APPC12WIP Japan, July 2013

Women in Physics in Japan
Mihoko Nojiri 1, 3 , Nahoko Kasai 2, 4, Atsushi Masuda 2, 5, Nobuyuki Matsuki
2, 6 and Takami Tohyama 1, 7
1 Japan Physics Society (JPS), 2 The Japan Society of Applied Physics (JSAP),
3 KEK, Oho 1-1, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-0801, 4 NTT Corporation,
5 National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology,
6 Kanagawa University, 7 Tokyo University of Science

JPS members:

Each year, more than 1500 new members join as new JPS members, andthe ratio of women is typically ~10% since year 2000. Majority of theJPS members belong to either a university or a research institution. The
distribution of the age of the new members peaks around 23~24 in theperiod 2001~2016. The member record covers significant Japanesephysics researchers. JPS has decided to investigate them to study thegender inequality in Japan.

(A) JPS(B) JSAP

JSAP members:

Each year, about 2000 new members join as new JSAP members, and theratio of women is typically 8~9% since year 2010. 50% of the JSAP
members belong to universities, 3% national laboratories, and more than
40% companies. Women fractions are, 6% for members in universities
and 4% for those in companies. The member record covers both
Japanese physics researchers and industries.

Figure 1: Fraction of women member when they joined JPS (A) or JSAP(B), and in 2016 by the year they joined JPS (A) or JSAP (B).

Leaky pipeline between graduate level to faculty level
in Japan :Figure 1 shows the fraction of the women by the year they joined JPS. In the upper line, thewomen ratio at the year joining JPS is given. Here we show the moving average for every 5years. (We do not show the ratio by each year because the numbers of the women members arerather small.) The ratio increased significantly until 2000, but it remains around 10 % for thelast 15 years. The lower line shows the ratio of the women members at the end of 2016 again by
the year they became the JPS members. The ratio of the current women fraction divided bythose at the year they joined is shown in Fig. 2. It is around 70 % for the group joined JPS
between 1990 and 2003. The figure indicates lower ratio of women obtaining the academic
career than men in JPS, although government aims for the higher ratio of women researchers.
The higher ratio for those joined after 2003 does not mean the improved situation for women;
it is more likely that the women members in the age group are still quitting much faster thanmen in the same age group.

◆ Note: Women “deficit” with higher competition

Figure 2: Fraction of women members divided
by the fraction when they joined.

Fraction of women has not been decreasing for those joining the JPS around mid 80’s. The generation gets PhD when there were relatively
many open positions in the universities. Later in ‘90s, number of graduate students increased drastically, leading higher competition among
those seeking research positions. Because of these external situations, the fraction of members who remain JPS today varies drastically withthe year they joined the JPS. (See Fig. 3 (A)). It should be noted that the difference between men and women expanded in the period.

◆ Interpretations

The significant in equivalence between men and women JPS members may have come from the social demand, the biased view, and the underrepresentation toward women researcher in Japan. However, the difference between men and women in career building starts earlier thangraduate level in Japan, namely, in the education in high school level or earlier. For example, women fraction is lower in more competitiveuniversities in Japan; recent statistics shows that the women ratio 44% in all Japanese universities, while it is around 20% for the two mostcompetitive ones. This low women ratio indicates that experiences and human network may be limited for average women graduate students.

◆ Industry and academia(A) JPS(B) JSAPThe Japan Society of Applied Physics (JSAP)
member records were also analyzed to examine
the differences in affiliation, industries oracademia. Although the survival rates of total
averages showed similar tendency to those of JPS,
women survived a little larger than men whoentered JSAP in 80s-90s (Fig. 3 (B)).
Interestingly, the survival rates for company
members were significantly higher than those of
the total average for the member who entered
JSAP after 2000, however the gender difference
was large; less women survived than men. These
results indicate that women members in companies
also had leaky pipeline which may due to their life
events and limited human network. Thus, thecompany member records in JSAP reflect
genderequalityinJapaneseindustrial Figure 3. Fraction of current men and women members among those joined in the year indicated in
the horizontal axis in JPS (A) and JSAP (B).
environment.