Fujitsu-Ochanomizu University Research Lab Social Collaboration Program

This university-industry social collaboration program is a platform on which the Institute for Gendered Innovations and Fujitsu work together to conduct collaborative research and educational activities across a wide range of fields, including the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences.

Program Leader: SAITO Etsuko (Professor and Deputy Director, Institute for Gendered Innovations, Ochanomizu University)

Program Sub-leader: NAGAI Hiroki (Head of Office, Industry-Academia Collaboration Promotion Office, Fujitsu Limited)

Project Period: April 1, 2025 – March 31, 2026

The Fifth Basic Plan for Gender Equality (Cabinet Office, 2020) aims to realize a society by the 2030s where everyone can thrive without gender bias and where leadership positions are not skewed by gender. It sets a target of achieving approximately 30% female representation in leadership positions by the early 2020s. However, the actual proportion of women in managerial positions equivalent to or above the section chief level is only 12.7%. Promoting women’s advancement in companies requires addressing the entire pipeline from recruitment to promotion. This project focuses specifically on new graduate recruitment.

This study aims to examine the gender bias in new graduate recruitment interviews. Interviews are a decisive factor in new graduate hiring, and gender differences between interviewers and job seekers may generate gender bias. Regarding interviews for new graduates, much existing research has focused on job seekers, and the relationship between the gender difference between interviewers and job seekers has not been sufficiently elucidated. Therefore, analyzing both the employer and job seeker to examine the presence of gender bias in interviews and its potential to lead to gender inequality in evaluation and hiring provides valuable insights.

In new graduate hiring, many companies are transitioning from traditional membership-based hiring to role-based or job-specific hiring, resulting in diverse interview formats for new graduates. This research project aims to produce outcomes directly applicable to hiring practices.

• SAITO Etsuko (Professor, IGI)
• WAKITA Aya (Associate Professor, Ochanomizu University)
• AIKAWA Shoko (Project Lecturer, IGI)
• YOSHIHARA Kumi (URA, IGI)
• SHIMIZU Masayoshi (Industry-Academia Collaboration Promotion Office, Fujitsu Limited)

May 30, 2025 Student Seminar
FUJITSU DAY: Discovering Career Paths as Corporate Researchers with Fujitsu’s Female R&D Specialists

(Event information in Japanese)