Education in Asia:
A Comparative Perspective

Kamogawa Akiko
JSPS Research Fellow
1Outline
1. Objective and Framework
2. Overview of Gender and Educationin S/T:
Access and CourseSelection
3. Discussion and Future Direction ofthe Projects
21

ObjectiveCollecting information and data oneducation for each country is the basefor our discussion on careerdevelopment of women in S&T inAsia.

3Framework
WorkCareer Development

Course Selection

Access
Education42

Collecting Data
AccessCourse Selection

 Students at All Levels
 BAs, MAs and PhDs inS/TMajor Fields ofStudyCareer Teachers by PositionWages
 Researchers by Position
5

Access: Examples
Comparison(Ms. Hermawati)-Enrollment
Ratio of Girls by Educational Level
See. P.9

Taiwan(Dr.Tsai)-Percentage of Female
Students in Universities
See. P.50
Taiwan(Prof. Cheng)-Number of Students at
all levels
See. pp.197-98
63

Table 1 Third level enrolment per 1,000
population in Asian countries
Average ofDevelopedCountries
Japan
China
Korea
Philippines
Singapore
Malaysia
Indonesia

MaleFemale

47

51

36
6.1
70.1
25.6
27.9
9.3
15.2

27
3.3
41.8
34.0
22.5
9.0
8.1

MaleFemale

Cambodia

0.3

1.7

Laos3.61.5

Sri Lanka
India
Iran
Syria
Tajikistan
Turkey
Yemen

5.6
7.9
19.9
18.1
25.4
23.9
7.3

3.9
4.8
11.9
13.0
11.9
15.2
1.1

Source: United Nations, The World’s Women 2000: Trends and Statistics

7Course Selection

female-dominated courses?

male-dominated courses?

84

Course Selections: Examples
Korea(Prof. Lee)-BAs,MAs and PhDs in S/T

See. P.184

India(Dr.Kumar)
See. P.207-Percentage of Girls Enrolled for Different
Courses in Higher Education
China(Prof.Wu)-Peking Univ Senior HighSchool Graduates in Physics
See. P.23
Taiwan(Prof.Cheng)-Choices of Specialities inMedicine
9See. P.67

Figure 1 Percentage of female students
in Japanese universities
Students by Field of Study(University-undergraduate courses) inJapan
100
8060
40
200Female
MaleArts

Education/tea
cher training

Hom eeconom ics

M edicine/Dentistry

Agriculture

Engineering

S cience

S ocial science

Hum anities

Source: Statistical Abstract of Education, Science, Sports and Culture, Ministry of Education

105

Course Selection in Japan
The government statistics show female
enrollment still concentrated in theHumanities or teaching fields, with womenavoiding Sciences and Engineering.
 The stereotypical way of thinking is that artsand teaching fields are suitable for womenand that science and technology fields aresuitable for men.
11Career : Examples
Comparison(Prof. Ogawa)-Size of total
population of women researchers
See. P.154

Korea(Prof. Park)-Employment Status for
S/T Faculty Members
See. P.38

China(Ms.Ge)-Average hours worker,
framework of occupation trapezium
See. P.133-34
126

Discussion &Future Direction of the Projects
1. To Understand the Differences ofEducational Systems
2. To Collect Detailed NationalProfiles
3. To Compare and Analyze Data13

Special Thanks toKOREA (Eunkyoung Lee and YoungahPark)TAIWAN (Ling-fang Cheng)
INDONESIA (Wati Hermawati)
INDIA (Neelam Kumar)
Contents of Proceedings:
Organization of the School System
Brief Notes of the Educational Institutions
Trends in S&T in Each Educational Institutions 147