“Since you’re a girl, isn’t it good to go to a local university instead of going to Tokyo?”
This means that a high school student in Kanazawa City, Ishikawa Prefecture, who participated in an event related to university entrance held in Tokyo, Japan in August, heard about it. This shows that gender discrimination exists in university education. In August, a survey showed that parents also have this sense of discrimination toward their sons and daughters.
According to NHK, a survey of some 1,800 people conducted by education service provider Benesse on Thursday showed that 39 percent of the respondents chose their son and 49 percent chose their daughter. When asked if having a higher education level is advantageous for marriage, 66 percent of the respondents said it is advantageous for a son and 33 percent of the respondents said it is advantageous for a daughter. When asked about their expected income after graduating from college, 80 percent of the respondents chose 6 million yen or more for a son, while 52 percent of the respondents chose a daughter. According to a survey conducted by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, 60.7 percent of male students and 54 percent of female students went to college last year.
NHK evaluated that the difference in college education between male and female students has decreased, but delivered the voices of female students who said, “I feel discriminated against.” One female student said, “I don’t know why my parents said no to me even though they tried to retake the class.” Another female student complained, “There was a strong trend that women should quit their jobs in the generation of parents, but many people tell their children that idea.”
An education expert pointed out to NHK, “It is important to make parents realize ‘unconscious prejudice’ while creating opportunities to contact role models such as college students and social workers who are close to them.”
SOPHIA KIM
US ASIA JOURNAL
