LEADERSHIP INSIGHTS
Akiyoshi Hiraoka
CEO and Representative Director, Nihon Unisys, Ltd.

GENDER EQUALITY AS A FIRST STEP TOWARDS DIVERSITY
Nihon Unisys and its subsidiaries pioneered today’s information society by introducing the first computers for commercial
use in Japan. For more than 60 years, they have been solving customers’ problems by developing systems that support societyand industries. With this experience and track record, the Group is now focusing on being central to the creation of businessecosystems, bringing together companies across various industries to create new society-enriching values and to solve social issues.

What was the motivation for signing the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs)?
When I first heard about this initiative, I thought, “We would be very happy to sign on!”Signing the WEPs is the second time that we have supported an international initiative, following our commitment
to the United Nations Global Compact. We want to further promote diversity, allowing each individual in ourcompany to be able to express their individuality and accepting the individuality of others. Collaboration among
diverse individuals will accelerate innovation, helping us achieve both social and economic value.
Empowering women is just the first step in accepting and leveraging the diversity of individuals. It is one of themost important initiatives at our company.
How the WEPs contribute to your company’s efforts to advance gender equality and achieve theSustainable Development Goals?
We have been focusing on empowering women since 2013 when we created the Diversity Promotion Group
within our company. Since then, we have made some progress with Principle 2 (Treat all Women and Men Fairly
at Work without Discrimination) Principle 3 (Employee Health, Well-Being and Safety) and Principle 4 (Educationand Training for Career Advancement) as we have created programmes and guidelines to allow our employees
to continue working while they deal with various life events.
We would like to collaborate with external as well as internal stakeholders to expand our efforts towards genderequality and women’s empowerment. We will continue our efforts towards Principles 1 to 4 while also working
on Principle 5 (Enterprise Development, Supply Chain and Marketing Practices) and Principle 6 (Community
Initiatives and Advocacy).What does promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment mean to your company?
Diversity is necessary for companies to grow, and empowering women is the first step towards this.
However, just talking about the need for this often leads to people agreeing in general but disagreeing on thedetails. There may also be resistance within the organization, since many people feel anxious when they comeinto contact with something that is new. It is important to turn this anxiety into joy, through various ways.
Diversity can bring joy. I know this from my discussions in Silicon Valley and at Harvard Business School. In theearly 2000s, just around the time when the dot-com bubble had burst, I went to Silicon Valley to do a three-day
workshop with the managements of various companies there. I was deeply impressed to find that we can havevery interesting discussions when people have different perspectives.
After being in touch with such diverse values, I felt very strongly on my return to Japan that traditional Japanesesystem integrators would not last long. Whenever I have the chance, I tell my employees about the importanceof having diverse talent, diverse information and diverse ideas.
In Japanese society, people are highly homogeneous, receiving a similar higher education and having similar
experiences growing up. And even though I am the CEO, I can not see everything that is going on in the market.
Bounded rationality keeps us from breaking out of our shells and from innovating.
We are used to women being a minority group in business. However, while it is understood in Japanese corporate
culture that men tend not to question their superiors, women are rarely afraid to speak up in an organization toexpress a different view. I hold discussions with a certain group every Monday. The group includes women andan adviser from another country, and I enjoy the unexpected ideas that they offer each time.
You sound very open to new ideas.
I believe that the essence of diversity management is to enhance and express the diversity that a person has
within, also called intrapersonal diversity.
However, while you may have this, you often may not be able to express it. Humans are highly social creatures
so that when you are in an organization, you tend to kill your individuality to conform to the majority.
Even in such an organization, I feel that more women than men have the strength to express their individuality.
The men who traditionally stay inside their shells can enhance their internal diversity if there is someone close
to them expressing his individuality. In this sense, it is important to have conversations with various people
including women, people from other countries, people with different religious or cultural backgrounds andpeople with disabilities.
How do you think the WEPs contribute to the broader agenda of advancing gender equality in the privatesector in Japan?
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have also been gaining attention in Japan in recent years. An important
aspect of SDGs is the globally accepted concept that the business world, including companies, and not nation
states or governments, is expected to lead the movement towards achieving the SDG targets.
With us implementing actions based on WEPs and taking the initiative in the Japanese business world,
I believe that we can contribute to the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women in which
Japan greatly lags behind the rest of the world.

The term “FemTech” has recently become popular. Solving the issues faced by women using technology leads
to social value which, in turn, leads to the creation of economic value. What is important here is that we should
promote gender equality with the belief that it is possible to create a better society while doing good businessat the same time.
Tell us about your next steps.
Until now, we have been focusing on solving social issues through the use of digital technology. I believe that,going forward, we need to aim towards solving issues by combining technology with an approach that looks at
how humans behave.
For example, one of the major hurdles to gender equality and the women’s empowerment is unconscious bias,
which includes the idea of a gender-based division of roles which is unique to Japan. One company cannot
possibly solve this issue alone, since it is spread throughout society and is caused by a rigid preconception thatcan only be solved through understanding people’s behavioural principles. So, we need to have acomprehensive and long-term approach.
There is a good chance that technologies such as Artificial Intelligence and automation can contribute tostreamlining housework and promoting a better work-life balance as well as achieving flexible work styles and abetter quality education. I believe that technology can also help expand the diversity of individuals, improve therelationship of individuals to organizations and increase “psychological safety” in the organization. Facilitating
behavioural changes in people can change traditional customs and even cultures. We would like to unlock thefull potential of technology and design and implement a society in which each one of us can feel excited.

Women’s Empowerment Principles

High-level corporate
leadership

Education and training
for women

Workplace HR

Supplier diversity& marketing practices

Employee well-being
and safety

Community
engagement

Measurement andreporting

DISCLAIMER: The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the European Union, UN Women, International Labour Organization or the United Nations
and their Member States.