Smart girls don’t marry? Japan rushes to erase stigma for women in science

UNCONSCIOUS BIAS

Wrong! It's conscious bias, and not just from men, but women as well!

Educated since birth to conform to a role decided by society hundreds of years ago, under very different circumstances, females today are seen by men (also indoctrinated since birth to be slaves of a job), with the same eyes as in ancient times. "The scarcity of female engineers is absolutely unnatural when you consider that women account for half of society, said Mitsubishi Heavy human resources official Minoru Taniura."

No, Mr. Taniura, it is very natural given the circumstances!

NO DIVERSITY, NO INNOVATION

Nice slogan, but this is Japan. That slogan just showing opposite of reality.

"The scarcity of female engineers is absolutely unnatural when you consider that women account for half of society," said Mitsubishi Heavy human resources official Minoru Taniura.

The scarcity of female engineers seems rather natural to me when, only 30 years ago, companies like Mitsubishi Heavy would not hire women for career-track jobs because those companies felt women were more likely to quit working after having children.

Taniura-san obviously doesn’t know the company history!

What a relief... the number of "smart girls" has been on the decline too. So it should all even out.

Gender Parity in all jobs. Don’t pick and choose ladies.

A third-year student at one of Japan's top engineering universities, Yuna Kato has her sights set on a career in research but fears it might be short-lived if she has children.

Japan could solve a lot of this legacy discrimination in the socioeconomic sphere if they had actual enforcement of labor laws and harsh sanctions for corporate criminals.

Arbitrary age cutoffs and reassignments, gender bias, mannered profile pictures as a required part of hiring, open discriminatory language, tired traditions quoted as "common sense" when it is nothing of the sort.

The stigma is the LDP/Japan Inc. corporate combine keeping their legacy of entrenched power and unearned capital accumulation in place and barring better, smarter, more capable minds from getting a leg up.

Interesting follow up article to the one yesterday talking about the population decline in Japan.

Japan ranks last among wealthy nations with only 16% of female university students majoring in engineering, manufacturing and construction, and with just one female scientist for every seven. That is despite Japanese girls scoring second-highest in the world in maths and third in science, according to the OECD.

That's a staggering and damning statistic, wow. Imagine spectacularly setting up a highly intelligent and capable half of a population for major success though education, only to dismember them at the knees through stupid and biased patriarchal and misogynistic social systems once they become adults. No wonder women don't want to get married and have babies. No wonder Japan't population is diving. A friend of mine works in a top International School in Tokyo where there is a large number of Japanese girls. Apparently they are outstanding students, completely bilingual, and almost all of them go to College and working careers outside Japan - most to the US. They have no desire to work in Japan at all.

School officials felt women were more likely to quit working after having children and would waste their education.

Women are forced to quit their jobs and become stay at home mothers in Japan. This is not the case in many other places in the world, where being a working Mum is normal. BUT, this would require a whole cultural shift towards both woman, and the working culture of Japan, and Japan simply won't be able to do this.

Social improvement laws not fair to women, because of stigma of may or becoming mother gender.

Enforce full return to work after pregancy or a few years after or else it will remain the same : to have or not to have for many.

Even women apply this non-written rule themselves of work prevails family !

In Japan.

Nonsense. An anecdote to have something to write about to propagate the myth that Japanese are monolithic lemmings.

Smart girls don’t marry? .......Please

Next Smart girls don’t fall in love?

Because they are to busy being smart so escape cupid arrow.

If Mariko Katsumura wants to make a political point/rant then don't hide behind the premise that smart girls decisions in life are based on family, in this case grandmother and mother opinions.

Clearly Yuna Kato didn't take that advise on board.

Women can have children and full successful careers just like in many other countries.

Taking a more detailed look at those OECD stats is fascinating. Japan and Korea score equal 2nd in educational skills ie: the student's competence in the subjects they study, BUT, South Korea is dead last for Gender Inequality and Japan is 4th last.

Those are some awful numbers man. Basically, they have hella smart girls that end up contributing very little to the development of the country because.....the boys don't want them to.

Wow.

