Women’s Empowerment

We are working on activities to promote women’s empowerment based on the idea that it is essential to the growth of Kao as a diversity element that relates to the greatest number of human capital. Under the policy of establishing a working environment and fostering a culture where all employees transcend their own assumptions^*1 , fully demonstrate their motivation and skills, and work in their authentic self regardless of gender, we intend to incorporate diverse perspectives in various decision-making situations. To realize that, in Japan where the ratio of women in management is not yet equal to the ratio of women in the organization overall, we are working on three priority actions, namely: Development of potential future leaders; Support for balancing work and childcare to promote engagement^*2 ; and Provide management education for unbiased training and promotion opportunities.

To improve the career motivation of and expand the perspectives for female employees, and establish a place of learning and a network through collaboration with other companies’ members, we encourage female employees to participate in training sessions held by external women’s organizations (NPOs or PIIAs) and different cross-industry study sessions planned and held in collaboration with other companies. From those female employees who have participated in sessions mentioned above, we hear comments such as, “I have successfully decided my course of action,” and “I have broadened my perspective through networking with people in different industries.” At the same time, we hear good feedback about the participants from their workplaces

With the aim of having female employees who are willing to be leaders, thinking about their own unique image of what a leader is and inspiring them to form empathic connections with other female workers, we hosted a series of small-group round-table talks with a female fellow (Women’s Career Café) as in the previous year. We received some positive feedback such as, “I was inspired by the seniors’ experiences and advice on building my career,” and “I was impressed by the opportunity to share my concerns and hear about experiences of female leaders of the same generation, so now I feel very positive.” This indicated that the round-table talks gave the participants a high degree of satisfaction and transformed their way of thinking (100% of the participants were satisfied and 90% had a positive change in their mindset).

We participate in different cross-industry study sessions independently organized and run by a female fellow in collaboration with executives at other companies. Under the theme of “Flexible female strength to demonstrate in the new-normal era,” we conducted a panel discussion and a group discussion as the host company in FY2022. Approximately 100 female managers from 23 companies attended. Through two-way exchange of opinions, they improved their motivation as managers and built cross-industrial networks.

Toward achieving an organizational culture where diverse personnel can exercise their creativity, we aim to transform organizational cultures into innovative ones with diversity, flexibility, and fairness. As such, we launched a selective project in FY2021. To the participants, most of whom are female employees, this project offers various opportunities for significant growth, resulting in the formation of high-level viewpoints and management perspectives. This enables the group to foster future talents that proactively tackle difficult problems head-on and drive the next generation as pioneers and leaders of reform.

To employees who have been newly promoted as managers, we provide e-learning on diversity management. We also implement activities that deepen understanding of psychological safety and unconscious bias, which are important elements to make diversity an organization's strength (more on p.224 of the Sustainability Report 2023).

In conjunction with International Women’s Day in March, we distributed an awareness-raising video called “Let’s think about women’s empowerment.” In this video, we presented information including goals of women’s empowerment, factors such as unconscious bias that interferes with the realization of those goals, and tips for avoiding such factors (viewed approximately 700 times). We have received a lot of feedback saying, for example, “I now understand that women’s empowerment provides benefits not only to women but to men as well.”

The gender pay gap^*3 is one indicator of women’s advancement and is 106.4% for managers and 90.6% for non-managers at the Kao Group globally. In addition, the annual average amount of remuneration for men and women (data assurance performed by a third party) is shown on p. 228 of the Sustainability Report 2023. We believe that this gap is due to the higher percentage of men among employees with more years of service, who tend to earn higher salaries, as well as among employees in higher-paying job groups, especially in Japan, since there is no established wage gap between male and female employees in the same roles. Therefore, as part of our strategy to eliminate the gender pay gap, we will continue to take steps to further improve our retention of female employees, and as appropriate, increase the percentage of women who are managers, senior managers and executives to align with the percentage of female employees in total in order to advance women’s empowerment in the workplace through our initiatives.