Differences between female and male researchers with fixed-term positions in Japan

Fixed-term researchers, not only for female researchers but also for male researchers, have a more volatile life than non-term researchers. There are quite a few countries that are struggling with this issue, and it can be said that each country has its own characteristics. It is often said that it is necessary to take positive actions and set numerical targets for improving gender equality issues. However, in fact in Japan it is often said that "it is inverse discrimination" at the stage of submitting a request to set such numerical targets or when recruiting researchers only for women as one of positive actions. When such fact occurred, the seeds for improving gender equality actions would be pulled away before they grow up. Large-scale surveys of female researcher ratio and activities in almost all STEM fields have been conducted through EPMEWSE by 5 years intervals. The recent survey was done in 2017. The results were analyzed and reported 2018 in Japanese and 2019 in English. According to the report, the average age at which half of fixed-term female researchers can move to permanent positions is 2-3 years older than male researchers. Reflecting this, the average annual income of fixed-term female researchers is lower than that of male researchers. In this presentation, I will introduce the results of a comparison of such data between the STEM field and the earth and planetary science field.