The Japan Business Federation and an international group dedicated to boosting female representation in the upper echelons of the corporate world have pledged to work together to drive sustainable business growth and corporate value through the promotion of women.
The federation, known as Keidanren, and the Japan chapter of the Britain-founded "30% Club," said they will exchange information, organize events and communicate with the public and media in a bid to promote an improved gender balance in senior corporate decision-making roles in Japan.
(File photo of female managers at Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co. attending a training session in October 2018)
The two parties called for active participation of women and greater gender diversity "as a means of contributing to companies' sustainable growth and improving corporate value in the medium to long term," according to a document they signed.
Japan is "headed in the right direction, but Japanese companies are still behind when compared with peers in foreign countries," said Yasuyoshi Karasawa, who chairs Keidanren's committee on diversity and inclusion, at a Dec. 18 signing ceremony in Tokyo.
"We hope to take (the changes) to a higher level, using the signing of the memorandum of understanding as an opportunity," said Karasawa, president and CEO of MS&AD Insurance Group Holdings Inc.
The Japanese chapter of the 30% Club, which operates in 14 countries and regions, was established in May 2019, aiming to raise the ratio of female board or audit members to 10 percent in 2020 and 30 percent in 2030 among 100 major companies listed on the First Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
As of July 2019, the ratio stood at 10.5 percent.
Shiseido Co. President Masahiko Uotani, who heads the 30% Club Japan, said some long-standing systems in Japanese companies create barriers to women's active participation in the workplace.
"I'd like to take the lead in showing that (corporate) value is created when the management team faces up to challenges and adopts diverse perspectives," Uotani said.
(Uotani, left, and Karasawa)
A total of 46 heads of major companies and universities are members of the Japanese arm of the club, including Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Chairman Takashi Hibino and Hitachi Ltd. President Toshiaki Higashihara.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government has set a target of raising the ratio of women in executive roles at listed companies to 10 percent by 2020. But as of July 2019, the ratio stood at 5.2 percent.
According to 2017 data by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the share of board seats occupied by females at publicly listed companies in France was at 43 percent. In Germany, the figure is 32 percent and in the United States it is 22 percent.
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