Tokyo university cut women's entrance test scores for years to exclude them

A Japanese medical schooldeliberately cut women's entrance test scores for at least adecade, an investigation panel said on Tuesday, calling it a"very serious" instance of discrimination, but school officialsdenied having known of the manipulations.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has made a priority of creating asociety "where women can shine,"but women in Japan still facean uphill battle in employment and face hurdles returning towork after childbirth, a factor behind a falling birthrate.

The alterations were uncovered in an internal investigationof a graft accusation this spring regarding the entrance exam for Tokyo Medical University, sparking protests and anger.

Lawyers investigating bribery accusations in the admissionof the son of a senior Education Ministry official said they concluded that his score, and those of several other men, wereboosted "unfairly" by as much as 49 pointsin one case.

In job interviews I'm told, 'If you were a man, we'd hire you right away.'- Social media user

They also concluded that scores were manipulated to give menmore points than women and thus hold down the number of womenadmitted, since school officials felt they were more likely toquit the profession after having children, or for other reasons.

"This incident is really regrettable by deceptiverecruitment procedures, they sought to delude the test takers, their families, school officials and society as a whole," lawyerKenji Nakai told a news conference.

"Factors suggesting very serious discrimination againstwomen was also part of it," saidNakai, one of the external lawyers the university hired to investigate.

'Absolutelyunacceptable'

The probeshowed that the scores of men, includingthose reappearing after failing once or twice, were raised, while those of all women, and men who had failed the test atleast three times, were not.

The lawyers said they did not know how many women had beenaffected, but it appeared that women's test scores were impacted going back at least a decade.

At a news conference, senior school officials bowed andapologized, pledging to "sincerely" consider their response, such as possible compensation. However, they said they had beenunaware of the manipulation.

"Society is changing rapidly and we need to respond to thatand any organization that fails to utilize women will grow weak," said Tetsuo Yukioka, the school's executive regent andchair of its diversity promotion panel.

"I guess that thinking had not been absorbed."

No immediate comment was available from the government orthe Education Ministry official who figures in the case.

Entrance exam discrimination against women was "absolutelyunacceptable,"Education Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi toldreporters last week.

Recounting discrimination

Reports of the incident prompted women to recounttheir own experiences of discrimination on social media with the hashtag, "It's okay to be angry about sexism."

Some referred to the potential costs exacted in an aging society.

"I'm 29 and will probably never get married," said oneposter.

"Women are pitied if they don't, but Japanese women who aremarried, and working and have kids end up sleeping less thananybody in the world. To now hear that even our skills aresuppressed makes me shake with rage."

Another said:"I ignored my parents, who said women don'tbelong in academia, and got into the best university in Japan.But in job interviews I'm told, 'If you were a man, we'd hire youright away.'

"My enemy wasn't my parents, but all society itself."