Japan ranks low for gender equality and Japanese women have long complained that the domestic demands on them, combined with universities’ unwillingness to compensate for them, make academic careers very difficult to pursue. But are things starting to change? Pola Lem reports from Tokyo
In the sort of formal ceremony beloved in this part of the world, VIPs posed on stage, holding shovels decorated with giant gold bows, to mark the launch of a University of Hong Kong (HKU) campus redevelopment project.
Covid restrictions meant that the guests wore face masks, and the event, held in January, could be viewed only online. However, the message was clear. Not even a pandemic was going to stop construction on a new home for the business school, sports facilities and residences. Over the next few years, HKU plans several other infrastructure projects and hundreds of new hires at the professorial level.