When I think of all those Japanese people and colleagues with whom I worked together and experienced their mindset, I can totally agree with this article

I luv living in Japan, but one of the biggest issues/problems here is the systemic misogyny. Till the issue are seriously addressed in may areas (work, school, media, gov) by politicians and corporate leaders.... birth rates will continue to FALL.

Let it be known that Marie Curie was awarded the Nobel prize not once, but twice. She also had two daughters of which the elder, Irene was also awarded the Nobel prize in chemistry, and the younger Eve was committed to UNICEF. Japan's thinking is back in the stone age...

This article doesn't mention the women that just leave Japan forever to pursue careers in STEM. Akiko Iwasaki is a good example. She is now one of the top immunologists in the U.S.

The country is on a mission to close the gap.

Won't be any real change for at least another generation or two.

Millions of women are doing both and even more, so why is this even and issue ?? I know women who have finished their education got a job then got married have kids and having a blast doing what they love.

The main reason Japanese inequality against women in general happens is because women let it happen

"My grandmother and mother often tell me that there are non-STEM jobs out there if I want to raise children," she said.

With an attitude like that little wonder there is a STEM problem.

The missing ingredient element this article fails to mention ambition.

Gender is irrelevant when persistence, resolve, focused on a fixed intention to achieve.

There are personal costs, never something for nothing.

J failure to deliver on a long term policy to stem depopulation is a reflection of this government cultural unwillingness to fully finance family related affordable child care.

The failure to full comprehend children make the world go round.

My independent soul and selfishness doesn't help.

Can you be successful, smart, gender or otherwise and marry?

That seems a rather silly question.

The late Singapore PM Lee Kuan Yew once mentioned that Japan pursued the path of "educate women high enough" so they can educate their children well. He was comparing it to his policies which promote education of women as much as possible. Looking back he regretted he didn't go the Japanese way, as the result was only apparent after the fact, that Japan had population boom while Singapore men shy away from highly educated women sooner that Japan did.

You can still feel the effect of this policies even today. Good luck getting rid of that.

Well Japanese women who don’t go into stem fields certainly aren’t getting married and are certainly not having children either so I don’t think sexist biases are the root problem.

Bread-making machinese mostly used by females, so the designer ought to be female too? That may be true but by itself strengthens the bias - wrong emphasis to use to solve the problem!

I wonder how much Balckrock and/or McKinsey and Co. paid for this "piece"?

I dread being invited to dinner at a Japanese home, I feel so uneasy to witness dinner served for the men, whilst the women who made the meals have to wait for the men to nearly finish before joining, AND I can't lift a finger to help with cleanup.

That's where Japan is at in terms of women and their place in society, no wonder marriage is shunned by ambitious women.

Smart women’s do need smart men, that’s the problem

@Houdini

It's not misogynistic.

Japanese women aren't hated by Japanese men.

Misogyny (/mɪˈsɒdʒɪni/) is hatred of, contempt for, or prejudice against women. It is a form of sexism that is used to keep women at a lower social status than men, thus maintaining the social roles of patriarchy. 

I don't know about you, but I have literally had men in Japan tell me 'Tamarama, you need to understand that women in Japan are behind and below men.'

The flip side of this coin though, is that women in Japan have to want the change to happen too. I see plenty of Setagaya Mummies having a lovely lunch with their friends, having shipped the kids and hubby off to school and work, they've done some washing, a spot of cleaning, will do a little Korean Drama work in the afternoon, the kids will then head off to Juku after school until 10, Hubby home at 10.30pm.....

Maybe they really are hella smart.....

quote: Diversity is the source of innovation.

No, valuing talent and empowering young people to take risks is the source of innovation.

Japan's gender problems are cultural and deeply ingrained. Tinkering with access to a few courses isn't going to fix them, but I guess it is a start.

Referring to a third year university student as still being a “girl”, shows the bias of the article’s emphasis.

As for “a Chinese educator… in Japan on a cultural exchange program”, one would think that the educational system would pave learned from all of the prior spying incidents.

The number of women (and other members of out-groups) will go up. A sincere belief that is is good, will stay down. But this is how progress sometimes happens.

