1 The company should take advantage of competitive female workers.

I read an article in newspaper yesterday.It says that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has revived a government target set adecade ago of raising the proportion of women in leadership positions to 30percent by 2020 and he has also called for listed companies to appoint at leastone woman to their board of directors.

 

According to the article, with around 60percent of women leaving work after giving birth to their first child, thatmeans 3.42 million people have removed themselves from Japan’s workforce.

 

I know there are many women, including myfriends, gave up continuing working after their childbirth. In my opinion, oneof the biggest reasons why they needed to leave their work must be a culture,which has been built in their male-dominated office. When they look for ways toreturn to work after taking child care leave, they don’t come up with any ideashow to arrive at the office on time after taking their child to their day care.When they imagine the case when they need to pick up their children earlier becausethey have fever or something, they are feared of inescapable pressure fromtheir backlog and co-workers.

 

Even though the government set the goal andthe deadline to meet them, there would be no change unless the company takes steps toward creating a new culture, values, and the rules which help womenbalance work and their family lives. Companies should think of concrete steps likeadopting the flexible schedule to make women be able to continue working. Oncewomen-friendly setting could be completed, the company would be galvanized morewith a lot of passionate female workers. 

after giving birth to their first child・・・最初の子供を出産した後

child care leave・・・育児休暇

takes steps toward～ing・・・～するのに対策を講じる

help women balance work and their family lives・・・女性が仕事と家庭を両立させるのを手助けする

adopting the flexible schedule・・・フレックス制を採用する

women-friendly setting・・・女性に優しい環境