Japan Press Weekly

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2020 October 28 - November 3 [POLITICS]

PM's 'SCJ members are only from specific universities' remark is not true

The statement Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide made on October 26 during an NHK evening news program as if the Science Council of Japan has a problem in regard to the diversity of its membership composition has turned out to be false.

Former President of the SCJ Onishi Takashi provided materials on the composition of SCJ members, which indicate a great improvement in SCJ's gender and regional balance, to opposition parties on October 28.

According to the data, the male-to-female ratio was 99 to 1 in July of 1997 and became 62.2 to 37.7 in October of 2020, showing a significant increase in the women's ratio.

Regarding geographical distribution of SCJ members, those who are from the Tokyo metropolitan area and from other areas accounted for 68.1% and 31.9%, respectively, in July of 1997. In October of 2020, the ratio became 49.5 to 50.5.

Thanks to the SCJ effort to rectify the overconcentration of specific universities, the percentage of University of Tokyo professors decreased to 16.7% in October of 2020 from 28.1% in October of 2011.