Kimiko Ogoshi

In a landmark case, a Japanese court has ruled that a female academic researcher was the victim of harassment and shouldbeaward-ed compenstion. Kumiko Ogoshi, a research assistant at Nara Medical University, has been awarded 550,000 yen (US $5,100) by the Osaka District Court for inappropriate interference and harassment by her superior, a male professor.

Ogoshi filed suit in 1997, alleging that the professor, head of the university's department of public health, had bullied her for years and tried to make her resign. She claimed he had moved her belongings out of her office and fouled it with liquid waste while she was away. She says he also refused to sign papers necessary for her to complete her research or to go to scientific meetings.

Ogoshi specializes in the health effects of trace elements, and joined Nara Medical University as a research associate in 1976, but was never promoted. Currently, there is one other woman in the five-person department, an associate professor. She says the harassment did not begin until 1993, due she believes, to her joining the Association of Research Associates, a group formed to include instructors and associates in faculty gatherings.

She had petitioned for 5.5 million yen in compensation and told Nature Medicine that she is appealing the judgment from her local government, the Nara Prefecture, which employs University staff.

The Japanese Prime Minister's Office for Gender Equality estimates that in 1997, women comprised only 12.3% of full-time teachers at universities, and this is the first time that a case of academic harassment, or akahara, has been ruled in favor of a plaintiff, says Ogoshi. The idea that both men and women can speak out against harassment is gaining ground in Japan. The case of a male academic who claims harassment by Ryuku University in Okinawa is presently being heard in Naha District Court.