Women overtook men for the first time in the acceptance rate at Japan's medical schools for the 2021 academic year that started in April, an education ministry survey showed Wednesday, in a sign of improvement over gender-based discrimination in entrance examinations that came to light a few years ago.
The average exam pass rate for women at the country's 81 universities with a medical faculty stood at 13.60 percent against men's 13.51 percent, marking the first time women beat men in the rate since comparable data became available in the 2013 academic year.
The results come after a string of exam-rigging scandals surfaced in 2018 including that of Tokyo Medical University, which admitted to score manipulation to limit female enrollment. The revelation eventually prompted a government probe into entrance exams at medical schools.
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During the 2013 to 2018 school years when improper practices in the medical admissions rate were seen to have continued, the national average ratio of successful male applicants was 11.25 percent, while that of females stood at 9.55 percent.
Data showed that the situation had been rectified in the following academic years, although men still beat women in the acceptance rate.
A Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology official in charge of medical education said the latest results showed there was "hardly a gap" between the rate of successful male and female applicants, and underscored how women are no longer discriminated against.
"It has become clear that the acceptance rate will not be low only for female applicants," the official said.
The survey found that of the 62,325 male applicants nationwide, 8,421 passed, while 5,880 out of 43,243 female applicants succeeded.
Of the 10 schools found to have used improper entrance exam practices, six including Nihon University and Iwate Medical University saw the acceptance rate for women exceeding that of men.
Tokyo Medical University, which was among the 10, admitted in August 2018 to having unfairly lowered the scores of female applicants to limit their enrollment to avoid a shortage of doctors at its hospitals since women doctors tend to resign or take leave after getting married or giving birth.
Later that year, the ministry said after its probe that 10 out of the 81 medical schools in Japan had manipulated their entrance exams to favor male applicants and relatives of alumni.
The ministry's latest survey also found that even among universities that were not found to have been involved in such conduct, more schools have seen successful female applicants over male applicants.
While the acceptance rate for women surpassed that of men in an average of 15 schools between the 2013 and 2018 academic years, the corresponding figure for 2021 academic year rose to 36 schools.
