[1/3] Yuna Kato works with male students at her college club to produce a light human-powered aircraft at the school, at Tokyo University in Tokyo, Japan June 30, 2023, in this screen grab from video.
Kato has made it this far, but many aspiring female engineers choose a different path due to the social stigma, creating a massive headache for Japan.
That is despite Japanese girls scoring second-highest in the world in maths and third in science, according to the OECD.
School officials felt women were more likely to quit working after having children and would waste their education.
NO DIVERSITY, NO INNOVATIONMore schools and companies including Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (7011.T) and Toyota (7203.T) are offering scholarships to female STEM students to attract talent.
Persons:
Yuna Kato, Chris Gallagher TOKYO, Kato, Li, It's, Minoru Taniura, Kyoko Ida, ichi, we've, Mariko Katsumura, Mayu Sakoda, Rocky Swift, Chang, Ran Kim, Sonali Paul
Organizations:
Tokyo University, REUTERS, OECD, Reuters, Kato's Tokyo Institute of Technology, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Toyota, Mitsubishi, Panasonic, Thomson
Locations:
Tokyo, Japan, Mazda's