ニュース詳細

Women in Business Kick-Off Event: Leveraging Women’s Leadership to Drive Business Forward

Elizabeth Handover, Co-Chair of the Women in Business Committee, kicked off the newly formed Women in Business Committee by moderating the ACCJ panel, "Leveraging Women's Leadership to Drive your Company Forward." This panel featured two of Japan's top women leaders: Fumiko Hayashi, Mayor of Yokohama; and Asako Hoshino, Corporate Vice President of Nissan Motor Company; along with Lorraine J. Hariton, U.S. State Department Special Representative for Commercial and Business Affairs.

Handover put the situation of Japanese women in context by noting that over half of Japanese university graduates are women, but only 67% of them are actually in the workforce. As Handover put it, "The reasons are multi-fold. They have to do with work-life balance, management practices, the psychology of the organizations, and very long hours on top of long commutes. It is very difficult for women to be successful in that environment. Only 6% of all managers in Japan are women, compared to 43% in the United States, and up from 1.6% in 2004 in Japan." Handover noted that closing the GDP gap for female employment would affect Japanese GDP by 16%.