Gender Bias In Higher Education: Marks Manipulated To Deny Women Admission At Tokyo Medical University

Amid all the tall talk about increasing female representation in business, education and other sectors across the work spectrum comes news of a scandal that female applicants’ test scores have been deliberately manipulated to deny them entry at the Tokyo Medical University.  

The University has apologised for the “systematic manipulation of test scores” that has been going on for more than a decade. In the wake of media reports last week about such discriminatory practices, the University released a report on August 7, 2018, stating that the written test had serious discriminatory factors against women with their test scores cut at least since 2006.

According to the report, even when women applicants scored full points, the marking system was manipulated to record only 80 marks out of 100. While points were added to male applicants appearing for the test within three years of graduating high school, the female applicants were extended no such favours.

Among the reasons cited for curbing women’s entry was the perception that female doctors would not be able to work long hours after getting married or having children. A similar type of discrimination was also faced by men taking the test several years after graduating high school. This was all the more tragic since many of the applicants spend years in prep schools preparing for the test.

The University officials, at a media briefing, denied any prior knowledge or involvement. The discriminatory practices were revealed during a probe into the alleged padding of test scores of a former education ministry bureaucrat’s son.

Two top university executives have been indicted on bribery charges. They have been accused of having manipulated the scores by as much as 49 points to get him admission in exchange for favouritism in connection with a government subsidy program.

University director Tetsuo Yukioka said, “We deeply apologise for having inconvenienced and caused so many people pain with such a serious scandal…Society is changing rapidly and we need to respond to that, and any organisation that fails to utilise women will grow weak and fail to contribute to society.”

The report on the school’s applications process also found that officials boosted the scores of some applicants who were children of the university’s graduates so the institution could get donations from the parents.

The incident has caused embarrassment the government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe who has made increased female participation in the workforce a part of his core economic policies. However, women accounted for only 21% of doctors in 2016, according to the Gender Equality Bureau Cabinet Office.(Image Source:wikipedia.org)