Reports that one of Japan’s most prestigious medical universities tampered with female applicants’ entrance exam scores have sparked an outcry on social media. Tokyo Medical University began altering results in 2011 to ensure under 30% of successful applicants would be women.
Users online took aim at the Japanese government over the scandal. Critics suggested the allegations were ironic given Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s stated commitment to boost female participation in the workforce.
An unnamed source said officials adopted a “silent understanding” to reduce the number of female entrants over concerns female graduates were not going on to practice medicine in employment. “Many female students who graduate end up leaving the actual medical practice to give birth and raise children,” the source told the newspaper. In 2010, before the measure was allegedly introduced, female student participation was about 40%.
The newspaper reports that after the two-round application process earlier this year, only 30 female applicants were accepted to study, versus 141 men.
