"Companies working to boost women’s role in the workplace", 26 Sep 2015

Japanese businesses are working on measures to support child care for employees and promote the role of women in the workplace, in line with a new law...Initiatives to foster a working environment friendly to female employees include securing nursery spots for their children and providing training programs for women suited for managerial positions...[T]he law...obliges companies with 301 or more employees to map out and publicize action programs to promote women, including through the setting of numerical targets for female managers, by April 2016. In 2014, women accounted for just over 40 percent of the corporate employees in Japan but held less than 10 percent of the managerial posts...Beginning in 2014, seven firms from different industry sectors, including Recruit Holdings Co. and Suntory Holdings Ltd., started conducting seminars to discuss measures for improving the careers of female sales representatives...Despite such efforts, much needs to be done to promote the role of women in industries where there are only a small number of women on the payroll, such as the construction and materials sectors, experts say...[Also refers to Bridgestone, Dai-ichi Life Insurance, Mitsubishi, Nomura Holdings]