TEIKYO SDGs reportSupport for Women as the Key to a Sustainable World
――Building an environment to build a new culture in the future ――
Hiroko Okinaga Head of Center of the Support Center for Female Physicians and Researchers
Department of Medicine School of Medicine Doctor (medicine), doctor. After working at the Internal Medicine of Nephrology and Endocrinology, Teikyo School of Medicine Hospital, he is a managing director, vice President, and professor of School of Medicine at Teikyo Professor. He belongs to the Japanese Society of Internal Medicine, the Japan Endocrine Society, the Japan Diabetes Foundation, and the Japanese Thyroid Society.
To summarize this report ...
Assistant Professor and Senior Assistant Professor of female researchers account for 30-40% of the total, while about 10% become Associate Professor and Professor.
Many female researchers have abandoned their careers as researchers at the stage of Assistant Professor or Senior Assistant Professor.
The causes are the social climate for "long working hours" and socio-cultural ideas such as "gender role division".
The disappearance of female researchers is also the disappearance of the possibility of solving problems in the future, and from the SDGs perspective, it can contribute to solving all goals beyond the theme of gender.
To solve these problems, Teikyo University established the "Teikyo University Support Center for Women Physicians and Researchers".
We have established and promoted a variety of support systems that allow women to use their "time" more freely.
We have also built networks both inside and outside Japan, and activities are becoming more active with the aim of linking the potential of women with the realization of a sustainable society.
Contribute to achieving the goals of the SDGs while considering how women work throughout their lives.
Supporting women as a social issue
In April 2013, Teikyo University established the Teikyo University Support Center for Women Physicians and Researchers. Behind the establishment is the clear gender gap that can be read from the Gender Gap Index published annually by the WEF (World Economic Forum), and the awareness of issues regarding the proportion of female researchers among Japanese researchers who have been sluggish for many years. The ratio of female researchers to the total number of Japanese researchers announced by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications "Science and Technology Research Survey" in 2019 is 16.6%. Although it is a record high in Japan, it has increased by only 2.2 points from 2013, which was 14.4%, and the difference is clear compared to the United States and the United Kingdom, where the ratio of women exceeds 30%.
At our university, the ratio of female Assistant Professor and Senior Assistant Professor is 30-40%, but that of Associate Professor and Professor has dropped to the 10% level. Especially when it comes to Professor in School of Medicine, the ratio drops to less than 10%. In other words, the potential of great researchers and researchers who may have made remarkable social contributions in the future has disappeared. This is a big loss in the future. It is the role of the Female Doctor / Researcher Support Center to visualize the cause and build a mechanism to resolve it.
Environment construction focusing on how to use "time"
Women spend a lot of physical and time effort in marriage, especially in pregnancy, childbirth and childcare, and in recent years in parental care and life events. If you are a researcher, you have no choice but to reduce the amount of time you spend devoting yourself to research, education, and medical care. At this center, we believe that there are two major restrictions on maximizing the potential of female researchers. It is the idea of "long working hours" and "gender role division of men and women", which has been strongly defined by the way of economic life in Japan. We are working on building a new environment for this problem from the following three aspects.
The first is the construction of a "system" that creates "time." At this center, in order to make up for the time that female researchers cannot spend on research due to childcare or nursing care, there is a "research supporter system" that allocates personnel to assist research activities, and if you cannot leave the workplace, you can leave it at a childcare facility. Since 2013, we have been implementing the "Childcare Facility Usage Assistance System" to subsidize fees and the "Babysitter Discount Ticket Issuing Business" to subsidize usage fees when using babysitters. We are constantly striving to improve these systems so that they can be used by as many people as possible by reviewing and adjusting the usage status and results.
The second is "education" that considers "time". In order for researchers to continue their research life while spending life events in their lives, they must acquire the ability to manage themselves with an eye on the future. As a first step toward that end, at the Itabashi Campus, where medical faculties are concentrated, a class called "Work-Life Studies in the Medical World" is offered for the first year of education, and long-term work life and family regardless of gender. We have introduced classes to think about life. In addition, for researchers who have already begun their research life, there is a "mentor system" that matches counselors across fields, and a peer faculty member who provides information and consultations specializing in childbirth and childcare. We have assigned "Balance Concierge Teachers" and are focusing on education for career building that is close to individuals in order to raise the awareness of women themselves.
