Photo/Illutration Juntendo University in Tokyo’s Bunkyo Ward (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

The percentage of women enrolled in medical schools exceeded 40 percent for the first time in fiscal 2023 in the wake of an admission rigging scandal, an education ministry survey found.

The percentage had remained at the 30-percent range for about a quarter of a century and had been referred to as the “40-percent barrier.”

It is believed the percentage rose after unfair discrimination was corrected following the medical school entrance examination rigging scandal uncovered in 2018.

For some medical schools, more than half of the students they admit now are women.

The ministry surveyed medical schools at national, public and private universities and found that 3,696 of the 9,198 students enrolled in fiscal 2023 were women.

The percentage of women increased 1.7 percentage points from the previous year to 40.2 percent.

It was the first time the percentage exceeded 40 percent.

Five national universities, including the Shiga University of Medical Science, and six private coeducational universities that include Juntendo University had female enrollments exceeding 50 percent.

The percentage of women enrolled in medical schools gradually rose from the low 10-percent range in the 1970s to exceed 30 percent for the first time in fiscal 1994, according to the ministry’s basic school survey.

However, for about 25 years from that point, the percentage remained in the low 30-percent range.

DELIBERATELY KEEPING NUMBERS LOW

In 2018, it was revealed that entrance exam scores were rigged to keep the number of women admitted to medical schools low, including at Tokyo Medical University.

“I thought it was strange that the (numbers of female students) didn’t increase at all,” said a female doctor in her 50s of the scandal.

Another female doctor said, “I thought, ‘I knew it.’”

The ministry has found that at least three universities rigged their tests for female examinees.

An official at one of the universities explained to The Asahi Shimbun that the school uniformly deducted points from the scores of women, saying the goal was to limit the number of female students to about 30 percent.

When the number of women who passed the exam in 2010 reached a little less than 40 percent, the official said the university increased the reduction factor applied to the score the following year so that women’s scores would decrease.

“Women often leave the field due to childbirth or child rearing,” the official said. “It was an unspoken agreement done to solve the doctor shortage.”

Six years have passed since the scandal was revealed.

In fiscal 2021, for the first time, the acceptance rate for medical school for female applicants exceeded that for male applicants.

Yoshitomo Kani of Medical Lab Co., a preparatory school specializing in medical schools, said that even universities the ministry has not accused of admissions fraud previously asked inappropriate questions during interviews only to female applicants, such as, “Which is more important to you, your work or child care?”

After the scandal was revealed, such questions were no longer asked, Kani said.

“This is probably due to a change in awareness on the part of the universities,” he said.

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