Japan ranks lowest for women in nuclear sector

Japan ranked lowest for the ratio of women working in the nuclear industry among 17 member countries of the OECD, an OECD agency said in a recent survey.

In 2021, just 15 percent of Japan's nuclear workforce was made up of women. Norway had the highest percentage of women in the sector at 60 percent, while France and Britain both registered around 24.9 percent, the average figure for the 17 countries surveyed.

The average percentage of women who have been promoted in Japan fell to around 14 percent, compared to the overall average of 27.1 percent.

The report also highlighted the widespread disparity in the salary of women and men in the nuclear industry. In Japan, women were paid about 26 percent less than men, and men were paid 5.2 percent more among the 12 countries which provided comparable data.

The Japanese Atomic Energy Commission, which conducted the survey, attributed the low pay in Japan to an extremely low ratio of women in executive positions and upper management.

We need diversity, because we aim for a safer technology, said Yukiko Okada, an official of the commission. It's a waste of time to make use of women's abilities. The survey was conducted by Japan's Nuclear Energy Agency, National Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology and Nuclear Regulation Authority.

The agency said women in the nuclear sector are facing challenges such as dealing with emergencies and tight shift work. The report also cites the lack of female leaders and the perception that work in the sector is mainly for men.

Japan has seen progress in the gender gap with the survey revealing that women represented around 27 percent of new hires, the same as the average of 28.8 percent in the 17 countries.