Page 16 n THE ASIAN REPORTER
ASIA / PACIFIC
November 19, 2018
Japan med school to admit dozens of unfairly rejected women
By Mari Yamaguchi
The Associated Press
OKYO — A Japanese medical
university that acknowledged
systematically
discriminating
against female applicants has announced
plans to accept more than 60 who were
unfairly rejected over the past two years.
The discriminatory policy at Tokyo
Medical University surfaced earlier this
year, triggering national outrage. The
school acknowledged in August that it had
been reducing female applicants’ entrance
exam scores for years to keep the numbers
of female students low. They said women
tend to quit as doctors after starting
families, causing staffing shortages at a
school-affiliated hospital.
The university said it will offer to enroll
67 female applicants who were eliminated
due to the exam manipulation.
University president Yukiko Hayashi
apologized for the school’s discriminatory
policy.
“We will conduct fair entrance exams
and never let the inappropriate practice be
repeated,” she said. “Nobody should be
discriminated against because of gender.”
In Japan, women are still considered
T
responsible for homemaking, childrearing,
and elderly care, while men are expected to
work long hours and outside care services
are limited.
The scandal prompted speculation that
other medical schools may also follow
Pakistani woman sentenced to life for family poisonings
MULTAN, Pakistan (AP) — A Pakistani
court has found a woman and her friend
guilty of poisoning to death 17 family
members and sentenced them each to
multiple life sentences in prison.
Police officer Zafar Iqbal said
anti-terrorism court judge Shakir Hasan
also fined Aasia Bibi and Shahid Lashari 3
million rupees ($23,000) each. The court
ordered the 15 life terms to run
concurrently.
Bibi was married against her will in
September last year to Amjad Hussain in
the central city of Rajan Pur. A month
later, investigators say, Bibi conspired
with Lashari to poison a container of milk
that was consumed by the whole family of
27. The poison killed 17 family members,
but Bibi’s husband and nine others
survived.
Many parents in Pakistan arrange
marriages for their daughters.
similar practices.
Hayashi, who became university
president in September following her
predecessor’s resignation over a bribery
allegation that led to the exposure of the
exam manipulation, said she was shocked
SEXIST SCREENING. Tokyo Medical University
president Yukiko Hayashi, right, speaks during a press
conference in Tokyo. The Japanese medical university
that has acknowledged systematically discriminating
against female applicants announced plans to accept
more than 60 who had been unfairly rejected in the
past two years. (Kyodo News via AP)
by the large number of women who were
denied entry.
It isn’t clear how many women will
accept the school’s offer and enroll.
Hayashi declined to comment on what the
school will do about dozens of male
students who were wrongfully given
additional points and accepted instead of
the women.
The manipulation came to light during
an investigation into allegations that the
school accepted the son of an education
ministry official in exchange for favorable
treatment for the school in obtaining
research funds. The bureaucrat and the
former head of the school have been
charged with bribery.
The investigation found that the school
reduced all applicants’ first-stage test
scores by 20 percent this year and then
added at least 20 points for male
applicants, unless they had failed at least
four times previously.
Hard-hitting Philippine news site faces tax evasion charge
MANILA, The Philippines (AP) —
Philippine prosecutors say they will file
charges of tax evasion against a news
website that has been critical of President
Rodrigo Duterte. The Justice Department
said in a statement it found probable cause
to indict Rappler Holdings Corp. and its
president, journalist Maria Ressa.
Rappler called it “a clear form of
continuing intimidation and harassment”
and an attempt to “silence reporting that
does not please the administration.”
Duterte had already banned a Rappler
reporter from news briefings after the
government’s corporate watchdog found
that the organization violated a constitu-
tional prohibition on foreign ownership
when it received money from an interna-
tional investment firm. Rappler rejects it.
Duterte has accused several indepen-
dent media groups in the Philippines of
biased reporting.
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