Women in Surgery: Gender Gap in Medicine and Work Life Balance

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24590636
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Medical sociology
• Research Institution: Tokyo Women's Medical University
• Principal Investigator: UETSUKA Yoshio 東京女子医科大学, 医学部, 教授 (40147418)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): TOMIZAWA Yasuko 東京女子医科大学, 医学部, 助教 (00159047)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 女性医師支援 / 子育て支援 / キャリア形成 / 支援策 / 継続就労 / 男女共同参画 / 女性外科医

Outline of Final Research Achievements

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.

Free Research Field

病院管理学