Efforts to improve Japanese women’s status in STEM fields

Abstract

Abstract I discovered novel copper and silver carbonyl catalysts while at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology. The energy saving synthesis of tert-carboxylic acids was developed using the carbonylation reaction of olefins or alcohols using these novel copper or silver carbonyl catalysts under atmospheric pressure and at room temperature. After retiring from the institute, I was involved in efforts to improve women’s status in natural science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. I worked for the gender equality committee of the Chemical Society of Japan and the Japan Inter-Society Liaison Association Committee for Promoting Equal Participation of Men and Women in Science and Engineering, which sent recommendations to the government on how to realize a society with gender equality. The government accepted our recommendations, and the numerical target for female researchers was written into the 3rd Science and Technology Basic Plan in 2006. Based on the plan, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology started programs to aid universities in increasing the percentage of female researchers from 2006.