Gender Inequality Improvement in Medical School Admissions in Japan

Purpose: To investigate the effects of gender discrimination in Japan's medical school admission process and to assess whether the situation has improved since the disclosure of such discrimination in 2018. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted using secondary data from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology. The proportions of male and female applicants vis-à-vis all successful candidates admitted from 2016 to 2021 were analyzed; four medical schools were found to be systematically guilty of discriminatory admission practices. Acceptance rate ratios (ARRs) were estimated, and difference-in-differences (DID) analysis was used to examine the differences in ARRs between the two groups-the 4 and 75 medical schools that were and were not reported, respectively-in the predisclosure (2016-2018) and postdisclosure (2019-2021) periods. Results: Female applicants were subjected to discriminatory admission practices at the four reported medical schools in the predisclosure period. However, postdisclosure, those four medical schools had higher female than male acceptance rates in all 3 years. DID analysis revealed a statistically significant estimated average treatment effect on the treated of 0.25148 (95% confidence interval [0.00455-0.49840]), indicating a 0.25-point increase in ARRs relative to the other 75 medical schools. Conclusions: Discriminatory practices against female applicants have decreased since the disclosure in 2018, with the acceptance rate of female students exceeding that of male students for the first time in 2021. In response to these findings, we propose recommendations to further promote gender equality in medicine.