Empowering women executives in the boardroom, Japan’s new goal focuses on achieving 30% female executives at leading firms, shifting corporate culture.
The Japanese government aims to increase the representation of women in executive positions at top companies to a minimum of 30% by 2030, as revealed in a draft document presented on Monday. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida had previously outlined this objective, and his cabinet is expected to make an official decision on the proposal later this month.
The target specifically applies to companies listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE)’s prestigious Prime market. The rationale behind this goal is to address concerns regarding the lack of diverse perspectives within Japanese corporate management.
Kishida initially introduced the target in late April, emphasising the need for more ambitious measures to facilitate the advancement of women into leadership roles.
As of July 2022, 18.7% of companies listed on the TSE Prime market did not have any female executives. Additionally, a mere 2.2% of these Japan companies declared representation of women exceeding 30% in executive positions.
Establishing this target is deemed essential for encouraging the professional growth of women and fostering increased diversity and inclusion in socioeconomic decision-making processes. These points were highlighted in the document, which originated from a government committee focused on gender inclusivity.
The government intends to strongly encourage companies to appoint at least one female executive by approximately 2025. Furthermore, it will recommend that TSE Prime companies develop action plans to achieve these objectives. It is anticipated that the new TSE listing rules, to be implemented this year, will incorporate numerical targets to support this initiative.
The policy blueprint also outlines a goal of having women entrepreneurs lead 20% of startups recognised under the government’s J-Startup programme by May 2033. This programme provides financial assistance to designated companies.
As of May, out of the 238 startups selected for the initiative, only 8.8% were founded by women entrepreneurs. This figure falls short of the overall representation of female presidents across all Japanese companies, which stood at 14.2% in 2021, as reported by the Financial Services Agency.
Featured banner image credit: japantimes.co
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