The center will work to support female researchers not only at Itabashi Campus where it is located, but throughout the entire university. To that end, it aims to provide support from a broad perspective, such as by investigating and analyzing the environment that is easy for all staff to work in, so that female doctors and researchers can choose from a variety of career paths. We support the development of female physicians and female researchers across the university, so that women can maximize their potential and continue to pursue high-quality research throughout their lives while also balancing their roles in society.
Message from the Head of Center
Head of Center OKINAGA Hiroko Professor
The Support Center for Female Doctors and Researchers was opened at Teikyo University on April 1, 2013. The university will develop human resources for female doctors and researchers, regardless of gender, across all faculties, in order to maximize the potential of women and enable them to pursue high-quality research activities throughout their lives while also balancing their roles in society. Together with the gender equality committees in each faculty, the Center will work to create a comfortable working environment for all employees at the University, regardless of gender, and to make the research and education environment more attractive.
Background of establishment
For female doctors and researchers, it is required to enhance the system and environment so that the place of education and research becomes more attractive. In addition, there are increasing calls for female doctors and researchers to play an active role in the medical field as a countermeasure against the chronic shortage of local doctors and the collapse of medical care that Japan is facing.
Established for the purpose of supporting female doctors and researchers
Japan is lagging far behind other OECD countries in the advancement of women in society, and this is an urgent issue in today's society with an aging population and declining birth rate. In the medical field, the new physician clinical system was introduced in 2004, and there is a demand for more female physicians to play active roles in the medical field due to the decline in university entrants due to matching, the shortage of physicians in rural areas, and the collapse of the medical system. In light of this background, there has been a movement led by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology and the Japan Science and Technology Agency to support female researchers and promote gender equality activities, and Teikyo University established the Female Doctors and Researchers Support Center on April 1, 2013, and was selected for the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology's Science and Technology Human Resource Development Subsidy "Female Researchers Research Activity Support Project (General Type)" in August 2013, and promoted the project systematically. This project was promoted with the expectation that in addition to enabling women to balance work and family life, it would also greatly contribute to the future development of Japanese research by unearthing the potential of young scientific researchers. Our Itabashi Itabashi Campus, where the center is located, is a medical campus that plays an important role in nurturing medical personnel in an era of declining birthrates and an aging population, which Japan faces. In 2023, the center was selected for the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare's Medical Facility Operating Expenses Subsidy "Support Project for Medical Professionals of the Child-Rearing Generation," and is working to further support young female doctors and medical professionals, including students, and to expand the project.
Staff/Coordinator Haruko Sekiya Yuka Kawagishi Aya Osawa
(As of May 2024)
Gender Equality Promotion Committee
The Gender Equality Promotion Committee was established in 2013 as the parent organization for planning and managing gender equality and support for female researchers at our university. In 2016, the committee also established working groups specializing in specific fields, including the Attitude Reform Working Group, the Environmental Improvement Working Group, the Education and Research Ability Improvement Working Group, and the Female Ratio Improvement Working Group, to conduct studies and implementation.
