In 2016, it was revealed that women accounted for only 21 percent of doctors in Japan. Now it looks like we know why.
One of the most competitive private schools in Japan, Tokyo Medical University, has admitted that since at least 2006 it has been altering scores on its admission exams to keep female students out.
Even if women applicants scored full points in the written exam, they could only ever attain 80 marks out of 100, a report, which surfaced last week, revealed.
The university then added points to male applicants who were taking the exam within three years of graduating high school, however, no points were given to female applicants doing the same, Bloomberg reports.
One of the reasons cited for excluding women was the suggestion that female doctors can’t work long hours after getting married or having children.
Men who took the exams several years after graduating from high school were also discriminated against because officials were concerned that older men would not be able to work long hours in the hospital, The Cut reports.
Overnight, Tokyo Medical University, which has been hailed as one of Japan’s top private schools, apologised with Tetsuo Yukioka, the university’s managing director, saying he felt the “greatest regret” and “was shocked when I heard about it.”
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