Trends and Characteristics of the Gender Gap in the Advancement of Women in the Japanese STEM Workforce

Abstract

This study analyzed in detail the trends of women’s activities in the STEM workforce in Japan and examined the characteristics of the gender gap through a comparison with the United States, which has taken a leading role in the development of STEM human resources. The results showed that the gender gap of women in Japanese STEM human resources was greater than that of the U.S., both at the employment stage and at the university and graduate school training stage. However, the overall number of women in Japanese STEM human resources was increasing, and the number of STEM personnel was increasing for both men and women in the employment status of information processing and communications engineers, whether in the humanities & social sciences, or science & engineering fields. In particular, women in the humanities & social sciences were advancing, and the gender gap was trending in the direction of closing. These factors were considered to include the influence of diverse career choice factors and outcome expectations on career paths among women in the humanities and social science majors, and the influence of awareness of science-related studies on career choice among women in science and engineering majors.