Smart girls don’t marry

Same for smart men..

NO wife and NO kids, this is life..

LOL!!..

This opened a can of worms didn’t it.

Also, why has the word ‘misogyny’ replicated ‘sexism’, the former literally means a hatred of women, but men who fit this category would seem to be vastly in the minority. Sexism and gender discrimination in general on the other hand, would appear to be far more prominent in society. I even read the feminist Caitlin Moran refer to ‘Misogyny and hatred of women’ recently. Aren’t they the same thing? Maybe I need a new dictionary.

I'm all for equal opportunities for women.

So, ladies ... the professional communities of off-shore oil rig workers, bricklayers, construction workers, plumbers, and trash collectors eagerly await and welcome you.

Japan ranks last among wealthy nations with only 16% of female university students majoring in engineering, manufacturing and construction, and with just one female scientist for every seven.

Would have been better for illustrative purposes to include info on other nations as well

NO wife and NO kids, this is life..

dogs love you to bits and will protect you.

NO wife and NO kids, this is life..

Lots of people believe this.

And then their outlook change when it's too late.

That's assuming they actually had a choice

Haven't confirmed but I've always felt that women likes smart men so the pool of eligible men for smart women is a lot smaller.

So, ladies ... the professional communities of off-shore oil rig workers, bricklayers, construction workers, plumbers, and trash collectors eagerly await and welcome you

Yawn. Yes, we’ve had the Jordan Peterson regurgitated before from our rightwing podcast watchers. Talk about low ranked male tennis players beating the top women next.

+- The genders that will be added later this afternoon to the official category

2nd +- The genders that will be added tomorrow morning to the official category

Your high school biology teacher was wrong, "the Science" is changing

Have you read a lot about the subject? Maybe half of the books written on it?

In another, a mother discourages her daughter from pursuing engineering since "the field is male-dominated

It is in my experience. I worked in a company in Japan where most of the workers were from STEM backgrounds. One of the issues we had was losing highly capable female engineers to foreign companies in Japan or abroad for better pay and prospects. The wider issue of how women are treated in the workplace is also at work here.

One of the issues we had was losing highly capable female engineers to foreign companies in Japan or abroad for better pay and prospects.

Must be true for all your engineers, more pronounced in women?

So, ladies ... the professional communities of off-shore oil rig workers, bricklayers, construction workers, plumbers, and trash collectors eagerly await and welcome you

Yawn. Yes, we’ve had the Jordan Peterson regurgitated before from our rightwing podcast watchers. 

Okay, I commend you for your witty snarkiness.

Now, would you like to actually address the valid point made in the comment, attempting to use logic and facts?

The fact is, these professions are overwhelmingly occupied by men -- even though there's nothing stopping women from pursuing them.

There is also a need for people to enter these professions, as there's a shortage of them.

But because these professions actually involve manual, get-your-hands-dirty work -- as opposed to occupying a cushy corner office -- it seems these are not the professions thought of when we think of "equal career opportunities."

So, address the topic. Don't wave it off with snarky comments, or worse, try to "cancel" them by slapping a "right wing" label on them.

Make a logical rebuttal. Or just don't say anything.

Lol

One of the issues we had was losing highly capable female engineers to foreign companies in Japan or abroad for better pay and prospects. 

Must be true for all your engineers, more pronounced in women?

Erm, yes. Much more for women.

It wouldn’t make much sense to post what I did given my point, would it? I thought it was obvious.

Glad that’s cleared up.

Jimizo

Today 10:58 am JST

One of the issues we had was losing highly capable female engineers to foreign companies in Japan or abroad for better pay and prospects.

> Must be true for all your engineers, more pronounced in women?

> Erm, yes. Much more for women.

> It wouldn’t make much sense to post what I did given my point, would it? I thought it was obvious.

> Glad that’s cleared up

Yes, just wanted to make sure you include males as well

If ever there were a time warp then Japan would be at the centre of it.

These perennial problems never get sorted out by the lazy and feckless power brokers in Japan

Thuban - How about gender parity in sewage cleaning and among garbage truck workers.

