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Universitites for women? Does it lead to better products and services?

The image: on the left: Prof. Itito Siio.

Sitting at the WAMS seminar in Ylivieska, Finland today I listen to Prof. Itiro Siio from the Ochanomizu University in Japan as he presented different research results from their university.

He showed us lots of amusing examples, and I stress amusing, as much of it is probably not applicable in Europe due to cultural differences but interesting examples of solutions for social living with you spouse even though you live apart thanks to synchronized house ware.

What I actually found most fascinating about his presentation was actually that Itiro Siio is a professor at one of Japans two all-female students university. Is this a spreading phenomenon? What effects does this have on products and services that originate from the university?

Itiro told me after his presentation that he thinks that “the female universities are important as many women are discourages to study technology otherwise”. The university is 150 years old.

Is this true or just a reflection of the Japanese view on women? An acquaintance of mine lived and studied in Japan.
He once told me that his professor felt the need to clarify the word “process” for the women of his class by asking them to think of it in terms of cooking for your spouse or doing the laundry. Perhaps not the most politically correct method where we come from.

The fact remains though. In our Industry most developers are men, 85% would probably be an educated guess. Our industry develops services and products for both genders obviously. If we had a better balance of sexes, would the products and services we produce be better?

Philip Stankovski

Wednesday 19 November 2008 13:11
Tags: gender, itiro siio, japan, ochanomizu university, university, wams, women


Alfred
Monday 12 January 2009 11:01
I am convinced that the a better balance of gender will help create better products - regardless of what you are creating. Men and women are all created equal, but as you example proves, not treated equal. There for we all have different views on things.

Even though it might be good the have gender separated schools to make sure the women are not overrun by the men, I don't think it's good in the long run. The biggest risk I see is that the gender separation will continue after graduation. Company leaders tend to employ pers.

One idea might be to have gender separation in some classes at the universities. Maybe during more hands on work, for instance in the lab. Here it would also be very interesting to see what differences there will be between the groups results and analysis.


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