No More Sexist Medical School Entrance Exams: After abolishing the unfair treatment of female applicants last year, women outperform men in Japanese medical school entrance exams

Last year, several medical schools in Japan were found to have manipulated exam results to give first-time male applicants an advantage over women and others who had previously failed the exam. Many medical schools, including Tokyo Medical University, admitted to having favored male applicants over women. Hiroyuki Daida, a medical school dean even defended the actions, saying that because women mature faster than men and had better communication skills, “this was a measure designed to help male applicants”.

The sexist antics drew criticism from around the world after it was revealed last August that Tokyo medical colleges had rigged exam scores for more than a decade. The report also stated that the policy was in place because of concerns that women doctors would not give birth to children.

In 2016, only 21.1% of all doctors in Japan were women, the lowest level among nations G7 countries while Britain had the highest proportion, followed by Germany, France, and Canada.

This year, Juntendo University,, one of the medical schools that admitted to rigging exams, publicly stated that out of the all the women who took its medical school entrance exam earlier this year, 8.28% had passed. Only 7.72% of the male candidates passed the examination. The university stated that the abolishment of the unfair treatment of women contributed to their improved entrance exam scores.