The obvious answer is this article is about the Sciences.

The article mentions -

Japanese girls scoring second-highest in the world in maths and third in science, according to the OECD.

This is the crux of the matter. Why do Japanese school girls - world leaders in science and maths abilities - not utilize these skills in university and the workforce to the level of their male counterparts?

One could argue strongly as others and the articles notes, social / cultural biases are the significant reasons.

My close friend's daughter, now in her late 40s, has been a medical research doctor for decades specializing in brain trauma.

She married a fellow med school student and said from the outset that she wasn't interested in children, but he pursued her and they got married.

Soon the pressure started from the husband and in-laws to produce children. She knew in her male dominated highly pressurized field that time off to raise a family would not meet the demands required so she basically never gave in.

They separated for a couple of years - apparently mother in laws request for him to find a "good" wife - but he loved her ( I guess) and moved back in and 20 years on they both have fulfilling important careers, she working in a famous research institute in Hyogo. And they are still together.

Govt is a classic johnny-come-lately to this issue. It has been reluctant to upset the social cart, scared of alienating it's voter/support base too much, but now sees it as a necessary solution to appeasing the mind-boggling labor shortage -

 In the IT field alone, the country is looking at a shortfall of 790,000 workers by 2030, largely due to a severe underrepresentation of women.

Business has been on this way ahead of govt, but may be too little too late. Hope not.

@Based

It’s just that ‘oil rig worker’ gets regurgitated when people regurgitate what you regurgitated.

Let’s look at the article based on the situation in Japan. Oil rig workers in Japan? Hardly an industry with a huge workforce, is it? Men or women aren’t queuing up here.

Best just adjust the regurgitation now and again to suit the article. Just a bit of advice.

Anyway, to the actual issue of STEM in Japan rather than cut and paste regurgitations about female oil rig workers, if you look at other countries, Japan is behind in having female engineers and scientists in the workforce.

The main issue for me here is you want the best and brightest in these fields. These fields are drivers of innovation and economic growth. This is not true for all professions By discouraging half the population from entering these fields, you are handicapping your country

Japanese girls scoring second-highest in the world in maths and third in science, according to the OECD.

This is the crux of the matter. Why do Japanese school girls - world leaders in science and maths abilities - not utilize these skills in university and the workforce to the level of their male counterparts?

Indeed.

People who could be driving innovation to create jobs, medical innovations to save lives etc.

Such a waste.

Yuna san is getting poor advice from her relatives. High level STEM graduates are in high demand and the companies they join will be good ones offering good conditions. How many stories have you read about web services startups, semiconductor manufacturers, world leading machine tool makers being "black-kigyou"? I've read none, because such companies need such high level staff that they must hang onto them.

We have two daughters and I tell them not to be an OL, because companies will bin them when they have kids. If young women want a career that way, they must get some in-demand qualification, the accounting one, shakai hoken expert one, iryou jimu, real estate. They must present an employer a strong reason to employ them when they are 40. No qualifications and you will only get part time work at 1200 or other poverty wages. Yuna san's relatives may not realize this, but the key factor in Yuna san having kids may be her own ability to contribute financially to the household. Increasingly few men have a salary to support a barely earning housewife.

Matrimony, gender specific will he won't he, maybe I should fake levels of thicko attractive attributes, don't rush to finish the crossword, or fist bump when Sudoku comes together.

Its a big wide world, and it is yours to conquer, regardless of gender, the big players will offer the rewards, remuneration, and bonuses. It is there for the taking.

Yuna Kato could take the opportunity to travel and work in her chosen field across Europe/US.

Don't limit your ambitions.

Wish her luck.

Lots of women, should be smart too not have children,with a sociopath unemotional man ,is not asnart decision

Her family's not entirely wrong. Not many science jobs out there is she becomes a mother...

Well, not impossible but not easy to handle both either. Tho, considering both parents need to work now in order for the family to survive, women can pursue their careers.

But if she happened to have kids with the wrong guy, then it'd be difficult to follow her career.

Impossible to know what will happen in the future. Better to follow your own path, follow your dreams and deal with whatever comes later at that moment.

