[Event Report] CCCJ・McGill MBA Japan Gender Diversity 3rd Roundtable

[Event Report] CCCJ・McGill MBA Japan Gender Diversity 3rd Roundtable

Following a highly successful second CCCJ – McGill Japan Gender Diversity roundtable held earlier in October 2015, a third roundtable was hosted by Akiko Kosuda, member of the CCCJ's Honorary Board of Advisors, Senior Advisor to the Japan PFI/PPP Association, and Tokyo Girls Collection Executive Committee Supervisor, on January 14th at the Roppongi Hills Club. At the event, all participants – both men and women – shared their personal experiences, views and ideas on the importance of supporting women’s career development. With the recent social shift towards a more gender-neutral approach to overcome persisting bias and resolve gender-related conflicts that arise in the workplace, men – particularly male managers - are increasingly called upon to take a more active role in fostering corporate change.

The key takeaways from the discussion were:

Japanese corporate culture needs to recognize the value of supporting women and men with children by providing these employees with more flexibility (working hours or working remotely).
In other Asian countries, such as the Philippines, women are allowed to bring their kids to work so that female employees can advance on their careers while raising children. Japanese society also needs to learn from other countries and create a family-friendly work culture.
It is also important to promote new diversity initiatives, such as “Kaji-sharing” (to share housework) and “Iku-men” (child rearing fathers), so that working mothers have enough support from their partners and won’t receive criticisms about their life-styles.

Supplementary recommended readings:

“S&P TSX Composite Index” (please see the attachment) and “Boardroom gender diversification can be attained if companies have the will” by Mme Louise Champoux-Paillé, C.Q.,ASC,F.Adm.A., MBA (please access through here )

The next RT will be taking place on April 14^th, 2016, and the theme will be: Changing Organizational Culture. If you are interested in joining, please contact admin [at] cccj.or.jp ()

for more information.

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