In recent years, very few Japanese women have entered the fields of science and technology despite the fact that Japan has specialized in these areas. This study attempts to develop a preliminary profile of those women who have despite odds, made careers in science. Generally, these women were found to come from families of high socio-economic status. These families had socialization patterns typical of middle and upper classes which included the teaching of universal, rather than of local, values, little sex-stereotyping, non-arbitrary verbal communication between generations, and field-independent views. / Families of respondents valued education and were interested in science. In many cases they included persons who were causal and creative. Familial males shared their activities with respondents and familial females modelled an independent, nonpassive role. Respondents often had their first positive science experience within the family, but there were also teachers, primarily at secondary and university levels, who encouraged them. In addition, critical experiences and role models also influenced them. Role models were sometimes persons the respondents knew; in other cases, they were literary figures. / In spite of frustrations and some gender discrimination in the workplace, respondents for the most part are happy to have chosen science as their profession.

No description available.

This study of Japanese women scientists recognizes that their workplaces are those in which the traditional culture of Japan meets the practices of a modern scientific laboratory. In many ways, the two places, Japan and the laboratory, hold contradictory values. Which values will subsume which? Having asked this question, I have attempted to determine the implications of this clash of values for Japanese women working in science. 85 non-Japanese postdoctoral researchers working in Japan were asked their opinions about the distinct characteristics of Japanese laboratory practice, and 62 Japanese women in science in Japan and abroad were asked to comment on a variety of issues in relation to their situation. Results of this survey indicate that Japanese cultural values predominate in science practice in Japan. This predominance has implications both for the scientists and for scientific results. Japan's science laboratories are psychologically less cold than they otherwise might be, but the warm human connections helpful on a social level are in some ways inimical to getting scientific tasks done. The vertical social structure, moreover, means that women who leave scientific work temporarily to fulfill home duties may find it difficult to return to their workplaces later, when these duties become less pressing. Individual needs relating to role models, mentoring, family issues, and to the cultivation of critical thought and independent thinking appear to be the most pressing for women scientists. Implications are: Japan needs a method of allowing field-independent discussion without reference to considerations of rank, seniority, or age. The government of Japan can be supportive of women in science in various ways. For example, they can adjust the gendered division of labour in the scientific workplace and in the Japanese home to include both masculine and feminine participation at both sites. They can also compose a new governmental word descriptive of the present

No description available.