Smart girls, but definition, are smart enough to make the right decision, no?

browny1: Soon the pressure started from the husband and in-laws to produce children.

I have a Japanese acquaintance with a similar story. Her mother-in-law (who lived nearby) rallied all the neighborhood ladies, who would all stop by and put pressure on her to have a baby. She said the pressure was unbearable - everywhere she turned, the people around her were harassing her about it.

And why did she and her husband live near the mother-in-law in the first place? Because MIL "didn't allow" her son (my friend's husband) to move out of the area after getting married.

Back to the "Smart women don't get married" issue - I think that the younger generations of Japan are much more open and willing to change these outdated and sexist patterns, which should be good for women in STEM. But part of the problem is that the younger generation remains subservient to the older generations, who are still stuck in their old-fashioned ways. From my Western perspective, my friend's stories seem unfathomable - why wouldn't she just insist on leading her own life? But from a Japanese perspective, that's a very difficult thing to do. And that perpetuates the societal patterns that make it difficult for smart women to pursue their high-level careers.

That is despite Japanese girls scoring second-highest in the world in maths and third in science, according to the OECD.

So how are the scores compared to boys'?

A few comments here about women not doing manual work such as working on oil rigs or as being trash collectors...etc because they are seen as too hard. Well, just a reminder there are thousands and thousands of young women, some very young, fighting on the front line in the Ukraine. I cannot imagine any work being harder or more demanding than that. I am only sorry that I cannot be one of them.

Back to the "Smart women don't get married" issue - I think that the younger generations of Japan are much more open and willing to change these outdated and sexist patterns, which should be good for women in STEM. But part of the problem is that the younger generation remains subservient to the older generations, who are still stuck in their old-fashioned ways

As the saying goes, the past is a foreign country. Anything the matriarchs in the story (presuambly they are not women who pursued STEM careers themselves) or the people in this anecdote think is based on a Japan that no longer exists. We have a different Japan now, in some ways better, in other ways worse.

At least the older people in the story are being motivated by "shimpai" (concern). There is plenty of talk overseas about young people struggling due to self-inflicted Netflix payments and avocado toast (trivial costs) and not the sky-high rents and college expenses (historic highs) they face. This too is older people stuck in the past, but not showing concern or empathy and blaming young people for the hand they have been dealt.

Ian - 2018 PISA Results

In reading literacy, the main topic of PISA 2018, 15-year-olds in Japan score 504 points compared to an average of 487 points in OECD countries. Girls perform better than boys with a statistically significant difference of 20 points (OECD average: 30 points higher for girls).

On average, 15-year-olds score 527 points in mathematics compared to an average of 489 points in OECD countries. Boys perform better than girls with a statistically significant difference of 10 points (OECD average: 5 points higher for boys).

In Japan, the average performance in science of 15-year-olds is 529 points, compared to an average of 489 points in OECD countries. Boys perform better than girls with a non statistically significant difference of 3 points (OECD average: 2 points higher for girls).

So in the 3 critical fields a pretty well balanced outcome for Japanese boys and girls.

In 2018 Japan was in the top 4 countries meaning girls were in the top group in the world.

Browny,if you do not critical think,all the education you learn is useless

I think she's probably right....Subject sentence in first paragraph.

Thanks a lot browny1!

Including even a short summary of those info would have helped a lot driving home the points of the article

In 2018 Japan was in the top 4 countries meaning girls were in the top group in the world.

Such a waste indeed

"Smart" girls are also prejudiced and misandrist.

They won't marry men who earn less than them or have lower social standing than them.

Talk about double standards and social stigma.

I remember back in the mid-1960s in the UK at an engineering college there was a single female student. A bit of a shock at first but it was quickly followed by many others. Today, there are females in all fields. Female bricklayers and plumbers. Sewer workers. They are all capable workers. Women have an important role to play in the workforce even if time is needed for childbirth. They must be encouraged from an early age that they can have good jobs just like men.

Please don't read too much into PISA test scores, as they have little to no relevance in today's workforce.

