International Women’s Day is a day to look back and reflect on how we have been progressing from a woman’s point of view. We need to ask ourselves - how can we contribute to making our company, our country, our society, our world, a better place? Ideally, a place where difference is valued and celebrated and everybody has the opportunity to express their own opinion.
Based on the latest World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index, Japan is highly ranked for educational attainment and health and survival. However, for economic participation and opportunity and political empowerment, the ranking is closer to the bottom and brings the overall ranking to 118th out of 146 countries. This would mean that the situation in Japan is that there are many healthy and well educated women, but somehow they are not able to play an active role in the workforce. There is an increasing sense of awareness around this problem in the country, and the Japanese government has been taking actions together with many companies including KIOXIA Corporation to improve the situation. However, there is still more room for acceleration, just like the theme of this year’s IWD - ‘Accelerate Action’.
Last year, I had the opportunity to introduce the Eucalyptus Group, a diverse team of 12 members, both women and men, representing various departments and backgrounds within KOIXIA Corporation. This internal group has been collaborating closely with the company to highlight the importance of diversity and inclusion. The group has also been championing the company’s efforts to achieve the Eruboshi certification. I would like to talk about the Eucalyptus Group’s exciting journey in building bridges and sparking changes, making connections and establishing foundations to bring more awareness to the company and help accelerate action.
The founding members of the Eucalyptus Group were all located in different locations - Tokyo, Yokohama and Yokkaichi - and were not able to get together in person. However, that proved to not be an issue. We all had the same desire and vision to uplift the women already working for the company and help make KIOXIA a great place to work not only for women but for everyone - regardless of gender. We began by conducting internal meetings, at least once and sometimes twice a week, and started to gather information from similar communities. We attended seminars, and reached out to companies with a long history of empowering women. This was extremely helpful in getting an idea on how to proceed in building the structure of the Eucalyptus Group in Japan.
We also learned that many other companies have similar groups, and took the opportunity to exchange information and ideas. We all shared an understanding of the importance of providing more information and support for education, particularly in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM), especially at a young age. We also learned that other countries, such as Germany, have been making significant efforts to encourage girls, starting in elementary school, to take an interest in the tech world. We are continuously gathering information from other companies and other countries to see what we can learn from them.
In Japan, a few years ago, very few male employees took paternity leave, and many people—both men and women—held the traditional belief that housework and childcare were solely women's responsibilities. However, this mindset is gradually changing, with growing awareness, particularly among the younger generation, about sharing these responsibilities regardless of gender. The percentage of men taking paternity leave has been increasing over the past year to over 40%, not only within our company but also all over Japan. With the support of our executives, we started to gather input from people returning from paternity and maternity leave in order to better understand what issues they encountered when returning back to work, and whether or not the process could be improved. There are issues such as long working hours, challenges on handling tasks to other employees while they are away and compensating employees for additional work. However, most important of all was to create an environment where people would feel comfortable to take paternity leave without any hesitation and people around them would be supportive.
In parallel to these activities, our company gathered all the necessary data and applied for the Eruboshi certification in Japan. This certificate, awarded by the Japanese Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare, signifies a company’s commitment to promoting women’s participation and advancement in the workplace, under the Act on Promotion of Women’s Participation and Advancement. The certification is given to companies that meet specific standards based on five key areas, which include hiring practices, sustained employment, working style (including working hours), percentage of management positions held by women, and diverse career paths. After many meetings with the Tokyo Labor Bureau and providing additional data, our company finally received the great news on Jan 10, 2025 that KIOXIA Corporation passed all the five key areas of the Eruboshi criteria and achieved the third and highest Eruboshi Certification level. This certification recognizes KIOXIA Corporation’s significant efforts in promoting the active participation of women in the workforce.
This is just the first step of a long journey - but it is a significant one. Eucalyptus Group will continue to work closely with KIOXIA Corporation on key initiatives that drive broader company expansion and involvement and achieve our goal of increasing attractiveness as a company, drive positive change within our own organization and also within our society. We will keep ‘accelerating action’ by advancing efforts to build bridges and spark change, make connections, and establish foundations as we continue on this exciting journey.