About Us
Contents
1.A Word from the Chair
Welcome to the NAOJ Gender Equality Promotion Committee webpage. As a cutting-edge research institute for astronomy, the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) has been striving for years to establish a gender-equal society at the initiative of the Committee. This website is a product of our efforts and accumulated know-how so far. We hope that this website will serve as a useful reference for you.
(Junichi Watanabe, Vice-Director General of NAOJ)
2.Our Policy for Promoting Gender Equality
NAOJ is the central research institution leading Japanese astronomy. Our primary mission is to advance the frontiers of astronomy research, and we believe that the active participation of talented young researchers and women researchers is important to achieve this goal. Now, the aging Japanese society is facing a tough challenge: how do we balance work and elder care? NAOJ is not immune to this problem. We are promoting gender equality so that researchers from all generations and diverse backgrounds can maximize their potential.
Efforts Related to Personnel Selection
If periods of Prenatal/Postnatal Leave, Childcare Absence, or Family Care Absence are on applicants' resumes, we will take these periods into account in the selection process. For example, we will exclude these leave or absence periods when calculating the mean number of papers per year published by the applicants.
Efforts Related to Employment
All Regular Researchers*
All Regular Researchers can take Prenatal/Postnatal Leave, Childcare Absence, or Family Care Absence at any time during their employment period.
* “Regular Researchers” refers to those falling under the Employee Regulations, Regulations of Employment for Employees on Annual Salary System, and Research Administrator Staff Regulations of NINS.
NAOJ Fellows/Project Research Fellows
When NAOJ Fellows or Project Research Fellows take Prenatal/Postnatal Leave, Childcare Absence, or Family Care Absence during their employment period, the remaining period will, in principle, be extended by a number of days equal to the duration of the leave or absence.
Efforts Related to Working
We offer a range of support systems, including appointment of academic assistants, the childcare room in NAOJ, support for business trips, and so on.
The NAOJ Gender Equality Promotion Committee works to maintain a gender equality culture throughout the whole observatory. It discusses subjects including matters related to the basic philosophy for promoting gender equality; developing and implementing strategic plans on gender equality; analysis and evaluation of the current situation and their disclosure; and awareness-raising activities for promoting gender equality.
3.Organization
Committee Members (Term of Office: April 2020 – March 2022)
Chair
Junichi Watanabe (Vice-Director General (on General Affairs))
Vice Chair
Hideko Nomura (Head of Division of Science)
Committee Members
- Kazuhisa Mitsuda (Director of Engineering)
- Takashi Takashi (Chair of Graduate Education Committee)
- Michitoshi Yoshida (Director of Subaru Telescope)
- Tetsuhiro Minamidani (Head of NAOJ Chile)
- Wako Aoki (TMT Project)
- Eiichiro Kokubo (Center for Computational Astrophysics)
- Mami Machida (Division of Science)
- Misato Fukagawa (ALMA Project)
- Kyoko Nakamura (ALMA Project)
- Hisashi Fujita (Head of Administration Department)
- Noboru Noda (Head of Human Resources Planning Office)
Gender Equality in NINS
NAOJ is a member institution of the National Institutes of Natural Science (NINS) and works according to an action plan prepared by the Gender Equality Promotion Committee of NINS. Two members of NAOJ’s Gender Equality Promotion Committee also serve as members of NINS’s Gender Equality Promotion Committee and engage in information sharing and consideration of systems, including action plans, at the overall organization level. For gender equality efforts in NINS, visit the link below.
4.Systems Overview
The eligibility requirements vary depending between the different support systems prepared by NAOJ or NINS. For the detailed requirements, see the description of each item.
| NAOJ Staff | JSPS Fellows, EACOA Fellows, or visitors from other organizations*2 | |
|---|---|---|
| Special Leave | available (with partial job-category restrictions) |
not available |
| Restrictions on Overtime Work | available | not available |
| Exemption from the Obligation to Give Undivided Attention to Duty | available | not available |
| Childcare Absence | available (with restrictions) |
not available |
| Partial Childcare Absence | available | not available |
| Shortening of Breaks | available (with job-category restrictions) |
not available |
| Allocation of Working Hours | available (with job-category restrictions) |
not available |
| NAOJ’s Child Daycare Support | available | available |
| NINS’s Support for Childcare/Business Travel with Children | available | available (with conditions) |
| Childcare Room | available | available (with conditions) |
| Working-With-Children Space | restricted to academic staff*1 | available (with conditions) |
| Academic Assistant System | restricted to academic staff*1 | not available |
| Working-From-Home System | restricted to academic staff*1 | not available |
*1Here “academic staff” refers to those employed as Research and Academic Staff, Project Academic Staff, or Project Research Staff.
*2Here “visitors” refers to those visiting NAOJ from other organizations for joint research projects, seminars, etc. They have no employment relationship with NAOJ and thus are not eligible for NAOJ’s support systems. However, JSPS Fellows have their own maternity/childcare leave benefits available to them.