Paper on Gender Equality Bureau, Cabinet Office, Japan (2012).

Fig. 6 The annual trend of the ratio of woman member and numberof total members (a), the ratio of woman representatives (b), the ratioof woman executive board members (c), the ratio of woman editorial
board members (d), and the number of woman and man committee
members at the gender equality committee (e) in JSAP.