NEWS RELEASE
FOR RELEASE
on November 10, 2009
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Contacts:
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Tokyo
– Ann Sado |
Washington, D.C. – Larry Grady |
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Tel:
81-90-9814-1126
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Tel: 1-202-415-8396 |
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sado@gewel.org
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summit@globewomen.com |
JAPAN
RANKS AMONG ARAB ECONOMIES IN APPOINTING WOMEN TO CORPORATE BOARDS
Minimal progress seen since 1998
TOKYO –
November 10, 2009 – A new report from Corporate Women Directors
International (CWDI), a U.S.-based nonprofit, reveals that Japan’s top
companies continue to lag well behind those in other parts of the world
in appointing women to their Boards of Directors.
Only 17 seats on the Boards of
Directors of Japan’s top 100 companies are
occupied by women or a mere 1.4% of the 1,198 board positions in these
pace-setting companies.
These numbers rank
Japan
well below all the industrialized economies. In an overall comparison
among 35 countries for which data is available on women directors, Japan
places near the bottom – below Jordan (2%), Oman (2.3%), Kuwait (2.7%)
and two European countries – Italy (2.1%) and Portugal (3%).
Topping the list of countries with the highest percentage of
women directors are the Nordic countries led by Norway with 44%.
The U.S.
(15.2%), South Africa
(14.6%) and the U.K.
(11.7%) do not do as well in appointing women to corporate boards as the
companies in the Nordic region.
In Japan, just 16
of the companies in the top 100 have at least one woman board director,
leaving 84% of the boards as all-male bastions.
While this number of companies with women board directors is
still very low, it does mark a significant increase from CWDI’s first
study of Japan’s Women
Board Directors in 1998. At
that time, only two of the 100 largest companies had women on their
boards.
One of the reasons
Japan’s
percentage remains so low is due to the structure of the boards,
according to CWDI Co-Chair Irene Natividad.
The majority of board seats still go to senior management and, as
women are mostly absent at this level, there are few women directors as
a result, she explains.
The report shows that only one of the 17 board positions held by
women is an “inside” directorship – Kimie Iwata, Shiseido’s Executive
Vice President who is also on the company’s board.
The others are held by “outside” (non-management) directors.
Sony’s Two Women Board Directors
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Sakie Fukushima
Chairman,
Korn Ferry International/Japan
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Yukako Uchinaga
CEO, Berlitz International and
Vice Chair, Benesse Corporation
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Among the 20 largest companies in the country, only
one company – Sony – has a woman board director. Sony is also the only
company among the 100 largest in
Japan
with two women on its board.
Companies without women board directors include companies known
throughout the world, including Toyota Motor, NTT, Honda, Canon, Nissan,
Fuji Photo, All Nippon Airways, Sharp, and Toshiba, among others.
“The current economic crisis is moving
countries from the U.S.
to the U.K. to South Africa to
set new rules and to change the way business is done, as well as to look
for new economic leaders -- from CEOs to board directors -- to prevent
the recurrence of this crisis.
Japan, Inc, with its reach to global consumers, suppliers and
employees, may need to do the same in order to remain competitive”
states CWDI Chair Irene Natividad.
Prescriptions for Change
She adds:
“Japan can no longer afford not to
utilize its biggest asset – its women – especially at a time of steeply
decreasing workforce.”
Natividad cites a 2003 Labor Ministry report which indicated that Japan’s economy lost 0.6% in annual
growth by not fully engaging women’s talents in the work place.
While there are not many women senior executives in
Japan, there are now some CEOs and
entrepreneurs of sizeable businesses who should be tapped for corporate
board seats.
What should be done to increase the numbers of
women board directors?
- Japanese companies
need to accelerate the
appointment of independent directors to their boards, since
that is the most likely route that women can take to board
positions.
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The business case for women’s
inclusion on corporate boards needs to be made by women
business leaders and women’s organizations.
That is, that women are the majority of consumers and almost
half of the labor force, so they are important stakeholders whose
insights and perspectives should be represented on corporate boards.
- Japan
should hire, train and promote to leadership roles its most
neglected resource: women.
About CWDI
This
report is the 13th conducted by CWDI, a non-profit organization that has
provided research on women directors in Australia, Canada, Japan, South
Africa and Spain, as well as those on the Fortune Global 200,
the Latin Trade 100 and in the financial and healthcare
industries globally. CWDI
also brings women directors together globally to establish an
international network of women directors on issues of corporate
governance.
EDITOR’S
NOTE: Full copies of the report are available to the press by
contacting Larry Grady at 1-202-415-8396 or summit@globewomen.com
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