Examining women's roles in Japan's corporate structure
Rikejo, or women majoring in the sciences, are currently under the spotlight in Japan. As the country faces a severe labor shortage, a declining birthrate and a rapidly aging population, there is a need to employ more female talent. To accomplish this, Japan needs female role models to give young women the sense that they can pursue careers to empower the Japanese economy. Utilization of female talent is one of the major elements in Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's growth strategies aimed at achieving sustainable economic expansion. Women majoring in science are symbolic as they have intelligence and skills and are competing with men in the male-dominated environment of university laboratories and research and development centers of high-technology companies. In Japan, however, female students tend to shy away from science and engineering, making the percentage of female scientists much lower than the rest of the world. Why does Japan have so few female scientists? What difficulties do women majoring in science in Japan experience? Why can't Japan increase the number of female scientists? The Japan Times held a forum to discuss these issues on June 17. Participating in the forum were Akiko Ryu Innes-Taylor, senior operating officer and head of Global Public Relations Department of Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Kazuhiro Hamaji, business director, Diagnostic Systems, BD Diagnostics of Nippon Becton Dickinson Co., Tsuguo Ebihara, a human resources consultant and a fellow researcher of Recruit Career Co. and Riko Oki, senior researcher at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. The moderator was The Japan Times Managing Editor Sayuri Daimon. Excerpts of their discussion follow:
Moderator: Thank you very much for coming to this forum today. I am so excited to have a group of panelists with such interesting backgrounds. Could I ask each of you to tell us a little bit about yourselves and your companies?
Akiko Ryu Innes-Taylor, senior operating officer, head of Global Public Relations Dept., Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co. : Ryu Innes-Taylor graduated from the University of Tokushima after majoring in nutrition. She began her career in Otsuka Pharmaceutical as a researcher to develop nutritional supplements, followed by positions in five other companies. She returned to Otsuka Pharmaceutical in 2009. She was also selected as the Japan delegate for the APEC Women's Summit and the APEC High Level Policy Dialogue on Women and the Economy for three consecutive years. Ryu: When I was a student, I did not think about whether I was interested in rikei (science, engineering, math, medicine and the like) or bunkei (humanities, literature, business, laws and the like.) But I was really overweight when I was a high school student and I wanted to learn what happens to the food I eat and found that the University of Tokushima's medical department offered such a course, so I decided to go there.
Later, I read in a magazine that Otsuka Pharmaceutical (which makes prescription medicines as well as beverages and food for regular consumers such as Pocari Sweat and Soyjoy) would be the first company in Japan to build a research and development center to focus on nutraceuticals, which connect the worlds of nutrition and pharmaceuticals. So, I thought: "This is it." I wasn't interested in working anywhere else.
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