Gender Gap in Medicine: Only One Woman Councilor in the Japan Surgical Society

Commentary

Gender Gap in Medicine: Only One Woman Councilor in the Japan Surgical Society

YASUKO TOMIZAWA¹

¹Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Tokyo Women's Medical University, Tokyo, Japan

Japan ranks low in the global gender gap index. Academic promotion is difficult for women doctors, and the leaky pipeline of women doctors is evident in academic medicine. The Japan Surgical Society (JSS) has 2,874 (7.2% of total membership) female members as of April 2014. The total number of councilors in JSS has increased, but there is still only one female member on the Council. The fact that there are so few women in decision-making positions makes it challenging to fight for equality. The Japanese Association of Medical Science (JAMS) is an association with exclusive institutional membership comprising the major medical societies in Japan, and currently has a membership of 122 specialist medical societies. It is essential to have at least one female committee member in each committee of the JAMS, which would provide opportunities to establish career paths for women doctors, to make rules that suit the lifestyle of women doctors, and to improve work-life balance.

keywords —— councilors; gender equality; Movement of 10% Quota for Women; surgical societies; women surgeons

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Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 2015, 235, 97-102

Correspondence: Yasuko Tomizawa, M.D., Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Tokyo Women's Medical University, 8-1 Kawada, Shinjuku, Tokyo 162-8666, Japan.

e-mail: 4CRNRY@hij.twmu.ac.jp