Women in Japan: The Faint Stirrings of an Economic Revolution, says WOMEN-omics.com
PARIS, Mar. 9 /PRNewswire-AsiaNet/ --
WOMEN-omics Founder Avivah Wittenberg-Cox to Speak in Tokyo
March 16 on The Economic Power of Japan's Women
"Women are being underused in the Japanese economy, which can ill-afford
to waste precious human talent, especially as the country reels from the
impact of the global recession in its export market," says a new article on
WOMEN-omics.com, the first Website to make the business case for gender
balance and exploring the economic impact of women on companies and
countries. WOMEN-omics was launched in January by Founder and Publisher
Avivah Wittenberg-Cox, a leading gender consultant to global corporations.
"According to OECD (Organization for Economic Co-Operation and
Development) figures, only 67.4% of Japanese women in the age group 25-54
have a job, which is 15 percentage points lower than the best performing OECD
nations such as Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Finland," says WOMEN-omics. "And
this underutilization of women talent in Japan happens in a country where
women are among the most highly educated in the OECD."
The contribution of gender balance is known to radically improve
organizational performance, according to studies by McKinsey and Catalyst.
"In Japan, the situation is especially dire in this regard," says
WOMEN-omics. "Look at any leadership team on a Japanese corporate Website and
you are likely to see rows of male faces staring back at you."
WOMEN-omics and Ms. Wittenberg-Cox believe that women are the answer to
Japan's shrinking labor pool -- and declining birthrates. "The OECD has found
a positive correlation between high participation rates of women in the
economy and high birth rates," says Ms. Wittenberg-Cox. "Women around the
world have shown their economic power, and so can women in Japan. Women
comprise more than half of the global talent pool and are responsible for 80%
of consumer purchases. The bottom line is that women are central to the
challenges of an aging workforce, falling birth rates, and skill shortages."
In 2008, one major Japanese electronics firm had only 170 women managers
out of 11,000, and this at a firm that had diversity initiatives for several
years. Even so, signs are encouraging. WOMEN-omics quotes Aya Iinuma, a
Principal at the Tokyo office of the global headhunting firm Heidrick &
Struggles, who says Japanese multinationals are much keener to attract women
executives. "Even in the current economic environment, we see many clients
continuing to hire female executives, while they are imposing a hiring freeze
in most other positions," says Ms. Iinuma. She notes, for example, that
Toyota plans to hire at least five women general managers in the next five
years.
"Smarter leaders know that the real test of the current economic climate
is shaping new answers to the old questions of building successful
enterprises," the WOMEN-omics article says, citing the "salaryman" culture in
particular. "There is no doubt that one of the new answers has to be the
inclusion of much greater numbers of talented women at the top of companies
to steer them onto a fresh course."
The complete WOMEN-omics article, "Can Japan Change? The Economic
Revolution Waiting to Happen," is available at:
Avivah Wittenberg-Cox March 16 Tokyo Appearance:
Avivah Wittenberg-Cox, a leading gender consultant to corporations,
co-author of WHY WOMEN MEAN BUSINESS: THE EMERGENCE OF OUR NEXT ECONOMIC
REVOLUTION (Wiley, 2008), and Founder and Publisher of the Website
WOMEN-omics.com, will be in Tokyo March 16 for a reception and keynote panel
on the economic power of Japan's women.
The program, sponsored by UBS, Coca-Cola, American Express, FEW, AWF,
GEWEL, and the Women's Group at TAC, will be held March 16, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
at UBS East Tower, Otemachi First Square 5-1 Otemachi 1-Chome, Tokyo. To
register and for more information contact few@gol.com.
Press Availability:
To schedule an interview with Ms. Wittenberg-Cox while she is in Tokyo on
March 16, please contact Joelle Couthouis at + 33 1 39 75 42 24 or
joelle@20-first.com.
About WOMEN-omics:
business case for gender balance and exploring the economic impact of women
on companies and countries. Providing exclusive global reporting, updated
daily, on women's growing economic impact on companies and countries,
WOMEN-omics aggregates the best information, ideas, and insight in the field.
The site is designed for corporate leaders, top executives, policymakers,
journalists, researchers, business schools, and women in the workplace.
About Avivah Wittenberg-Cox:
Avivah Wittenberg-Cox is Founder and Publisher of WOMEN-omics. Based in
Paris, she is an expert in corporate gender bilingualism (getting companies
to speak the language of both men and women), CEO of 20-first, one of
Europe's leading gender consultancies, and co-author of the bestselling WHY
WOMEN MEAN BUSINESS: THE EMERGENCE OF OUR NEXT ECONOMIC REVOLUTION (Wiley,
2008) with Alison Maitland. The book will be published in Korean in the
summer.
On March 11-13, Ms. Wittenberg-Cox will be in Singapore for speaking
engagements including the keynote at an INSEAD Asia Campus seminar, "The
Emergence of Our Next Economic Revolution," and to address the American
Chamber of Commerce in Singapore.
SOURCE: WOMEN-omics.com
CONTACT: Joelle Couthouis of WOMEN-omics.com
+33-1-39-75-42-24, or
joelle@20-first.com
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