International Workshop on "Women and Science / Technology" Network in Asia

In my presentation, I would like to introduce Large-Scale Survey of Japanese Scientists and Engineers to the researchers among the East Asian countries, share its methodology, and finally explore the possibilities for the East Asia countries to construct this kind of extensive survey in order to enable international comparison in the near future. The focus will be on the methodology of the survey, not on its results.


1. Backgrounds
The science and technology basic Plan for the second term, which was approved by the cabinet in March 2001, emphasized effective usage of human resources and developments of diverse career paths. One of its focuses was to improve the working environment for female professionals in the science and engineering fields.
To address this issue, Japan Inter-Society Liaison Association Committee for Promoting Equal Participation of Men and Women in Science and Engineering (EPMEWSE) was established in October 2002, in order to promote a gender-equal environment and networking in the science and engineering fields, and to contribute to society as a whole.


2. Large-Scale Survey of Japanese scientists and engineers
In 2003, commissioned by MEXT as a research project under the Lifelong Learning Policy Office, a survey was conducted as part of EPMEWSE’s activities.
The purpose of the survey was to understand accurately the current situation, and to make recommendations regarding practical solutions and effective enlightening activities. Most of the previous surveys focused on female professionals, with the goal of raising their status to the same standard as males’. In contrast, this survey was conducted with cooperation of 39 academic organizations that belong to EPMEWSE, and a uniform set of questions was asked of every member in a science or engineering profession.
Data were collected not only from science and engineering professionals at universities and former national research institutions, but also from corporations, in order to provide broader-based findings for making recommendations.
In 2007, the second survey took over the first survey. It mainly targeted members of more than 60 associations joining of EPMEWSE, and it also invited subjects from various related fields, other than the members.
In 2012, the third survey is scheduled.






Outline of Surveys
1st Survey 2nd Survey
Period
Participation
Respondents
male
female
Way of distribution
Questionnaire


Time for answering
Publication


Summary (English) August 20 - November 19, 2003
39 academic societies
19,291
16,140 (83.7%)
3,104 (16.1%)
paper format and web format (96.5%)
24 questions



Diverse Visions of Scientists and Engineers in the 21st Century -For the Promotion of Gender Equality- (March 2004)
http://annex.jsap.or.jp/renrakukai/doc_pdf/EPMEWSEreport.pdf August 21 - November 20, 2007
64 academic societies
14,110
10,349(73.3%)
3,761(26.7%)
web format
94 questions in 35 items:
almost all questions in the 1st survey + newly questions* + free description**
20-30 minutes
Large-Scale Survey of Actual Conditions of Gender Equality in Scientific and Technological Professions (July 2008)
http://annex.jsap.or.jp/renrakukai/doc_pdf/h19enquete_report_en.pdf
* basic information such as occupation type, profession, and annual income, questions about work, fixed-term employment, spouse, and childcare, and questions about the recent laws and policies
** free description space given at the end


3. Toward the Future
East Asian countries separately began to collect data on women scientists and engineers. In order that each country should make use of the data of other countries, we are urged to share both data and their methodology. From this point of view, the methodology of Large-Scale Survey of Japanese Scientists and Engineers could be discussed as a possible statistical foundation among East Asian countries for the future.


References
Japan Inter-Society Liaison Association Committee for Promoting Equal Participation of Men and Women in Science and Engineering (EPMEWSE)
2004
Diverse Visions of Scientists and Engineers in the 21st Century -For the Promotion of Gender Equality-
http://annex.jsap.or.jp/renrakukai/doc_pdf/EPMEWSEreport.pdf
2008
Large-Scale Survey of Actual Conditions of Gender Equality in Scientific and Technological Professions
http://annex.jsap.or.jp/renrakukai/doc_pdf/h19enquete_report_en.pdf