The third is the fostering of a "culture and culture" in which people who share "time" can collaborate. At this center, we hold "seminar" on the theme of comfortable working environment such as life events and harassment measures, promote women to "FD / SD *" and promote gender collaboration, and not only female researchers but also men. We aim to build an environment where all researchers, including researchers, can engage in research and education in cooperation and cooperation. These activities are planned over a year by four working groups (awareness reform, environmental equipment, education / research ability improvement, female ratio improvement) of the "Gender Equality Promotion Committee" that also serves as the steering committee of this center. A review, implementation, and review (PDCA) will be conducted, and the results will be reported to the President. Then, once every three years, the results are summarized and sent to the entire university as "President 's Recommendation on Gender Equality" to report on the progress of gender equality at the University and to visualize new goals. increase.
Women's work style reform = realization of diversity
These efforts are "human resources of female doctors and researchers of all universities, regardless of gender, so that we can maximize the potential of women and carry out high-quality research activities throughout their lives while balancing them with the social role of women. It is carried out based on the philosophy of "acting for training". The style of "long working hours" and the idea of "gender role division of men and women" are not issues that constrain only women, but affect the way people work and live regardless of gender or occupation. The Center conducts a "Needs Questionnaire Survey" every year to build a system that makes use of the voices of "Needs" that can be seen according to the field of specialization, job title, and age, regardless of whether they are women or men.
In addition, in order to increase the number of female researchers and accumulate knowledge of research environment equipment and spread it nationwide, the university will connect various organizations working on improving the research environment and research capabilities surrounding female researchers in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. We participate in the "National Diversity Network Organization". A workplace where women can work comfortably leads to an environment where both men and women can achieve a work-life balance, so it is not only the spread of "women's support" but also diversity (working style) that multiple universities collaborate and share knowledge. Diversity) I think it will lead to promotion. I hope that efforts related to women's work styles, not limited to this center, will raise awareness and work styles in Japan as a whole, and that each one will lead to the realization of a sustainable society.
Process inheritance and culture creation
The "sustainable world" that the SDGs aim for is a society in which the individuality and abilities of each person are respected and that the person's unique mission is realized in social life. We believe that it is a society where safety and security can be sustained so that we can continue to live while cooperating and cooperating with each other. Although each of the 17 goals is specific to each field, they are interrelated, so it is important to collaborate with other goals. Above all, the fifth "Let's achieve gender equality" is an important keyword that supports the achievement of all goals. By thinking about the ideas of women, who make up half of the population, and how women work throughout their lives, we can create an eye for people with different cultures and social backgrounds, especially women in poor countries who are in a vulnerable position. Naturally, it should ensure the realization of the goal of "no one left behind" set by the SDGs.
The process of building an environment for solving problems that this center is working on can be an effective approach to gender discrimination in developing countries and the creation of systems and mechanisms to resolve the gap between rich and poor. Institutional creation, information aggregation for institutional functioning, verification and improvement, organization and community formation and awareness reform to disseminate the system. Because of the modern age where problem solving is required all over the world, it is meaningful for the "university", which is a higher education institution that has the role of renewing knowledge through "research" and developing human resources through "education", to carry out activities like this center. We are confident that by increasing the period and time that more female researchers can play an active role, we will contribute to the realization of a sustainable world and open up new possibilities for society.
* FD (Faculty Development) is an individual class that aims to realize the educational goals of faculties, departments, graduate schools, etc. under the founding School Philosophy and the university's unique Educational Philosophy and Educational Guidelines. It is a general term for efforts for systematic and continuous verification and improvement based on collaboration between teaching professions and student participation in improving the curriculum and improving the organization and educational environment to promote them.
SD (Staff Development) is a general term for various types of training, including training, for the purpose of acquiring the knowledge and skills of faculty and staff involved in university management, as well as improving their abilities and qualities.
