It is not until about 1990 that the scarcity of women in S&T became a topic to be discussed. A full-fledged struggle to increase the number of female researchers in the EU began in 1998 with the purpose of increasing the scale of research and development to 3% of the GDP by 2010. Without female researchers, this goal is impossible, and a great deal of talent will be wasted. In terms of Asian countries’ progress on this issue, Asian researchers have held workshops and symposia in order to increase the number of women in S&T.
This special issue contains six papers on women in S&T in Japan. Kawano’s paper deals with the horizontal segregation of female high school students. Uchida’s paper deals with professional choices by female graduates from technical colleges and emphasized the importance of education for their career paths. Miura’s paper explored the horizontal segregation and vertical segregation in S&T. Shiomitsu and Tsugawa investigated the social background to female researchers. Takarabe concludes that increasing the number of female researchers in the private sector is important for the future development in S&T in Japan.
Finally, as a supplementary explanation I introduced the Dual-Career Academic Couple Problems which is newly emerging among female researchers.
