2024 Volume 24 Pages 59-64
The 19th International Conference of Women Engineers and Scientists (ICWES19) was held in Auckland, New Zealand, September 3-6, 2023. The total number of participants was 270 (including 50 online participants) from 8 countries, excluding the host country (180 participants). There were four presentations from Japan. Two oral presentations reported on the current situation in Japan with a low gender index and problems such as unconscious bias. One poster presentation was on the SJWS's support and awareness-raising activities for female scientists, and the other was on the Japanese government's support and awareness-raising activities for STEM fields, and on the Japanese children's “turning away from science” and girls' education. The central theme of the conference was “Ensuring STEM diversity and equality,” which had the largest number of presentations, and lively discussions were held on diversity, including gender, and the advancement of women in STEM fields. It was concluded that while there are challenges to women's participation in a traditionally male sector, the situation is showing signs of improvement.