> Govts like to use them to evaluate their education system, but they get less attention as the years pass.

> It's not what you know (or what you have retained up to test day); it's how creative and innovative you are; it's whether you can think outside the box, be an independent thinker, not be afraid to speak up and express your opinion, network easily and be outgoing.

> Unfortuanyl, none of these are strong traits among Japanese graduates

I'm not reading too much=)

You on the other seem to be reading out of nothing.

Where'd you based that assertion on

The smart thing to do is don't get married.

Complete opposite men should not be married your carrying financial luggage especially here in Japan

« The country is on a mission to close the gap. »

No it isn’t.

one_consciousnessToday  01:27 pm JST

*

Govts like to use them to evaluate their education system, but they get less attention as the years pass.

It's not what you know (or what you have retained up to test day); it's how creative and innovative you are; it's whether you can think outside the box, be an independent thinker, not be afraid to speak up and express your opinion, network easily and be outgoing.

Unfortuanyl, none of these are strong traits among Japanese graduates.

very true in a Western environment but probably less so in Japan.

Kato should tell her relatives that there are plenty of men that are willing to become house husbands. Lol.

I still wonder why people associate marriage and having kids.

That is one effect surely cfeating totally useless worries for many. The demography is taking damage from such cultural trait like Korea.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.oecd.org/els/family/SF_2_4_Share_births_outside_marriage.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwjZq5aV5JKAAxXadaQEHX_kAxcQFnoECBIQBg&usg=AOvVaw1IugJujBrVRGOAdcf-6z20

Ms Kato should first think of both career and children, not all social rules.

RakurakuToday 03:04 pm JST

one_consciousnessToday  01:27 pm JST

Govts like to use them to evaluate their education system, but they get less attention as the years pass.

It's not what you know (or what you have retained up to test day); it's how creative and innovative you are; it's whether you can think outside the box, be an independent thinker, not be afraid to speak up and express your opinion, network easily and be outgoing.

Unfortuanyl, none of these are strong traits among Japanese graduates.

very true in a Western environment but probably less so in Japan.

What do you mean? That in Japan, academic is economically valuable? How so?

What I mean is that in many Japanese compagnies this is not the ones who are the most independent thinkers you are promoted the quickest . In Japan harmony with the group is the most important thing. If you think too independently you are at risk be excluded from the group. I saw that first that first hand in a Japanese company for which I worked for a few years.

Of course this may vary according to the economic sector. The one I was working for was a very conservative one.

YrralToday  01:14 pm JST

Browny,if you do not critical think,all the education you learn is useless

Thanks for the reply.

Yes - I think we all know that.

The comments / info were in regards to high maths / science scores by girls and then not going onto those fields in numbers.

And interestingly girls reading literacy rates were much higher than boys and much much higher than the OECD average.

And as we know high literacy enables us to engage in critical thinking activities much more readily.

So it seems there is a potentially valuable talent pool going to waste so as to speak.

Two observations based on my experiences living in JP and abroad (not at all scientific. Maybe better to call them assumptions.)

1) There are not many opportunities in Japan for women. I rarely saw them in leadership positions in my (admittedly limited) dealings with government institutions, or with large corporations like the big banks or tech companies. In most of the meetings, if there where women in the room they served tea.

I also feel there is a strong cultural bias toward men, and gender stereotypes still play a role in a lot of every day life. I had lot of conversations where I was told 'men do this, women do that' with Japanese friends and colleagues regarding very small things (men that like sweets are like girls...) to larger things (women aren't strong enough for leadership positions) that frustrated me. You couldn't get away with comments like that in most western workplaces nowadays (well, in the places I work anyway). I imagine growing up in an environment like that as a woman would make getting into STEM or any male dominated industry extremely difficult.

And regarding the often mentioned 'oil rigs' arguments mentioned above - if a women wanted to get an oil rig job I don't think they would even be considered in Japan. If given the opportunity (and a worthwhile pay packet) lets also not assume that JP women wouldn't want those jobs. Lets take a similar industry in Australia, mining, where Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows that over the past 20 years, the number of women employed full-time in mining rose from just 8,700 in August 2002 to 45,000 in August 2022. That's growth of over 400%. This shows that women ALSO want these types of jobs and given the opportunity, are taking them.

