UN Women Japan Leads the Charge With A Dynamic Dialogue on Gender Equality in Japan

In celebration of International Women’s Day (IWD), on March 8th, the UN Women Japan Liaison Office (JLO) co-organized a public-facing event with Bunkyo-ku, which hosts the JLO office. The event invited several key speakers, including Fumiko Fukuoka, the Director of JLO as well as Ms. Yuko Nishimura, Vice President of Talent Management Department and Sustainability Transformation Department of Recruit Holdings, HeForShe Champion.

To kick off the event entitled “Gender Equality: Present and Future”, Fumiko Fukuoka delivered a keynote on the latest trends around gender equality with a special focus on the IWD’s theme. She also explained JLO’s engagements with Japan, including the HeForShe initiative.

The panel discussion was attended by leading representatives from diverse stakeholders, including private sector companies and an NGO to share their insights and journeys on accelerating gender equality in their professional and personal lives. Ms. Nishimura underscored the importance of Recruit Holdings’ efforts to achieve gender parity by increasing the number of women in decision-making positions while highlighting the challenges that still lie in the Japanese workplace - achieving both job satisfaction, which leads to career and evolution for all employees, and a flexible work environment suiting individual needs. The conversation then moved on to focus on women’s career development in the society where women continue to spend more time on unpaid care work than men. Ms. Nishimura shared her challenge when looking for a job as a woman upon graduating from university. Japan has had a long-established norm where women are expected to work in supporting the work of men, which is gradually changing. Reflecting on her career paths, Ms. Nishimura said 

“In today's uncertain world where easy answers are rare, what's most important is unleashing the vibrant strengths within every unique individual."

The event was a big success with positive feedback from participants mentioning that 

“it was intriguing to hear the challenges that women in different sectors have faced and how they have addressed them at a personal and organizational level.” 

JLO will continue to work with Recruit Holdings and other important partners to build a more equal society.