Tochigi Prefecture has topped the nation in the percentage of female administrators at public elementary and junior high schools in a nationwide survey of women's status in teaching, where a wide gender gap prevails.
Kagoshima meanwhile was the prefecture with the lowest percentage of female principals and assistant principals in elementary, junior high and high schools.
The survey was conducted by Kiyoshi Ikegi, a professor of educational administration at Nihonbashi Gakkan University in Kashiwa, Chiba Prefecture. Ikegi formulated his comparative index using education ministry data for fiscal 2001.
Women accounted for 34 percent of principals and 53 percent of assistant principals in Tochigi elementary schools. That number drops to 21.6 percent when all Tochigi public schools are taken into account. Toyama came next at 19.9 percent for all schools, followed by Akita at 16.9 percent, and Kagawa at 16.7 percent. The percentage of female school administrators at public schools nationwide was 9.4, compared with 7.1 when Ikegi began his survey five years ago.
While the percentage of female administrators is rising, the pace of increase is falling, Ikegi said. The biggest rise in female school administrators took place in Akita, Oita and Okinawa prefectures over the past five years.
Kagoshima, with 3.1 percent of female school administrators, and Miyazaki, at 3.6 percent, ranked lowest. Hokkaido also figured low, at 3.8 percent, while Nagano had 4.3 percent.
About 65 percent of elementary school teachers and 40 percent of junior high school teachers nationwide are women.