2) Judging from the commentary here it seems that like attracts like. At lot of the foreign men I met in JP (not all) seemed to have out dated views on women, race and gender. I always wondered if this was part of the charm for certain men to move to JP?

Based on these admittedly unverified observations (would love to run a proper scientific study on this) my advice to Japanese women is often to learn another language, as it can open up opportunities they may not get in their own country. If a country cannot do enough to provide you with chances to succeed, and a large proportion of its men are unwilling to give you the same opportunities they have gotten, get out. You owe JP nothing.

Hypergamy is real. Women strongly prefer to marry up. If the man is not more educated, higher earning, or higher status in some other way, women generally aren’t interested. This is written into human biology, so it’s not going to change with awareness or a public campaign.

Women can get highly educated, but they know that they put themselves in a much reduced dating pool by doing so.

I still wonder why people associate marriage and having kids.

Because marriage is the natural state for most successfully raising kids. For all the progressive efforts otherwise, kids raised in stable marriages on average do better in school, are physically healthier, have less mental illness, have more successful careers, are less likely to fall into crime or drugs, and on and on. Marriage and child-rearing are associated because marriage works better than any of the other options.

I married a smart girl, but then she dumped me after twenty years…see?

She WAS smart.

I am male. I have spent my life in STEM...and worked with a great many talented female engineers - quite noticeably software engineers...and can easily say the best managers I've ever had were women. My little sister got all the brains in my family. It should also be born in mind that a great many software engineers are quite talented musicians and most clever people to tend to have a good sense of humor...certainly clever people can be quite attractive - or conversely - the opposite is quite true. During my professional time in Japan - ( did work for an international company ), but I was surprised by the attitudes of both Japanese men (who were younger than I - and so I found it surprising) seemed to have rather male-oriented superiority attitudes - and indeed Japanese females - the older they get they tend to take on a "queen bee" attitude and then "direct" other females in rather gender-oriented archaic ways - one foreign woman colleague was usually 1st in to the office...when "queen bee" arrived, she told the foreign woman that she should make the 1st pot of coffee - she replied, " if I drank coffee, I would, but I don't "..."queen bee" replied, - you're a woman - you should make the 1st coffee as you're 1st in"...

I would guess there are quite differing points of view from Japanese women who have lived abroad and have been involved with foreign guys

KazukoHarmonyJuly 16  06:54 am JST

*"The scarcity of female engineers is absolutely unnatural when you consider that women account for half of society," said Mitsubishi Heavy human resources official Minoru Taniura.*

The scarcity of female engineers seems rather natural to me when, only 30 years ago, companies like Mitsubishi Heavy would not hire women for career-track jobs because those companies felt women were more likely to quit working after having children.

Taniura-san obviously doesn’t know the company history!

It seems to be that way all over. Smart women are often disrespected because some males just can't take it. Look at the recent example of Donald Trump. He always sasses off his big mouth to women. He did it to women in Congress, women news reporters, women in any occupation that requires a brain. Sass sass sass sass SASS! Never mind what he says about them in other regards.

And there's other ill-mannered sexist pukes like him in every profession. The astronomer who discovered the first solar system beyond our own back in 1991 got the boot because he was always degrading and even harassing women astronomers.

And in my hometown a woman car mechanic at a local body shop was somehow 'let go' or vanished because she did a better job than the rest of them. They just couldn't handle her around!

@mikeylikesitJuly 17 01:30 pm JST

Unfortunately, what you say is true. As our studies into children improve, the margins for good child bearing has gotten tighter to meet. It's getting to the point that we are finding out about how whether a mother is around to constantly talk to her newborn baby can actually affect his intelligence, not just whether he had a happy infanthood. This pushes the argument towards a full time attendant (stay-at home mother) for each kid rather than the mother working and throwing the kid into a collective care center whether the carer-cared for ratio must be much less than 1:1.

Men are afraid of intelligence women in Japan, they feel like their masculinity is being stepped on!