Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Director Deborah Dunsire, the only female on a board of one of Japan's 10 largest public companies, says the drugmaker is just getting started in promoting more women to senior levels.

Dunsire, 50, isn't satisfied women make up only 2 percent of management at the Osaka-based company's business in Japan, she said in an interview in Tokyo. She's presenting herself as a role model for the 230-year-old firm's female workers, who comprise about 27 percent of local staff.

"A lot of them are struggling to find their way because they want to contribute to the company but also have a family life," said Dunsire, who is also chief executive officer of Takeda's Millennium Pharmaceuticals Inc. unit in Cambridge, Massachusetts. "They want to understand that it can be done. Even though I live in a different society that is much more supportive, they can see that there's a possibility for that here in Japan."